The Purpose of your Facebook Page, and how Knowing it can Grow it

Are you trying to grow your Facebook page?  Are you feeling a little frustrated with the Facebook changes?  Do you need a plan to grow your page beyond what you're doing? Why is your Facebook page not working for you?

I am teaming up with my bloggy friend, Emily over at Education to the Core to bring you a social media series called, Social Media Tips and Tricks.

Our series aims to help you grow your social media platforms.  I will be sharing my ideas on how to grow your Facebook page whilst Emily will open doors on how you can grow your blog.

Additionally, towards the end of the series, we will explore both Pinterest and Instagram and how it can help to grow your business. 

When will this be happening? Over the next few months, Emily and I aim to cover everything you need to help grow your social media platforms. We will each post fortnightly on our area of expertise (Emily; blogging, myself; Facebook).  This is the first week in our series.  Just in case you miss the next posts, you can follow our blogs:  Click here to follow Clever Classroom.  Click here to follow Education to the Core. ***

If you're looking for a recipe to grow your social media platforms, then you have come to the right place!

 Here's my (Clever Classroom) Facebook link.

Emily and I welcome any comments and questions along the way. 

What tips and tricks will you focus on? The Facebook landscape has dramatically changed in the past 18 months.  To grow our pages we must change too. I will be taking a closer look at Facebook for businesses.  

I know that having a successful Facebook page is a recipe of many things done consistently. Growing your Facebook page has many parts to it or, if you like, many ingredients. I will be looking at the purpose of your page, content, insights (data), frequency and timing, interaction, driving traffic and community.

Shouldn't I just pay to boost?  Facebook has made it harder for business pages to function in the past year.  I feel your pain.  Our reach and interaction have been squashed by their ever changing algorithms.  They are a clever bunch!  Many businesses both small and large, have been forced to pay to boost posts.  I was told by a marketing company who wanted to charge me $10,000 that I needed to do that, even though my page was growing just fine.  I'm glad I ignored their advice!  I refuse to pay for advertising, call me crazy but I just can't do it!  I have never done it but if you have had ongoing success with paying for posts, I would love to hear about it.  I know that you can grow your page without paying!  You just have to be consistent and have the right information.

I invite you accept the challenge of taking your Facebook page to the next level. 

Here's what I will cover in the Facebook blogging series. 

Facebook: a recipe for growth

Purpose:  The Purpose of your Facebook Page, and how Knowing it can Grow it? 

Content: How the right content will help grow your page?

Insights: Are my stats really that important? 

Frequency and Timing: How often and when should I post? 

Interaction: I don't have time to interact with fans.  It's not that important!  Is it? 

Driving Traffic to my blog:  How do I get people to my blog?

My Community: Why should I be a part of my community of bloggers?

Some of these points will be posted in one post, the others will be combined. 

Week One:

What is the Purpose of my Facebook page? 

The Purpose of your Facebook Page, and how Knowing it can Grow it

Grab a piece of paper and get ready to map out your Facebook plan!  

Define the purpose of your Facebook page.  Your blog and or Facebook page might be all about working out, education, healthy eating, cars, photography, or scrap booking but what is special about your Facebook page? 

For me, I am a teacher-blogger and I choose to post about what I am passionate about.  What are you passionate about?  Grab a pen and write down a few things that you're passionate about in your area.

What are your interests?  This may be closely linked to your passions but they can be different. For example, I am passionate about social skills, learning to read, writing, school readiness and play.  I am interested in the brain, the psychology of learning and teaching strategies. Your interests might also be things that you haven't yet looked in to, but want to. 

Write down a few things that you are interested in. 

What are you good at?  Write down a few of your strengths in your specific area (e.g education, fitness) that you are good at. You know you can do it!

Have a look at your lists.  Do you blog about, or does your website represent what you post about on Facebook?  Is there a clear link that tells the audience what you are about? 

Now that you have a list of things that you're passionate about, interested in and are good at, you have the first part of your recipe ready!

You have a clearer picture of what you're all about, this is now the magnet to which you will attract your fans.  You will aim to attract like-minded thinkers to your page.  You don't really want people that have little in common with you.  Do you?

I am not business trained but from experience, the points you have noted above are one part of your brand.  Your brand sets you apart from others and makes you unique within the marketplace.  In the business world, this is known as your USP; Unique Selling Proposition.  What's your USP?  What is unique about your business?  Do you have a niche?  Can you offer something via your skills (your strengths), interests and passions?  What do you do better than others? What does your business value?  What are your core business values?
Take a minute to write down your USP. Place it in the middle of your page.

Now that you have made it all about you, let's change our thinking!

Is the purpose of your page all about your business?  

Or is the purpose of your page all about your fans? 

If you guessed the latter, you are correct! Remember that your Facebook audience is different from other audiences.  You need to have their needs at the front of your mind as you formulate your posts.  I will discuss this in depth next fortnight.

Yes, you will include your passions, interests and things you're good at but these are a means to make it all about your fans.  You want your fans that connect with your messages. Once your fans feel like they can connect with your page, they will stick around. 

In my opinion, your Facebook page IS NOT a platform for you to stand on and scream, "Look at me." Nope, not even close! Is this really your purpose?  Is this what you want to be known for? Is this your magnet to which customers will come back? 

Your Facebook audience will follow you because they engage with your message.  If your consistent message is buy me, this is on sale, grab this now, hurry it's for you, I'm having a sale, then this will get old, real quick.  Gone are the days where it's all sell, sell sell.  Don't get me wrong, sales, discounts, giveaways are GREAT, but they are not the hero of your recipe! 

Know your audience!  If your purpose is all about how to buy your products/services then that's what fans will see in their feed each day.  Do people come to Facebook to be sold stuff?  Why do you click on your news feed each day?  This is why your Facebook audience is very different to your blog or Pinterest audience.

Now that you have started your Facebook recipe for growth, come back in a fortnight (or follow this blog) to add to your growing plan.  Don't forget to bring your written plan too, we will be adding to it. 

I will be discussing content.

Week 2: "How the right content will help grow your page?"

Next week, Emily from Education to the Core will be will be discussing; "How an Image Can Drive Your Traffic."

You might also like to follow our Pinterest board; Social Media Tips and Information.