A Facebook Success Story
This week I enjoyed client visits in Orange County. And on the heels of my visit with Center Club, I wanted to share a Facebook success story with you.
As you may remember from my newsletter a couple of weeks ago, Facebook changed it’s algorithms. That means that the chances of our Page posts landing in the news feed of the people who like your page has changed. And what’s worse is that those chances have decreased. Facebook wants you to share content from big sources like Time Magazine or ESPN. Facebook wants you to share photos. And Facebook wants you to pay to get your content into the newsfeed of the people who like your page.
I worked with the Center Club team to determine how we could work around this. And here’s what we tested:
Increase the number of posts per day
Before the algorithm change, the Club was posting about 2 times per day. We increased that to 5-7 times per day. It is nearly impossible that any one of the people who like the Center Club page will see every post. That would be a nice problem to have!
Focus on the content
What’s the incentive for people to like, comment or share? While it’s nice to post more often throughout the day, it’s absolutely essential to make sure it’s quality content. For Center Club, the goal is to continually share content which helps Members take advantage of and enjoy their membership. Every post is Member-centric. And that also means that every department has a voice, so you see content from Membership, Private Events, Food & Beverage, Member Relations and spontaneous moments that are fun to capture.
Behind the Scenes
Members love interacting with the staff, and so the BTS type posts often perform very well. We geared up to share more BTS-type posts.
Contests
Simple trivia and photo contests are popular among Members. And it gives incentive to share the post on their own profiles. Our test period fell during Valentine’s week, and so the “Cutest Couple” contest was a big hit and certainly played a role in increased engagement. Center Club will post a simple contest each week.
Our team schedules their posts directly in Facebook (FB likes this more than third party apps like Hootsuite) and after two weeks of consistent posting, the results were in. We were delighted to see green arrows pointing up in all categories on our Facebook Insights
Page Likes increased 5.6%
New Page Likes increased 580%
Total Reach increased 172%
Post Reach increased 335%
Engagement increased 143%
The team is encouraged and excited to keep up their efforts. They now feel a positive challenge to reach out to the Members more frequently through the day and they are continually thinking about what they can share via social media. They are determined to “beat Facebook.”
My challenge to you is to give this a try and see if you enjoy similar results. Give it a week for your efforts to kick in for measurable outcome. Leave a comment to let us know if this worked for you. If you’ve found another way to work around Facebook’s algorithm change, please leave a comment below so that we may all learn. I’m sure there are plenty of you who want to avoid paying for your content to be seen and feel that we should have to pay for our content to be seen by people who have liked our Page. Especially when most of those folks are Members and who have a genuine interest (and need) to stay connected.
I’ll make sure to update this post in another couple of weeks and share if this method of more frequent posts continues to positively effect levels of engagement and reach.
Media Mondays
Every Monday night, I pack up my computer bag and head to the University Club Atop Symphony Towers in San Diego to provide social media seminars for club members. It’s part of my consulting contract and, frankly, it’s one of my favorite aspects of work. I love helping professionals better understand these amazing and cost-effective tools which have completely changed the way we do business and revolutionized the way we communicate. I’ve met some wonderful folks during these sessions and have (hopefully) provided insightful information they can take back to the office and implement.
While it’s a no-brainer that membership organizations like business clubs, country clubs and the like are a perfect match for communicating through social media, it may not be as clear for your business which channels are best to tap into. It is better to select one or two channels where you know you can reach your target audience, versus spreading yourself too thin and attempting to be everywhere. I admit that as a solopreneur, it is tough sometimes to manage my content plan and effectively communicate. I feel completely disconnected and out of touch if a day goes by when I don’t post, tweet or share. But I will tell you that these tools, when used with good strategy and purpose, will produce positive results.
During my Monday night classes, I’ve witnessed several “a-ha moments” when an concept clicks or someone realizes how they can integrate social media into their communication plan. If you would like to learn more about the types of seminars I can provide or need to train your staff (or you!), please contact me. I am eager to assess your business strategies and help you better utilize social media. My number is 619.244.2400 and my e-mail is [email protected].
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