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9:11 am
June 16, 2011
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NoDebtMBA
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The College Investor said:
When you sign up, there is an option for website. I would choose brand, and I think website is under there. I find Facebook to be very valuable for generating traffic and building community.
Found it. Perfect. Facebook here I come! Thanks!
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10:19 am
June 16, 2011
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JT_McGee
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I'm not going to add a Facebook page until I know that I can launch it and get 500 likes that day, which may not be for forever, but hey…
Moreso than Twitter, Facebook relies on "social proof." People like to like things that other people like, and they also like to let other people decide for them how they communicate with a particular brand. In order to have a successful Facebook page, you have to have a lot of talkers and commenters from day one. Otherwise, everyone will just sit around, see the updates, and never talk about them on Facebook.
That's my FB theory and reason for why I don't have one. I'll launch one when I know it can be a channel for good discussion from the start. It's hard to build a facebook page slowly–few ever actually accomplish that feat.
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10:40 am
June 16, 2011
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Sustainable PF
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That's our experience JT. 1 comment for every 50 posts it seems. A like here and there.
We get 5-10 website hits from FB daily. As such I don't give it much thought – and I don't know what to do with it even if I did sit staring at it.
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11:37 am
June 16, 2011
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JT_McGee
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Post edited 11:38 am – June 16, 2011 by JT_McGee
Sustainable PF said:
That's our experience JT. 1 comment for every 50 posts it seems. A like here and there.
We get 5-10 website hits from FB daily. As such I don't give it much thought – and I don't know what to do with it even if I did sit staring at it.
I hate to be "that guy" but really, once you launch it, it is very, very hard to recover. FB requires a lot of time investment, and potentially capital investment, to be a successful platform. Anyone who clicks to it now sees inactivity, which makes them think about why they would "Like" you other than to receive daily updates. Assuming rational subscribers, the rational subscriber interested in your updates would subscribe by email or bookmark your site. It's pretty flippin' hard to keep up with anyone's stuff on Facebook when the average person has hundreds of friends, scores of "likes," and no real incentive to scroll through all of them to find one of several hundred.
I just hate the idea of making Facebook my "go-to" for accumulating subscribers. Compared to RSS/Email, it's far more expensive, and far less guaranteed in response rate.
Back to the topic: Can you get a few friends to start up some conversation? Controversy? Every good Facebook page has at least one very outspoken person who plays "Devil's Advocate." They're great for stirring the pot, and creating credibility for your blog in that every time the Devil's Advocate speaks up, the community steps in to disagree. It's a powerful marketing tool. It builds credibility, activity, and user value. Find a friend who isn't in on the sustainable thing to get some people fired up.
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11:52 am
June 16, 2011
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Sustainable PF
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The job is all yours, JT ;) You fit the bill "who isn't on the sustainable thing". Hehehe
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12:20 pm
June 16, 2011
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NoDebtMBA
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That certainly gives me some food for thought. I've already created the page but have no links really in or out of it so maybe I'll hold off on launching and publicizing until I'm well beyond the 40 visitors a day hump I'm at now.
Is Twitter the same? Following someone seems less public than a "like" on facebook so I think it my be more tractable to slow building. I've also created a Twitter account today, but have just followed Yakezie challengers who had Twitter in the master list. Thoughts?
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1:35 pm
June 16, 2011
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Jeff @ Sustainable Life Blog
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I just started one, and as of right now have 3 "likes" I'm not putting too much time in it, so it could very well suck, but I think JT Is right – it will be very hard to build a following on there – even the yakezie page has less than 200 fans.
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1:45 pm
June 16, 2011
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Hunter @financiallyc
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I dunno JT. I think Facebook has a better potential to reach people than email.
FB has the advantage of a visual magnet in the thumbnail you can add to each post. That is better than text only, with email. Also, while it is simple to filter FB posts, it's easier with email. I think email is a chore to go through, and regularly add senders to the junk list. There is a certain amount of paranoia about emails that people are wary of. Facebook doesn't have that spam element to it, yet.
If you have a look at the FB adoption rates in the last few years, they are phenomenal across most demographic categories, everyone has an account and they check in every day. I think if you present an interesting story with an enticing button you will drive traffic towards your blog.
The FB page is a dead site. No-one visits. The purpose is to have people join/like/fan and then your posts will go to their news feed.
I think a lot of older blogs have become successful utilizing email subscriptions and RSS feeds, but I think FB has eclipsed them. FB allows a much higher degree of interactivity than email or RSS. The explosion in social media tells us that people don't want to be dictated to (that word is too strong). They want to enage with equals, and this is what FB offers.
I just read Problogger 2nd Ed. and it gives only 1/2 page to FB. I honestly think they need to give it more credit in the 3rd edition.
My blog is growing rapidly because of FB. I have only 5 email and RSS readers, and my wife and I make up 2 of those. I'm considering dropping email and RSS subscriptions completely.
Just thinking out loud.
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3:14 pm
June 16, 2011
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JT_McGee
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Post edited 3:27 pm – June 16, 2011 by JT_McGee
I'm thinking out loud too. The discussion is useful.
The reason I think Facebook requires numbers is as institutional as it is social:
– Institutionally, "recommended pages" only pop up to users after reaching threshold of adoption with your facebook friends. This is also dictated by velocity. If 10 of your friends "like" something over the course of 60 days, for example, it is far less likely to show up in the recommended pages than if 5 of your friends like it in 1 day. Additionally, in order for your posts to keep showing up in the "news feed," people have to interact with your page. If they don't at least view the page every X amount of time, or X percentage of page views, then it stops showing up in their newsfeed. You're silenced from then on out. They're dead weight. (This algorithm changes way too often, too. Really peeves me I can't quantify it.)
