It’s a familiar question. A new business launches its very own Facebook page and then begins to post content, but engagement is lackluster. Few people interact with the business page. What should a business owner do? The first question to ask is: Why the lackluster interaction? While many factors may contribute to lackluster interaction with fans, Facebook.com is trying to help small business owners optimize their business. One possible answer: Focus on engaging fans when they are online. Timing is everything in business and interaction with fans is no different. Lots of research exists that can direct a business owner to some rules of thumb when engaging fans on his or her page. But one of the new ways (thanks to a recent update by Facebook) is to simply observe the page data Facebook collects about fans. If you have the new Facebook Insights (and not everyone does just yet), here are the steps to follow to learn how to optimize your posts on your Facebook business page:
Step 1: Go to Insights for your page.
Step 2: Click on “Posts.”
Step 3: Click on “When Your Fans are Online” – this IS the view you want.
This view shows you two things: (1) The average number of your fans who saw any posts on Facebook by day of the week; and (2) The average number of your fans who saw any posts on Facebook in an hour.
An Example
The figure below shows an example from the Mississippi State University Extension Program that I deliver to communities here in Mississippi called Mississippi Bricks to Clicks. You will see two “Insights” from the view I have described above. First, you see that Wednesday (this past week) was the highest number of fans reached (116) and that the two top times were 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. View the info graphic about this, here.
So, use what Facebook gives you now. Next week, I’ll use this information when making my own posts on the Mississippi Bricks to Clicks page. Give it a try. And if you don’t understand, feel free to contact me at barnes@agecon.msstate.edu.
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