Home Forums Blog Talk Let’s Talk About Facebook

17 replies, 8 voices Last updated by Christie 9 years, 5 months ago
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    • #14828

      Felissa
      Member
      @Twolittlecavaliers

      Facebook is the Social Media tool we all have a love / hate relationship with.

      We love it because we are so used to using it in order to connect with our friends and stay in touch with people even when we live hundreds or thousands of miles apart. We hate it because when we go to promote a Blog Post or a great product we received and want people to know about all you hear are crickets. Unless you were sharing information about crickets you probably are hoping for no begging for engagement. With 500, 1,000 or 5,000 fans and no one could be bothered to like your post it can get frustrating.

      Trust me I know.

      There were several months about a year ago were each time I posted I lost between 50 and 100+ fans. It got to the point that I was scared of posting on our Facebook Fan Page and stopped because apparently it is offensive to people to post pictures of dogs or links to Blog Posts about Dog on a dog blog Fan Page.  I still feel sick to my stomach when I hit enter on a new update and cross my fingers that I receive engagement and not people running for the hills. Facebook just doesn’t play fair.

      Once upon a time it was so easy to get new fans, get them to interact with a post no matter how you shared that post to your Fan Page, and click through on a link to your Blog. These days depending on how you share the news that you are participating in a Million Dollar Giveaway no one cares. Or do they?

      On Facebook it is all about how you share something and what your intention is behind the share. If you just want to share a link and hope for the best that someone will click through to your Blog Post – go for it. When it comes to promoting a Sponsored post we all want to show that the Brand made the right decision in picking our Blog because of all of the engagement and buzz that you created for them. All the fans in the world don’t matter if no one engages.

      Option 1:

      Enter to win our Million Dollar Giveaway. Click here

      Option 2:

      Want to win a Million Dollars?
      Click here to enter

      Option 3:

      A cute picture of your {smiling Ferret, Mini Pig, Cat, Dog, etc} that says
      What would YOU do with a Million Dollars?

      (link to enter to win in the comments!)

      You might think this is a bad example because you would hopefully see interaction on all of the options if you were offering a Million Dollar Prize. The truth is many of you offer Million Dollar advice, tips, ideas, and information on a regular basis and see very little interaction. This community regularly shares important information be it about Pet Safety, Health, or a new product that could really help a readers pet and it receives very little interaction on Facebook.

      Forget the million dollar offering and replace it with anything. Which post are you most likely to engage with? That is what you should think about before you post to Facebook.

      What would you engage with if someone else posted?

      If you personally would not engage don’t hit “enter”. Take a minute to think about it and post something that you would engage with. If the post speaks to you it will speak to your followers and help increase engagement. It might work, it might not work but at least you know you were being honest and genuine with what you had to say and you can tweak it from there. Maybe you need to post at a different time of day when you know your fans are online or maybe you need to change the way you worded something.

      What works for you? What doesn’t work for you?  What was your most successful (in terms of engagements) thing that you shared on Facebook? Were you able to replicate it?

    • #14845

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Option #3 would work  best on my page. It really does come down to knowing your audience (just REALLY got what that meant about 6 months ago). Whether I like it or not, the majority of my Facebook fans are Dachshund fanatics. These fans also really like to share pictures of, and talk about, their dogs. Once I realized that and started catering  to them, my Facebook engagement grew.

      I feel guilty because of everyone talking about such low numbers (like a reach of 100 on a Facebook page with 10k fans) but my reach has consistently been high (as in it is half the number of fans I have on my page or more). It’s typical for me to have 60 – 500 likes on a post and 10 – 30 comments.  I don’t always get shares but I get at least 1 share of a photo a week.

      I will admit that some of this success is probably beyond my control. Like I said, Dachshund fans are loyal and fanatic. My advice to my clients is to try and find that fanatic part of your fan base and tap into that. Also, try to craft posts to be universal so that people can identify with them.

