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How to Use Facebook Pages to Track Your Local Competitors

Do you know what your local business competitors are doing on Facebook?

Have you used the Facebook Pages to Watch feature?

Comparing what other Pages are doing on Facebook can give you useful information on current trends.

In this article you’ll discover how to track what’s working for other pages and adapt your own Facebook tactics accordingly.

Why Pages to Watch?

The Pages to Watch feature in Facebook Insights allows you to watch other Facebook pages so you can compare their activity, engagement and audience growth to your own.

Pages to Watch is particularly handy if you want to see what’s working for your competitors or similar niche pages. You can see exactly what content they’re posting, how often they’re posting and when they’re posting—and the resulting engagement. Armed with that information, you can tailor your own updates accordingly.

You can watch any brand page on Facebook you want—you don’t even have to like the page. If you have 100 to 10,000 fans, you can create a list of up to 100 pages to watch.

Most page admins won’t need to watch that many pages, but it’s nice to have one place to keep track of your top competitors or brands that inspire you.

How to Set Up Pages to Watch

To find the Pages to Watch feature, go Insights and click on Overview. Scroll down the page to the Add Pages section (it’s just below the Your 5 Most Recent Posts box).

Facebook Pages to Watch monitors other pages’ content.

To create your list, you have to choose at least five other pages to watch, but I recommend making a larger list. The more pages you watch, the easier it is to see trends (e.g., whether short text updates outperform updates with links).

To add new pages to your list, just click the blue Add Pages button and type the name of a new page in the search bar. Once you find the page you’re looking for, click Watch Page to add it to your list.

Add Pages to Watch to gain more insight.

If you can’t find the page you’re looking for, check the page’s name again. Some pages may change their name or have a different name from their parent company.

Facebook automatically suggests new pages for you based on your past choices. These appear both in your pop-up search window and on the original Insights page.

Suggested Pages to Watch finds pages for you.

If you want to follow any of the suggested pages, you should know that Facebook sends those pages a notification that they’ve been added to a watch list. However, the page will not know it’s you watching them.

If you want to get a broader sense of what your fans respond to, it’s helpful to find pages your current fans already like, even if those pages aren’t related to your niche. It’s an easy way to see what other kinds of content your fans are interested in seeing.

To find those pages, log into your personal profile. In the Graph Search box, type in “pages liked by people who like [your page name]”. The results show all of the other pages your audience has also liked.

Facebook Graph Search helps you find pages your audience likes.

Now you know what other brands are showing up in your audience’s news feed, and whom you’re competing against for their attention. Add them to your list to see how they compare to the niche pages you’re watching.

Graph Search may be more useful to pages with a large number of followers because it shows trends across your entire audience. If your page has a lower number of likes, your results may be less consistent because there aren’t enough fans to show trends.

Spot Tactic Trends

The best part about Pages to Watch is that it tells you exactly what kind of content works both on and off your page. If you see that your watched pages are having more success with images than links or videos, try using more images. If all the top posts have very little text, then focus more on one short message per post.

An important factor of increasing page activity is knowing when and how many times to post. Sure, there are a lot of studies and research that give you a basic idea, but does that advice really hold true for your page?

The truth is that each page is different. Some pages’ audiences may be sufficiently active that they can post multiple times per day; whereas other pages may only want to post once a week to get the best results. You have to test and retest to see what works for you.

To help you along, watch how often other pages post and how it affects their engagement. What time of day are they posting? What time of day results in the most comments, likes and shares? Experiment with your own page and post at those times as well to see if it affects your own page’s engagement.

You’ll likely find that some pages are more useful for helping you spot content and engagement trends. Don’t be afraid to add and delete pages from your list as necessary.

Compare Engagement

The Insights Overview page shows you the high-level numbers (e.g., total likes, number of posts and engagement, etc.), but to see the specific posts that are doing well, you’ll need to dive a little deeper.

Go back to the top of your Insights page and click the Posts tab to the right of the Overview tab. On the Posts page click Top Posts from Pages You Watch.

Posts this Week shows you what content works best.

Now you can see the top five posts for that week from the list of pages you watch. Even though you may be following more than five pages, Facebook only delivers the top five posts that received the most engagement. That means you may see multiple posts from a single page and no results from another.

Facebook shows you the exact post, the date it was published and the engagement it received. Click on the text of the post to see the full update and how many likes, comments and shares it currently has.

The information is useful because you want to track the content that’s working, not the content that’s mediocre.