– Socially, if there are no comments on the FB page, then there will never be any comments on the FB page. It's a catch-22. You need people to get people. When you "like" something, it is public. You're vouching for it; you're putting your rubber stamp on it for all your friends to say "hey, I like this brand." Humans like nothing more to be in the majority. Afterthought: I'm probably not going to comment about…say, my credit card debt on Facebook.
One of the reasons why I think Facebook doesn't yet have that spam element to it is because "it's just one more like." What is 1 more update inbetween several hundred others? Even if I check Facebook 3 times per day, I'm still going to have to see that "300+" blue thing show up next to "most recent." That's 900 items a day. One more "like" doesn't mean anything to me because it's .1% of all the things I see that day. 1 more spam email, even if I get 50 emails a day, is 2% of what I see that day. That's an order of magnitude in both quality and barriers to engagement. I'd rather have 50 emails than 1000 FB likes if they're accumulated over a long period of time.
Also, again, FB does the automatic sorting/hiding thing to hide pages and users who you don't interact with. So, users don't have a bad experience if they get too many updates–they're gone before the user can get p'd off about it. Having 200 likes and inactivity means only 10% (who do actually go to the page) actually see what you post. That's a 20 person reach.
For the purposes of having one more mechanism to send updates, I think it's great. But I think it's also a great way to lose a lot of brand equity in not having an engaged audience. If I see a great blog with 10 "likes" on FB, their credibility goes down immediately in my head. Or if I see a great blog with 340584209534 likes and no activity, I just assume they're a spammer/cheater/stat inflator.
tl;dr All in all, FB risk-to-reward for me is still far too high. I think it's negative in its economic return on time, and potentially brand-damaging. For the purposes of transparency, I have only 57 RSS/Email subscribers (50%+ click through) and don't use FB yet.
Whew. That's the last of my 2 cents.
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8:55 pm
June 21, 2011
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Kristoph
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NarrowBridge said:
I get a lot of traffic from Facebook, but it is not automatic. It is all through leveraging my real social network. When I launched my personal blog I got over 50 views the first day from my Facebook friends.
The biggest day ever on my Israel blog I got a link from a high profile Facebook page. It brought in about 7000 hits in a day if memory serves.
Eric is right. Facebook is ONLY A TOOL. The idea is to not just set a page up on FB to get more exposure. You use it to network with "influencers" (people who like to spread word and/or have a pre-existing following) and eventually ask for them to share your content with people. When people come back and "like" your page or put a link to your content on FB, all their friends see it, and it can go viral.
Just remember that although FB can be really powerful, as a tool, it is only as powerful as the manner in which you use it. I will be starting a facebook campaign after solidifying my guest blogging method of acquiring traffic.
Kristoph
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4:45 pm
June 22, 2011
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Invest It Wisely
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I barely use Facebook for personal use let alone for the website, but maybe it's something I should look more into at some point.
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11:21 am
June 23, 2011
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Khaleef @ KNS Financial
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I have close to 800 likes, but I still don't get much traffic from it. But I haven't put much effort into it either. I've noticed that some people will write 4 or 5 times a day on their FB wall, and have good conversations because of it. It seems like it can work better if you are seen as an "expert" on a particular topic.
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6:55 am
June 24, 2011
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Jackie
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KNS Financial said:
I have close to 800 likes, but I still don't get much traffic from it. But I haven't put much effort into it either. I've noticed that some people will write 4 or 5 times a day on their FB wall, and have good conversations because of it. It seems like it can work better if you are seen as an "expert" on a particular topic.
What are some of the FB pages that you think are especially good? (Where people have good conversations…)
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8:44 am
June 24, 2011
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DebtFreeByThirty
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Twitter is great, I think it is much better than having a Facebook page. I get more traffic from it and it is easy to use. Also, I have more followers on Twitter than I have subscribers.
Is Twitter the same? Following someone seems less public than a "like" on facebook so I think it my be more tractable to slow building. I've also created a Twitter account today, but have just followed Yakezie challengers who had Twitter in the master list. Thoughts?
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10:40 am
June 24, 2011
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Buy Like Buffett
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I think Twitter is better for short traffic bumps but Facebooks works better for long term reader engagement.
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12:13 pm
June 24, 2011
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Khaleef @ KNS Financial
| | Fat Guy, Skinny Wallet | |
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Jackie said:
KNS Financial said:
I have close to 800 likes, but I still don't get much traffic from it. But I haven't put much effort into it either. I've noticed that some people will write 4 or 5 times a day on their FB wall, and have good conversations because of it. It seems like it can work better if you are seen as an "expert" on a particular topic.
What are some of the FB pages that you think are especially good? (Where people have good conversations…)
Hey Jackie, here are a couple that come to my mind:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/…..635?ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/pages/…..4806786224
http://www.facebook.com/smartp…..ome?ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/Ask.Kim
I noticed that they have a good number of people posting questions on their page as well as commenting on their statuses.
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10:39 am
June 25, 2011
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Jackie
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Thanks KNS, I'm going to look at those and see if I can emulate :)
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4:50 pm
June 27, 2011
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Tim
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I'm trying to build up my facebook page because of the future power it might have in bringing traffic. There's not much now, (less than 5 a day on average) but I know of some sites that get a ton of traffic from FB. One of those is Smart Passive Income.
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