      Maybe there ins’t a cohesive group of fans that stands out to you. However, most animal owners are somewhat breedist. Have a beagle? Start writing like you are talking directly to those beagle owners. Own a Pit Bull? Those owners hear about breed legislation, etc issues over and over. Be different. Posting about that is important but try to make 50% of your posts about personality traits of Pit Bulls….preferably positive ones (which will DEMONSTRATE how many stereotypes about them are wrong). My friend’s Pits love kids. Take a picture of yours snuggling your niece of grand daughter if they do to. Post the photo and talk about how great yours is with kids. Then ask people if their pit bull (or dog if you want to be more universal) loves kids.

      If there is one thing I know, what works for one does not necessary work for another. I am interested to hear what is working for others.

    • #14844

      Bets Richards- Sweet. Dog. Life.
      Member
      @betsrichards1225

      Felissa,

      I am so glad you posted this. FB on a personal note for me? Fine. Business note? Not so much. I could be posting the wrong content to FB. I could be posting too much or not enough. FB is the only platform I am not gaining readership with. I’ve studied similar pages to mine to see if I could be doing something different, the type of posts, etc. but can’t seem to gain any traction that way. I have twitter and have no problem there. My blog. No problem there.

      I’ve have noticed since getting involved with twitter and blogging sites that there are a lot of folks out there who rabidly promote their FB page, but as you state above, there is NO engagement. Only folks looking for ‘likes’ on their page. I agree with you. We need to interact with our readers just like they need to interact with us. One doesn’t work without the other.

      On a pawsitive note about FB: Love that BlogPaws helps promote other’s FB pages.

      Thanks again for bringing this discussion up and I look forward to reading everyone’s tips and tricks!

    • #14843

      Jen | DOGthusiast&FoundPixel.com
      Participant
      @kidderton

      Obviously one of the main issues is: your followers have to see the content in order to engage with it, and then when they engage with it regularly they see your next posts (and so on). A new page with 300 likes is going to be playing a completely different ballgame than a page with 3000 that already has existing, ongoing engagement that FB is showing the content to due to that ongoing engagement. *Starting* that momentum? Crazy making. 

      Facebook has been all over the map in what they show to my followers. So much so I can post the same type of post, in the same manner, at the same time of day and one will have 10 views and the next nearly 200. But most of them are closer to 10. Likes and comments have *no* effect anymore on my posts. So I could have great wording, a fantastic photo, and a compelling question and if only 10 people ever see it (beyond my control) the chances of seeing wild engagement is pretty close to nil.  It’s a completely, utterly different world to a couple years ago indeed, and much of it seems very random. That’s what I’ve heard from others too – a new rule being “Facebook hates asking for likes and shares” and then someone does that and sees better engagement.

      I’ve tried a number of things – boost groups, things that work well for my audience on Instagram (where I see terrific engagement), the tricks of putting the URL in the comment and not using words that FB hates, studying from the “masters” and so on and so forth: nothing has stuck, nothing has made a change. The page I care about is in a business category (and I have given them a few bucks in the past), so FB really wants me to pay to show my content and I’m not willing to do that anymore (due to the “Facebook Fraud” study and what I’ve seen on pages who do pay).

      So I’ve made the decision that I’ll have have fun with it and do what I want that makes sense for me and my impression on who my followers might be. Some of those posts have great numbers! If I don’t *enjoy* the platform, what’s the point. This is about engagement of my few followers, not about sales, so if you’re not having fun and trying to put too much thought into it (stress) that will probably show to your audience. And at the end of the day, what’s the point. SEO and other platforms are so much more effective than FB as it is. Playing that game isn’t worth it to me. Time is money (social media is never free), and until that time shows or has the promise of showing results, it isn’t a good use of it on my end.

    • #14842

      Elizabeth
      Participant
      @evtk68

      I’m rooted firmly in “Camp Jen deHaan,” if the truth be told. But that being said, even with the extreme frustration of being severely culled of organic reach (by FB), I still have a group of engaged fans (way out of proportion with my likes, yes), and I thoroughly enjoy interacting with them. Can I count on them to click through to my blog? Some yes, but not enough for me to focus my time there. Plus, it makes me depressed.

      To answer your Qs about what types of posts historically do well for me:

      #1 of all time, by a mile (pre-algorithm changes): A photo of a reader’s corgi (that I posted). It was shared EVERYWHERE. And shares are the most valuable currency on FB.