If five posts per week aren’t enough for you, you have another option. You can like other pages using Facebook as your page (instead of your personal profile) to see the full stream of their posts in real time through your page’s news feed.

To switch from your personal profile to your page profile, click the down arrow at the top right of the Facebook toolbar. Under Use Facebook As, choose the page you want to use to like the new page. Go to each page on your Pages to Watch list and like their page.

Facebook news feed works for pages too.

Don’t forget, though, that this is a public action—the page’s admin will be able to see that your page liked their page.

Once you’ve liked all of the pages you want to keep an eye on, click the Home button to return to your page’s news feed. Check your page news feed regularly to see the latest posts from your list and how much engagement their content is getting.

Over to You

Even though Facebook posts now reach fewer fans than they used to, page likes, comments and shares are still major metrics for many marketers.

Watching other pages to see how their engagement grows (or shrinks) can be a valuable tool. As you compare what content and timing works for others, you can adapt your own update tactics to reach more people.

Adapted From http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebooks-pages-to-watch/

Facebook

The 10 Rules That Every Restaurant Needs To Know Before Posting On Facebook

Here are ten rules that your restaurant should consider before posting on Facebook…

1. Keep things positive
Being positive promotes engagement and encourages sharing. Equally as important, being negative may cost you fans. People are quick to unlike a restaurant or business if posts are negative or controversial.

2. Make your posts informative by giving “tips” and including links
The most appealing updates are ones that offer something. Don’t disclose everything — this increases the likelihood that fans will click. Post an interesting fact. If you are an expert in the field, share tips. If you’re sharing a blog post or an online article, create a status update that features the piece’s most interesting fact or statement to stir reader curiosity and encourage click-throughs. Instead of copying and pasting a long URL into your status update, use a link-shortener like Bit.ly to make your post brief and more likely to be shared.

3. Always Include images and your logo
Posts with images get the highest amount of engagement on Facebook, so be sure to include one when you can. The perfect size is 800×600. Increase your brand awareness by including your logo on the images that you post. Creating content is “king.” The more original content you can create, the better. For a restaurant, consider images of your meals or diners enjoying their experience with you.

4. Keep your posts mobile-friendly
Use simple imagery that can easily be seen on mobile devices — anywhere from 50-70% of your fans read your posts on their phones. This means that when you are creating content, mobile users should be your first thought as opposed to being an afterthought.

5. Thank and reward your fans
Your fans want to feel as if they are part of a community. This turns casual fans into brand advocates. Make your fans feel as if they are benefiting from being your fan. Consider offering Facebook exclusive deals or restaurant discounts to thank them. This helps your business grow through word of mouth and proves popular as a post topic.

6. Always respond to posts
Posts aren’t the only activities that grab attention — comments and responses are equally as important. Engage with people and build relationships through conversation. This includes being available to respond and addressing negative feedback. Never delete a negative post. Instead, address it and own it. Admitting fault makes you look more credible.

7. All of your posts need to be engaging
Ask questions to get engagement. Multiple choice questions, fill in the blank, and describe this picture in three words are all simple techniques that increase engagement. You cannot simply share stories or information. Engage the audience with your posts. The more people are engaged with your content, the more people that will see your content. If you are posting consistently with your company logo (see #3), the more people will develop a connection between your company and your message.

8. You should be posting 5-10 times a week
A common mistake many companies make is posting too much or too little. You want to make sure that fans see your brand. Your “superfans” will see all of what you post, whereas casual fans will see less. Posting 5-10 times a week helps assure that if fans missed a message on Monday, they will see a different message on Tuesday.

9. Get feedback from your fans
All too many restaurants fail to get feedback from their fans. Your Facebook fans can be your own personal focus group and they are often interested in sharing their opinions. Additionally, they like to think that their opinion could help shape future business decisions.

10. Develop a consistent tone
It is important that you aren’t harming your brand by posting information that does not match your brand identity. Just because you find something amusing, doesn’t mean that your fans will.

Bonus:
11. Tell users what to expect
If you’re posting a video or linking to a lengthy blog article, set your followers’ expectations by telling them exactly how long it is so they know what to expect.

Day of the week:
Moods change by the day of the week:
Mondays: Morale is low but optimistic.
Tuesdays: People are at their lowest. The week feels as if it has still only started. People are also most susceptible to advertisements.
Wednesday: The week is starting to look up. People are more motivated.
Thursday: There is a light at the end of the tunnel. People are in good moods and like to be reminded of it.
Friday: People are checked-out and looking to get out. They are easily distracted.
Saturday: People are out enjoying their weekends.
Sunday: People are optimistic and motivated about the next week.

