How New “People Are Talking About This” Translates into Success on Facebook
As we head into the holiday weekend, when, let’s face it, many of us will be spending inordinate amounts of time surfing Facebook (except me, of course…), let’s discuss a new Facebook features that could affect your business presence on the recently overhauled social network.
What is “People Are Talking About This?”
It’s a new metric on Facebook. Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like on a business page:
This is the EverSpark business page on Facebook. As you can see, Facebook indicates that “11 people are talking about this.” It’s a good way for Facebook to help business do some brand monitoring.
It is still relatively vague where these metrics are being drawn from, but Facebook has said that they refresh on a daily basis. This doesn’t mean every day means a new number, though. The metrics build upon each other over a 7 day period. According to a statement made to Search Engine Land’s Greg Finn by a Facebook spokesperson, “…it’s the current barometer of how much conversation is being generated by someone’s Page on Facebook. It’s a good gauge of the content Pages are putting up and how to generate more conversations around a Page.”
Here’s an image of the new insights page, which is only available as a preview right now and isn’t actually in place yet. It includes a “virality” metric, as well as a space which shows the “people are talking about this” metric. According to Greg Finn’s post, the “people are talking about this” metric is derived from liking a Page, posting on the Page’s wall, answering one of the Questions posted on the Page, liking the Page, commenting on a post on the Page, sharing a post from the Page, attending an event that the Page invites you to (RSVPing), talking about the Page on your own profile, liking a check-in deal or sharing it, or checking in.
This kind of reminds me of Twitter a little bit, and here’s why: by seeing who is talking about you on Facebook, you can better cater your posts to your target audience as well as join their conversations. This is the exact thing that is so good about Twitter for brands. Brand monitoring is incredibly important for businesses not only looking to achieve visibility among its customers and potential customers, but also for businesses striving to show search engines like Google that they prioritize engagement with users. As a Facebook spokesperson told Finn of Search Engine Land: “The goal of Pages insights for Page admins is to understand what drives that number and how they can best engage their advocates, so that they can get a sense of how to optimize their Page content to increase the people they’re reaching with their messages. Which means that no matter the size of your Page’s audience, you can really get a good sense for which posts spread and get shared with others.” Remember, engaging with your advocates helps your brand, which will in turn positively impact your SEO strategy.
Summing Up – How Does This New Metric Translate to Success?
Facebook has been very clear that the team wants to help businesses large and small improve their marketing efforts on the social network; this is the first step toward helping businesses better brand themselves. So, if “people are talking about” your business’s page on Facebook, it translates to success in the sense that either 1) you have a huge opportunity to engage your fans better or 2) you are doing a good job of engaging your fans, keeping them coming back, and are utilizing cutting-edge marketing techniques.
More Information
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