If you have a page that has less than 1000 fans OR if you are trying to re-energise your page after a long hiatus, this post is for you!
My Story
You might know that I have a rather small community on my Facebook Page which I have grown organically through posting content and engaging with existing fans for some time.
But things dived over the last 2 months when I got a lot busier managing the stuff that pays my bills.
Before April, I used to get a new email subscriber everyday. But that changed in mid April and I haven’t seen a new subscriber for 3 weeks.
I decided that it was time to take my Facebook Page seriously and put into place a real plan. After all, who would listen to a marketing guy about Facebook if his Facebook Page looks so pitiful?
So over the last 3 days, I executed a plan to revive my Page. The step-by-step process is explained so that you can follow me and do these exercises as we go along.
My Goal
Every plan starts with a goal in mind.
You might have a marketing goal, but social media is only one of the many promotion tools.
You might not reach the same group of target audience on social media as compared to PR on print media, for example. As a result, your social media marketing goal might differ from your real marketing goal.
In my case, I want to establish brand authority and thought leadership in my niche among my target audience on social media.
[blockquote]If you’re doing this exercise, you should define both your goal and who your target audience are[/blockquote]
The marketing problem I was trying to solve on social media is the lack of Page activity, in terms of engagement, click-throughs, and participation. In other words, there is a lack of affinity between my audience and I on social media.
[blockquote]What is(are) your social media marketing problem(s)?[/blockquote]
Before I developed my tactical approach, I researched on consumer insights, looked at what my target audience are saying on other Pages, Twitter, and on other websites, to understand why they are not engaging, participating, and clicking on my Page content.
[blockquote]Before you develop a tactical approach, you need to discover your consumer insights. These insights refer to the reason(s) why your marketing problem exists.[/blockquote]
My Tactical Approach
With the marketing goal, target audience, marketing problem, and consumer insights in mind, I developed a 4 element approach to revive my Facebook Page activity and decided on the KPIs that would decide the success of my plan.
First, I put great and relevant content at the heart of the tactical approach. Next, I reached out to several influencers to ask for feedback on the usefulness of the content. If they liked and shared it, I would reach a wider audience through an influential and credible voice.
At the same time, I promoted the post on Facebook using Ads for Post Engagement. Then, I focused on follow-up engagement, which involves actively responding to comments, thanking people who share my post not just on Facebook, but also on Twitter. (I used Buzzsumo for this)
Furthermore, I engaged actively in the niche community, with fans, fellow social media marketers, and other Pages. This might have created engagement on my Page indirectly when people check out my Page. I don’t know for sure, but this is not the point. The KPIs I decided on were:
- Number of new Page Likes
- Number of Website Clicks
- Number of new Email Sign-ups
The number of new Page Likes measures growth in brand awareness and new interest in my brand.
The number of Website Clicks measures interests in the content, reflecting how “great and relevant” it was.
Finally, the number of email sign ups rounds off whether my plan has succeeded in reviving both my Facebook Page and my Website. I also have a mini-KPI - Number of post likes, comments, and shares - which I did not focus on because I regarded it as a vanity metric.But it is useful as a sign of my Page activity.
[blockquote]What are your social media KPIs?[/blockquote]
Why Post Engagement and not Page Likes or Website Clicks?
The reason why I chose to promote my Facebook Post for Post Engagement instead of Page Likes or Website Clicks is because I wanted to revive both my Facebook Page and Website activity.
Had I chosen to promote my Page for Page Likes, I might have seen more new Page Likes, but I would not know for sure if these fans like the content I share.
That poses a lot of risk. I could end up with non-engaged fans that mean nothing. Page Likes don’t pay bills. An engaged fan base where great amount of value is provided will lead to sales that pay bills.
Had I chosen to promote my Page for Website Clicks, many of them would have bypassed my Facebook Page and that leaves my Page as inactive as it was.
Many of them would land up on my blog, read my content if they are interested, and leave my website. Some of them might sign up for email updates, but most of them won’t. This is not sustainable.
