Week Five - Post Reach and Engagement

Introduction

Oh the pains and possibilities of Facebook. The company has made a lot of changes to the business features of company pages over the last year. When I started Social Publishing House, it was much easier to engage people and get likes. However the insights were not as good for tracking. Now, things have changed to where insights are excellent, but getting likes and engagement are harder than ever. So, here is the simple difference between reach and engagement. 

Post Reach

Post reach is connected to those who actually saw what you posted. Do not confuse this for people who actually read what you wrote or updated. Post reach simply means that those who follow your page ended up seeing your post in their news feed at some point. Most of the time, people scroll through their news feed like a kid running through the candy isle; they just don't ponder long until they see something more shinny and appealing. 

Normally, your reach will be much higher than those who actually engaged you. So don't get excited when your reach is 1000 people, but only 1 person engaged

So whats the difference between reach and engagement? 

Engagement

What really matters it the engagement. That means they saw what you posted and decided to click on it and interact with it. Be that a like, a share, or that they clicked on the link and took the time to read something you wrote. This would be the equivalent to that small kid in the candy isle picking up that giant 2000 calorie candy bar, ripping off the wrapper and chowing down. 

Now be that as it may, getting people to engage is very difficult. But, with the insights from FaceBook, you can see what works and what does not. 

Insights 

The best way to learn how to engage people is to look at the insights. These insights let you know how many people you reached, and out of those reached how many engaged by either liking the post or clicking on it. 

Flashy and to the point

What I've learned in my time running this page is that people want things that are easy to read, flashy, and are interesting in the sense that they have nothing to do with your business. Most people interact with pictures (the fewer words the better), they don't click on articles unless it has a title that is more shocking, such as "Brook Burk reads her ebook topless on the beach," rather than, "Bowker Research finds kids under 30 read more ebooks." (Yes I know, harsh, but thats what people would rather click on and read)

So when you post things, post lost of pictures and articles that are at least 'somewhat' related to your business. That will give you the most reach and will gain you the most likes. Once you have enough likes, you can start posting things that are relevant to your company and you will start to have some engagement to your actual business. 

The rest will freeload on your posts just looking for more articles about Brook Burk. 

Choose your time wisely 

You will also notice that engagement for your target audience is going to be different depending on the time of the week and when you post. People are more likely to engage on monday mornings and friday mornings (at least for my business). So this is something you need to look at before you plan your posts so you can get the most engagement. 

I use a program called Hoot Suite that lets me auto schedule my posts and time them out. It saves me a lot of time and allows me to keep my page active without constantly having to nurse it like that wining little kid in the candy isle. 

It will take a while to discover this pattern, but watch it closely and start to make adjustments. Experiment and see when things get read the most. 

Don't Spam 

There is nothing I hate more than getting spam email. I do everything I can to unsubscribe from those when I get them. The same goes for Facebook. If you like a company, all of a sudden you start to see your news feed crowded with offers and promotions from a company trying to take your much earned candy money. 

Don't be that business. 

Instead, thing of what your target market wants to see and stick to one very important rule: the 9 to 1. Post 9 things that are interesting for other people and add to their lives. Then, for every 9 posts for others, you can post one for yourself. This way, you won't seem spammy and you won't get unlikes. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, you are going to get frustrated with all those little candy starved kids running around the isle not picking your product. Just remember: more calories, more color, and a bigger bar is the only way to get their attention and get them crying to their moms to buy it for them. Just make sure to write down how many temper tantrums you get per day and take note when they walk in the door.