Unexplained Drop in Facebook Followers
Facebook is an interesting beast. As I continue to play around with various means of connecting with fans, a big part of that comes in the form of social media websites like Facebook. It’s huge in the book world, and for really any business at all these days.
While I can’t say for certain how my Facebook presence influences sales or interest (and honestly, I don’t think it leads to much of any sales at all), I do think a strong social media presence is worth having. At the very least, it allows a way for fans of my books to get and stay involved.
That being said, many “fans” of my Facebook page don’t seem to be involved at all. With nearly 2,000 followers on Facebook, you’d think that would correlate to over 2,000 sales of books, but alas, that is not the case. Many of my followers seem to be random people, not customers. It’s as if these people have just clicked “like” because they saw it, not because they actually want to read the books or even subscribe to updates.
While I like to see a big number like 2,000, I think it’s a shame that so few of my “fans” are actually fans. This is a shame because the messages I intend to give out to my actual fans may get lost among all those who don’t care to see it. In other words, if I read the metrics that tell me a post has 345 views, that number might sound significant, but in reality only 10 of those people might actually be interested. So really, the post has 10 views.
The “random fans” are not only a huge problem for my metrics and my data and, but more importantly, if I do want to do any serious forms of paid advertising, these lurking “false fans” are just going to screw up who my ads are targeting. It’ll cost me a lot more if I advertise to people who just don’t care.
But here’s where it gets good…
Interestingly, a lot of these random followers seem to be leaving. My Facebook page had over 2,000 fans for a long time, but now that number (at the time of me posting this) is down to 1,988. While that may sound like a bad thing at first, I actually am glad that some of my “non-fans” are leaving the page, as it will make it easier for me to target the people who are actually interested.
I’m not sure why people are leaving my page, especially all at once like this. Perhaps I’m posting too much? Perhaps the recent legal debacle with Facebook is to blame for people leaving the website? Perhaps they left for unexplained other reasons? I honestly don’t think I post ENOUGH on the page. But in any case, whatever the reason, people are unfollowing my page and I don’t see it as a bad thing.
As I continue to try new things, I will learn more about Facebook, Twitter and all the various social media websites in this ever-evolving landscape. For now, I’ll just keep on writing and putting out new books the way I always have.
Advertisements
