“If time is money, then the Facebook.com site represents the most valuable Internet property on the web today.” - Needham & Co.
According to the Facebook’s most recently released statistics, there are approximately 1.55 billion monthly active users on Facebook with the average user spending 20+ minutes a day on the site, which accounts for nearly 20% of their total Internet time. If you think that’s a lot, check out the average American. In his presentation of Facebook, Inc.’s quarterly progress, CEO Mark Zuckerburg announced that the average American user spends 40 minutes a day on Facebook. If you do the math, you’ll find that number adds up to 10 days, 3 hours, 7 minutes, and 20 seconds annually. It’s no wonder Facebook is considered the world’s most popular networking site.
While Facebook is great for connecting with family and friends and sharing a good laugh, Facebook is also very beneficial to business owners, particularly those in the home building, renovation, and design industry. If you’ve spent any amount of time exploring your business’s Facebook page, you’ve probably noticed a tab labeled Insights at the very top. Clicking on this tab will reveal metrics through which you can view and analyze your followers’ activity on your page.
Likes, visits, reach, and engagement are Insight’s four main points of measurement. While likes and visits are self-explanatory for the most part, reach and engagement are a little more obscure.
What is Reach?
Reach is a Facebook term that indicates how many people saw your post. Expanding your Reach is beneficial when your ultimate goal is to increase awareness, grow your fan base, or simply draw some more eyes to what you’re promoting. Your Reach analytics will tell you how well you’re doing at getting your name out there and into someone’s newsfeed.
While your Reach will automatically increase as more and more people like, share, and comment on your post, the best way to increase exposure quickly is to throw some dollars behind into it in the form of a Boost. With paid support, your post Reach can increase exponentially. Learn more about Boosting posts here.
What is Engagement?
Engagement is just that: engagement. Facebook defines Engagement as any post click, whether it be a like, a share, or a comment. Engagement metrics will show you how well you’re connecting with your audience and what kind of investment your followers have in your business. Engagement indicates loyalty and followers who are actively engaged are more likely to make a purchase.
According to an Edelman trust barometer study, consumers are much more likely to trust their peers over a business. Applying this same concept to the Facebook world, you will generate credibility as more of your followers engage with your posts.
While Reach and Engagement are intertwined to some extent, it is important to note the just because your post has a high Reach does not mean it will have a high Engagement. For example, you can Boost a post about a new kitchen you just finished building for $50 and the post may be seen by hundreds of people (Reach), but if you don’t include a before and after picture or an attention-grabbing description, your post might not gain a lot of interest (Engagement).
If you’re doing a lot of posting, but don’t seem to be connecting with homeowners, here are a few tips:
- Publish content that is important to your client.
- Ask questions or solicit feedback in your posts, especially if they are text-only.
- Share pictures- lots of pictures!
- Brand your posts, but be careful not to “advertise” too much.
- Reward engagement.
- Track your Insight analytics and use the data to determine what posts are most popular and create similar ones.
If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use social media better to promote your building, renovation, and design company and build relationships with your followers, check out this blog post: Are Your Social Media Efforts Paying Off?
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