If you're managing social media for your business, you've noticed that there are tons of Facebook metrics to decipher. In the past, measuring the success of marketing campaigns was a bit like watching baseball – not really that interesting if you don't know how to keep score. Thanks to social media, the game has changed for the better. If you're not a "numbers" person, this could be overwhelming, but the great news is that once you've learned some key terms, and understand what you're looking at, you'll love to track your efforts. To measure success, it's important to periodically stop and look at metrics to confirm that the train is still on the track. Here is an overview of some of the various Facebook activity reports. Facebook Weekly Page Update If you manage a Facebook page for your business you receive a weekly email entitled "Your weekly Page update." This summary provides you with some solid basic information, about your general page activity, some of which may be driven from paid ads or promotions you ran.   Page Visits – This is the actual number of times a user has directly visited your Facebook page. Total Weekly Reach – Reach refers to the number of people who have had any exposure to various activity from your page, including seeing shared content, Facebook Ads, or promoted posts. People Engaged – This is how many people clicked, liked, commented, or shared your content. Message Response Rate – This is the actual percentage of messages to which you've responded, via the direct message feature on your page. Message Response Time – The average amount of time it takes you to respond to direct messages on your page. The far-right column provides a percentage change for the week; green indicating an increase in activity and red indicating a decrease over last week's numbers. Facebook Insights An in-depth review of your page performance, including advertising results, can be found across the top of your page; it's called Insights. This article covers metrics as they are listed at the time of this article, March 2017. Overview – This is an overview of key actions on your page for a selected date range. Promotions – This tab provides statistics on any recent paid promotions, boosts or ads. To see more ads or to see more detail, near the bottom, you'll see a prompt that says, "Go to Ads Manager." If you click there, you will have access to nearly every fathomable statistic regarding paid Facebook ads. Likes – This view allows you to see total likes, unlikes, net new likes, etc. over any period. Don't be frustrated by unlikes, unless it's a staggering number. Organic likes are people who liked your page for any other reason than a Facebook Ad campaign. Reach – The total number of people on whose feed you appeared, for any reason. Facebook explains, "The number of people your posts were served to." This is a combination of fans and non-fans (potentials). Page [...]

Social Media Success in Action Meet somebody who challenged the status quo – and benefited from the result. Kelly Keeler, the owner of Curves in Morrisburg, Ontario, had grown frustrated with the expensive and ineffective distribution of flyers to bulletin boards, front door ads, ad bags, newspapers, and just about any other form of print media that approached her in this “tough to reach” rural area. When Brian from Engage121 called her in November 2016, she was ready for something entirely new. Curious about the proposition of social media advertising, Kelly started with a small ad - $30 US. People started calling and dropping by, and most importantly, registering! Kelly decided to run another ad, spending another $50. The money was well spent, as she registered 22 new members in her first two months of advertising, “which is FANTASTIC,” Kelly writes. “I have not seen this much traffic in a very long time.” Kelly encourages fellow small business owners to jump in to social media and Facebook ads. “Engage121 helped me take the step into social media advertising.  This is the first thing that has worked for me in a long time. I’m so happy I’m learning how to utilize this service!” Kelly is a veteran franchisee, owning her Curves location for almost 10 years. This dynamo also runs a tanning salon. When not running between her two businesses, you can catch her making beautiful glass art. Join Kelly by getting started with free HOT!Content™, - daily hand-picked, professionally-curated content to build your online social platforms!  If you're already receiving HOT!Content, but would like to learn more about paid social media ads, send us a note, we'd be happy to help you.

If you are like most small business operators, looking for cheap or free ways to market your small business is an ongoing chore. Here’s a little motivation to get you thinking.  Small dollar doesn’t always have to equal small results. No matter how small your business is right now, registering your business name is a smart move. For a small fee, you get to brand your company, gain credibility, and gain more customers to get an identity of its own. This is vital in such a competitive marketplace. To know more about this just visit https://www.incauthority.com/blog/2020/09/24/3-simple-ways-to-register-your-business-name/. Know your competition Regardless of how “niche” you are, somebody is your competitor.  If you’re a specialty kids’ education center, there is likely a similar business the street positioned to sell a little differently.  What makes you unique and what do you think isn’t currently being offered to your market? Slight adjustments in packaging, pricing, business hours, or utilizing services like printing dublin may separate you from the competition. Cross promote with area local businesses Look for other area local businesses and figure out ways that you can benefit from supporting one another.  Do you provide fun events for kids?  Maybe there is a business that is selling fun events for parents – and they could benefit from putting together an “date night” package – drop the kids at one place and enjoy yourselves down the street for one price. Keep in mind, the benefit must work both ways, with both organizations benefitting from the relationship. This can be very successful if you can find businesses nearby who provide a completely different product than you do, but to a very similar target customer. Have a Facebook Page This seems basic, but pageless businesses are more common than you think. Whether you are a substantial local retailer or an independent agent of any kind, your business page should be alive and flying on Facebook. According to AdWeek: 81% of shoppers research products online before purchase 61% read product reviews prior to buying Facebook business pages give you great ways to provide much of this information to prospective customers, often from the mouth of your current customers – which can be very powerful. Post Interesting Info The quirky thing about social media is that an inactive social media presence can be a frightening place.  Having a channel or an account won’t cut it.  You must make that channel active. Otherwise, the pages will feel like abandoned cemeteries. Your social media presence should feel warm, inclusive, and inviting. The other challenge is that you need to post things that are actually interesting to your readers. You cannot only promote your business.  That would be equivalent to a TV channel that only aired commercials. You should post information about your industry, educational content, behind the scenes information, and then include information about your products and services. If you haven’t already taken advantage of our free daily HOT!Content™, tailored by industry, get yours now. Get free HOT!Content for your [...]