      #2 (pre algorithm changes): A flash giveaway of a $10 Amazon.com card (supplied by me). I posted a picture of my dog and asked readers to guess something about it (for an entry). I got TONS of comments.

      Post algorithm changes, although I can’t claim 100% consistency: Shares from other FB pages have the most organic reach; shares (using a sharing tool) from other websites get decent reach; cute photos get the most likes; and open ended questions (either with a photo, or in a text-only update) get the most comments. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out how to get more shares – on anything. Oh, and I always post a photo when I promote my blog posts (with the blog link in the description). I think FB might penalize my reach for the links, though. 

    • #14841

      Val Silver
      Participant
      @valjean1111

      I like option 3. And I’ve shared my life with several dachshunds over the years, not recently tho. I’ll have to come by your page, Jessica…

      Yes, I noticed that when I share an image that already has several shares behind it I get decent reach.  People also like photos with quotes on them IF they get to see them.

      It IS very frustrating that FB is deciding to only show posts to around – what is it now – 10-15% of your followers unless you pay to boost the post. That’s the strategy they are going for, from what I’ve been reading. People who like, comment on, and share your posts consistently are more likely to see them.

      What I notice on my personal page is that photos of babies, anniversaries, graduations and weddings – that kind of stuff get oodles of likes and maybe new doggie family members, too. Maybe share those posts on your page and share on your profile??

    • #14840

      Felissa
      Member
      @Twolittlecavaliers

      That is a great side topic when it comes to sharing or not sharing something on Facebook. How personal do you want to get with your Blog’s Facebook Fans? It is one thing to post the ups and downs of life with your pet but another to start sharing personal things unless they somehow relate to your pet. For myself even on my personal Facebook Page I tend to under share. I stick with more general topics.

      On the other hand I had a really not great picture of the dogs and I get a ton of interaction when I shared it on our Fan Page for a BlogPaws Campaign. I really didn’t expect it and was trying to figure out how to increase engagement ut when I woke up the next day I was shocked.

    • #14839

      Felissa
      Member
      @Twolittlecavaliers

      I agree with you 100% Jessica I get a ton more engagement on pictures of Indiana and Davinia or a share of a Cavalier looking for a home. While other breeds are appreciated and in truth the vast majority of my Fans are not Cavalier owners it is the Cavalier people that do the most engaging.

    • #14838

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      That’s an excellent point Kimberly. I think, deep down, that is what I was trying to describe but my idea was not fully formed. I concentrate trying to start conversations so that I can engage with those followers. I make sure to like every single comment people leave on my page and reply to most (if I have something to add to the conversation – not just “thanks”)

      It IS fun to start having real conversations and get to know your “regulars”

      Kimberly Gauthier said:

      None of the above works for me on Facebook.  I finally stopped trying to figure Facebook out – everyone understands that reach is impossible there some days so I stopped worrying about it and started just focusing on having fun in the community I built.

      My average post looks like this:

      What would you do with a million dollars?

      A cute picture of an adorable dog that says “What would YOU do with a Million Dollars?”

      Enter here: http://www.milliondollars.com

      Here’s what’s been working for me…

      Relax and have fun (as Jen DeHann shared); it’s a bad idea to build our blogging home on a shaky foundation anyway – what if FB deletes my page tomorrow?  So I decided to stop worrying about it and have fun.

      Don’t boost posts; I would boost for $5 every now and then and I noticed that even though FB said I’d reach 2000 more fans with my boost, I’d be lucky to reach 500 more fans.  And who knows if I’m just reaching the same fans who already saw the post.

      Know my and audience (as Jessica shared); I used to try and be all things to all dog lovers and when I stopped doing that and just focused on what I love, I didn’t lose fans (or not enough to notice) and I’m having more fun engaging – the best feedback I’ve received is that fans know where to go when they have questions about raw feeding and littermates – if a friend brings something up, they send them my way – that’s more than FB is offering.  Narrowing my focus really helped this year.

      Engage; I used to just share blog posts (sometimes multiple times, because they’d auto share from multiple places) and leave.  Who’s going to engage with just a blog post?  I never do, I look for the conversations and I go back and jump right back in.  It’s fun that I have private conversations with my followers, that they update me on how their dogs are doing or ask about mine, and I love it when I get requests.  When I was trying to figure out how to cut back Sydney’s food without starving her, I got loads of help.

