A few weeks ago, a Recommend.ly study claimed that a whopping 56 percent of brand pages had less than 256 fans (approximately 2 million pages by my math). What’s more, 31 percent had less than 32 fans. Granted the survey only polled 1.7 million Facebook pages, but that’s still pretty damning evidence.
Why the big number? I think a few things are at work here:
* Companies jumping in with no effective strategy for why they’re using Facebook–or what content they plan to share each day
* Small businesses that start a page and soon realize how much work is involved to really grow a community
* Organizations with no need to start a Facebook page forcing the issue, for whatever reason
I’m convinced the items above are directly to blame for the vast majority of those 56 percent. So what should they do? Shut ‘er down. That’s right. Just shut it down and safe yourself the time and money. Here’s my rationale:
* Some of these folks aren’t even paying attention anymore, so shutting down the page is actually better than having a page up there that you’re not adding to each day (and responding to customer comments)
* If you are active, and you still have less than 256 fans, it might not be the best use of your time. I’m not saying the “fan count” is the end-all-be-all, but you do need some sort of critical mass on Facebook in order for it to be an effective use of your time.
* You can take the time you’re spending generating Facebook content and managing that community and dump it into something that is actually working. Coupon books. Events. PR. Whatever. You know what’s working–put more time into that instead of dumping it into a Facebook page that’s stuck on 123 “likes.”
What do you think? Agree with me? Should 2 million companies across the U.S. shut down their Facebook pages effective immediately. I say yes.
(Note: I’m going to follow my own advice and officially shut down my ACH page I created a while back but never did anything with–really just created it as a test and never paid much attention to it.).
Thanks for installing the Bottom of every post plugin by Corey Salzano. Contact me if you need custom WordPress plugins or website design.
Thank you for this great information, you write very well which I like very much. I really impressed by your post.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeYes u are right i agree with u
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeAgreed. Either delete it or explore other social media networks. Not all companies need a facebook fan page.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Likeits not that they should shut it down, its just that they just wont get any sales or get the brand to new people outthere, shut down no, rethink their facebook marketing strat? yes.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeMy point exactly. The problem is that everyone thinks is a social media manager these days. Managing social media involves as much administrative work as it does creativity.If you don't have a predetermined strategy, don't have the time and people OUTSOURCE! if you don't feel like giving money for social media this it is a little hypocritical to have a Fan page at all. Just delete it.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeIn the beginning there was hype. Social media, like Facebook, was going to be the wave of the marketing future. Everyone who did not jump headlong into this was going to perish or risk being labeled as regressive. I agree with Arik in that CEOs, rather than risk missing the perceived boat plunged in without good business cases, or without adequately understanding the commitment it took to staff the function. They, indeed, succumbed to peer pressure. Not every company needs a social media presence. I, for one, don't want my utility company to purchase a nuclear power plant, because the seller has a Facebook page. A multitude of other industries are in the same situation.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeCompanies do the facebook thing cuz it's the right thing to do. That being said...would these companies feel they would be looked down upon if they were to admit to NOT having a facebook presence?? I think NOT being in the space at all would be more detrimental vs trying to explain they are deploying their resources elsewhere...
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeElissaFreeman See, I disagree with that (respectfully, of course!). I think that's what forces a lot of companies on Facebook, when in reality they really don't have to be. Peer pressure. If there's no good business case, or you just aren't seeing the traction, I say shut it down. With the time factor, I just don't see that as a good business decision.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Likearikhanson I'm with you, Arik. Having/not-having a Facebook Page does make/break a social strategy in my opinion. I have a very real example of my organization (a school district) dropping our Facebook Page for a number of reasons. We had a relatively large number of connections (5,500+) and yet even without it, we are still very much a part of the community conversation and I would argue still have a robust digital footprint. FB no longer fit our needs.
(Btw, I like that my head was on your screen capture of ACH Comms FB Friends liking your Page.)
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeElissaFreeman I disagree, I think being on Facebook without any type of strategy and no interaction with your community is more detrimental than not being there at all. When customers find a brand on Facebook, they expect transparency and interaction in that space. If companies don't provide value and fan comments go unanswered, that will factor into a person's buying decision and will be less likely to purchase from that brand now or in the future.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeCertainly, a big organization shouldn't keep doing Facebook for just a couple hundred fans.
However, I think there are lots of situations where a smaller set of Facebook followers would work well. For example, a locally-owned hardware store or deli or coffee shop in a small town might not even have more than 200 meaningful customer relationships - why should a business like that try for hundreds or thousands of fans? The same goes for, say, a small church, a Boy Scout group, a small campus club, etc.
There are certainly not 2 million companies needing to shut down their Facebook page. In fact, nothing would suck the life out of Facebook more than getting rid of those (smaller) pages where your voice is most likely to be heard.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeScott Meekhof Good point, Scott. But, I'm still putting money on the fact that most of those 2 million pages are either relatively defunct or virtually inactive. I understand and support the case for small businesses to operate with fewer fans--I just don't think that's the case, by and large. Just my guess, of course.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeI agree with JenPioneerPress . There's definitely a "critical mass" number; I find it odd that it's 256. What do you think a reasonable timetable is for getting to that number? I'd peg it somewhere around a year, personally. That's more than enough time to figure out if you'll be using it enough to make it effective.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeMattLaCasse JenPioneerPress Time to get to 256? Depends. With or without advertising? With would be much shorter, in my view.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Likearikhanson I'd agree with that, Arik. If you're going to do Facebook (or any kind of social media really), you need to integrate it into the rest of your marketing plans (e.g. put on letterhead, any company signage, etc). So, if you're doing all of that, six months? I do think it should be at least a year just to give it the old college try. Good things take time. JenPioneerPress
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeSo is 256 some kind of magic number? Seems like an odd cut-off number.
I totally agree with you. We have some pages with fewer fans than that but they are new and we are advertising them and feeding them. If in six months, they're not yet thriving, we'll shut 'em down.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeJenPioneerPress Not sure how they landed on that number. Isn't that the number some associate with the max number of people/connections you can make before maxing out?
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like