In essence, mood matters. This means that you should post different content on different days of the week.

Time of day:
Post when the audience is listening not just when your restaurant is open. This will ensure more user engagement. However, do not always post at the same time of day. Fans that are on in the morning are going to be different than the fans that are on in the evening.

In Summary:
On Facebook there isn’t one “perfect post” or ideal time of day to post. Instead, you can develop a strategy that gets different types of content to different types of people, at different times. The key factor to remember when creating Facebook content, is that you need to be vigilant—constantly looking to diversify what and when you post.

Adapted from http://www.business2community.com/facebook/10-rules-every-business-needs-know-posting-facebook-0833600

Facebook, Social Networking, Twitter

Social Media: What Impression are you giving your customers?

Many people seem to Tweet and post comments on Facebook without thinking about what they’re saying. That’s bad enough on a personal account but an ill thought out post on your business Twitter account or Fan Page can do quite a bit of harm. Here’s an excellent article from Harsh Aimera that discusses this as well as looking at which social networks you should be using for your business …

Harsh Ajmera wrote:

Isn’t it amazing how it only takes seconds for you to form an opinion about someone, even before they have opened their mouth! The same is just as true online. But what if you were unprepared to start those conversations? Maybe your hair hadn’t been brushed yet, you had morning breath, you forgot your business cards, or you were still dressed in your pajamas. Not a good impression. Similarly on Social Media a lot of times customers are turned off with the online presence of the brands.

But on these platforms it’s all about the customers! By engagement, creating awareness, drive traffic and create sales! That’s how you build customer relationship which in turn makes them your paying customer in future. Are you also networking in your pajamas? Don’t worry with these solutions you will be able to attract customers like a magnet.

Which Social Sites Should You Choose?

The most common mistakes brands make, they create their brand pages on all platforms and expect customers to just pop. You have multiple options on social media, and as a brand you need to choose the platforms in which your target audience is lives, drinks or sleeps. And need to be conscious of the type of content works best on that platform, to do the same below is the image that you might helpful.

The selection of photo, video, link, or text posts for each platform is of utmost importance and so are below points describing the key to success on Social Media for your brand.

You are your Brand

The most important way to create your online presence is by being clear on what your brand is and how you want to express it to your customers. Once you have sorted that strategy you can start working on ways to strategize and understand where your potential customers are hanging out online. How you want to market your brand and the desired way it should affect them.

Example: Jetblue Airlines has a great presence and the way it handles interaction be it negative or positive.

Engagement is the key

Don’t just stand there; do something. Simply being present on social media doesn’t cut it these days. People need a reason to interact with you, and their reason will never be “because they’re here.” Make an effort to create content your target audience will find interesting and will keep them coming back for more. The beauty of social media is that it’s a two-way medium, so converse with your audience. Respond to their posts and questions, share their stories, and give your brand page a personality. What you want is for the people who connect with you to stop and read your posts, rather than scrolling past them. Eventually, when you spur enough engagement, you’ll have customers voluntarily posting reviews, and tagging photos regarding your brand product and spreading the word for you!

Example: Tata Docomo has got it right with the engagement and the sort of content to be posted on social media with the amount of likes, followers, +1’s they have received.

Are You Really Wearing Pajamas?

Just like people are forming opinions about you by how you dress, how you do your hair, how you smell, etc. People are always forming very real opinions about you by how your web site or blog looks, how your social profiles look and what you say. Everything should be clearly expressing what your brand is about. Your blog and social profiles should also express your uniqueness. No one likes going to someone’s boring, unprofessional site. People want to know what makes your brand different than your competitors, why they should care about what you have to say. Be innovative and different; don’t do the things which have been done to death in various platforms. Be unique and don’t copy others, otherwise they won’t be able to tell the difference, eventually get bored and just be another Fan/ follower number on your page!

Example:Oreo is a great example of the way they handle their brand pages. They have creative content.

No vacation on Social Media

There are no vacations on social media, once you have made your brand page you have to be committed. A lot of brands initially create brand pages get their desired amount to followers/fans and then stop! They become a Ghost. Update your profiles with content which is viable and consistent. If you can’t post manually everyday! Then choose social tools like Buffer, Hootsuite which will help you pre-set your task and post it for you according to your schedule!

Food for thought? Are you using the right social networks for your business and for your customers and are you posting the sort of content that they really want to see?

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