      It all boils down to forgetting about Facebook and boosting posts and just have a ton of fun with the community you’re building.  It’s not as fast and easy as it used to be, but does it really need to be?  What’s the rush?

      Someone once told me that it’s easy for me to relax, because of my fan count.  I worked hard to build that count and that work included creating strategic campaigns (yep, I paid for advertising) and then FB changed the rules and started deciding what people should see.  It blows.  Getting to know my followers who do see KTTW is what’s turning it around for me and if that means that a post only reaches 100-500 people – that’s fine by me 🙂  It’s better than the 50 that it was.

    • #14837

      Felissa
      Member
      @Twolittlecavaliers

      That was such a nice gesture by your local restaurant. A+ for effort on their part to make you feel like part of their family and to show they think you are special too!

      I think that is really amazing that people recognize you locally and come  up to you to ask questions or just to talk.

    • #14836

      Felissa
      Member
      @Twolittlecavaliers

      Thank you for sharing your experience about using promoted posts. I haven’t used them mainly because Facebook wants so much money to reach enough of my audience to make it worthwhile to pay for the boost in the first place.

      I think that the biggest piece of advice you all have shared is that we all need to get to know our audience and figure out what they want to see.

      1. Who are your fans?

      2. What do your fans come to your page to see / learn / grow / share?

      3. What do your fans think you offer vs what you actually offer them and does that match up?

      4. Be authentic no matter what you are posting about and share it with your fans in a way that they will engage with the content?

      5. Worry less about numbers and more about connecting with your fans, followers, and friends.

    • #14835

      Cathy
      Participant
      @stunningkeisha

      I wasn’t going to join this convo since I don’t have nearly the fans or engagement of others here. I guess I’m a little too cautious on my fan page. I post personal stuff on my profile page and tend to just use the fan page to promote my blog posts. I do some shares too and more people tend to Like those. I used to share photos like weren’t in my blog along with the link but stopped when someone started ripping them off and posting them on her profile and pages as her own. I’m not a great photographer by any means but don’t like when someone steals my work. FB does nothing to stop this either.

    • #14834

      Cathy
      Participant
      @stunningkeisha

      Good idea. I already watermark every image I put online but those sayings are a nice touch. Thank you.

      Kimberly Gauthier said:

      Start writing on your images – if someone’s going to steal them, then at least they are giving you free advertising.  Google “dog sayings” or “quotes about dogs” and add those to your images with your blog name at the bottom.

      They may be able to edit your blog name out, but no one is going to bother removing an entire quote.

      Cathy Keisha said:

      I wasn’t going to join this convo since I don’t have nearly the fans or engagement of others here. I guess I’m a little too cautious on my fan page. I post personal stuff on my profile page and tend to just use the fan page to promote my blog posts. I do some shares too and more people tend to Like those. I used to share photos like weren’t in my blog along with the link but stopped when someone started ripping them off and posting them on her profile and pages as her own. I’m not a great photographer by any means but don’t like when someone steals my work. FB does nothing to stop this either.

    • #14833

      Cathy
      Participant
      @stunningkeisha

      I just found out that FB now frowns on links in the captions and prefers you use the link format. I always liked using an alternative photo that wasn’t in the blog. What to do. http://allfacebook.com/news-feed-click-baiting-link-format_b134127?utm_campaign=dailynewsletter20140825&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=title&utm_source=AllFacebook

    • #14832

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      @Cathy You CAN use an alternate photo. After the link autopopulates, then click on the image to upload a new one. For that matter, you can do the same to the title and post summary.

    • #14831

      Cathy
      Participant
      @stunningkeisha

      Thank you! Shows what a moron I am.

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia said:

      @Cathy You CAN use an alternate photo. After the link autopopulates, then click on the image to upload a new one. For that matter, you can do the same to the title and post summary.
    • #14830

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      oh no! a lot of people don’t know that you can do that 🙂

    • #14829

      Christie
      Participant
      @czizo

      The new thing is you can’t do a separate photo and a link in the same post. Facebook says if you are going to do that, just use the link function.

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