My Results
For a start, this is nothing stellar. But your results do not have to be outstanding to show that it works. This is only the start. I will keep this going and share my results here. The results you see below are separated into 3 categories:
- Total
- Direct
- Indirect
Direct and Indirect results are categorised based on whether it was a result of Facebook Ads.
For the most accurate reflection of the Ads’ effectiveness, you can pay attention to only the “Direct” columns.
These results are achieved because of the Facebook Ad spend. I included the “Total” and “Indirect” results because I am evaluating the effectiveness of my social media plan above, not just the Facebook Ads alone.
[blockquote]Note: I set a Ad Budget limit of S$3.00 per day. Because Facebook pro-rated my ad spend for the 1st day, I only managed to spend $1.04+$3+$3=$7.04 over the 3 days. Also, my ad spend is in Singapore Dollars. To compare my spend with yours, you can convert them to your local currency. (1 SGD = 0.80 USD OR 0.58 Euros)[/blockquote]
To make these results more meaningful, let’s look at the cost per KPI.
For the most accurate reflection of the Ads’ effectiveness, refer to the “Direct” column. To make these results even more meaningful, I am going to adjust them below.
To do so, first, I put a relative value to each new Page Like, Website Click, and Email sign-up. For example, each fan averages 5 website clicks. Then, each website visitor has a 3% chance of signing up for my email updates.
Thus, I obtained a ratio here: Value of 20 new fans = Value of 100 website clicks = Value of 3 email sign ups.
Using this ratio, I calculated a “proportion factor” by converting all the results to one of these proportions. In my case, with 26 new fans, 48 website clicks, and 11 email signups, the total value is the same as having 26 + (48/100)*20 + (11/3)*20 = 108.93 fans. Using this simple formula, I obtained the Cost Per Desired Action. i.e. $7.04/108.93 new fans = $0.0646 per fan.
Some of you might disagree with this method of calculation. It is difficult to treat your website clicks and email sign ups as new fans after all.
In essence, this figure of $0.0646 reflects more accurately the cost per desired action in a situation when you have multiple KPIs, rather than the real cost per fan.
Remember that this is an example of a Page Revival Strategy that has several KPIs - Page Likes, Website Clicks, and Email sign-up.
You might prefer to run an entire FB ad campaign focused on driving a single KPI. The advantages of doing so includes easier optimisation, especially when you are deciding which ads to cut and what variables to change.
What I will be doing next
A Page ‘Revival’ strategy, as the name suggests, means that I need to go beyond just a 3-day effort to make the activity stick. At this point, I am considering several options.
But there is one thing for sure - the ad results I shared above will become my base data. From here onwards, I should try my best to achieve better results.
What to focus on
Should I focus on maximising a single KPI, or to follow through my current tactical approach for a while longer? The outcome of this decision will decide whether I continue using a Page Post Engagement Ad or other ads such as Page Like, Website Clicks, or Website Conversion.
Increasing the Ad Budget
At this stage, I feel that promoting my post with S$3 a day over 3 days is more than enough.
Bear in mind that however, the budget you set will definitely limit your results.
With a larger budget, naturally you may achieve higher KPIs. If you set a small budget like me, optimising the campaign usually means cutting the ads that don’t work and those that cost more per action than you want.
But cost-cutting is usually not the goal in marketing; increase in sales is.
That being said, what I have shared is a run-of-the-mill idea that worked to some extent in helping me achieve my goals.
If you focus on the size of your idea and not the budget, you might be able to achieve some stellar results, like this small spice shop (thanks Francisco!).
Other options
I could also explore the following:
- Improving the copy, capturing the essence of my brand by making sure I use the right tone, etc
- Lengthening my Ad Sets from 3 to 5 days
- Optimise my email signup conversion funnel. Aim to increase from current 3% conversion rate to 5%
- Experiment, experiment, experiment. Don’t listen to so-called best practices and find out for myself what works best
Your Homework
Do up your social media marketing plan.
If you wish to, you can email me at [email protected] and show it to me before you run it. I will give you a few useful pointers. Else, feel free to share the results with me on my Facebook Page!
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