Are You a Crappy Fan Page Admin?

Most Fan Page owners like to think they run their page better than the rest.

Well let me tell you something...

After spending most of the past 3 years online, I've seen more bad Page Admins than good ones.

This got me thinking about what makes a bad (crappy) fan page admin vs. a good one.

Below are 7 things a Crappy Fan page Admin does:

1. Never responds to comments or posts

My general rule of thumb is to reply to every comment or post made on my page within 24 hours max -- possibly longer on weekends. Any longer than 24 hours and your fans will be disappointed.

2. Only posts when they feel like it

I've mentioned in a previous post that most page admins aren't posting enough -- and yet they still want to complain about having no engagement. Look, once your page goes "dead", it's super hard to bring its Edgerank back up again.

My recommendation is to post at least once per day -- and to vary the time each day until you find a sweet spot.

The great thing is you don't have to sit on Facebook and wait for that time to post each day. Just simply schedule a week's worth of posts using the Post Planner app each Monday then focus on running your business and interacting with your fans.

3. Never refers to their fans by name

Facebook by nature is a personal site. People are connecting their personal images and lives with our pages. If you want to really stand out and make your fans (potential customers) feel special, then please use their first names when replying to them.

Sometimes Facebook will let you tag that person in the comment -- which is even better. But if not, take the time to reply to (for example) Joe's comment by saying something like "Hey Joe! Thanks for the suggestion...."

This simple tip can really help you build your tribe.

4. Only posts salesy stuff

You've seen these pages before. Every post is a sales pitch on their product with links directing you to buy from them or from their affiliate links. Yuck!

Don't get me wrong, Facebook IS a marketing tool. But if all you are doing is sending out links to your products and special offers, you're going to lose engagement, fans & sales.

I like to go by the 90/10 Rule. This means 9 out of 10 posts on Facebook are information/education related posts. These could be content curated by your blog or from the blogs of others. But the goal is to provide value to your fans.

Then... once you've built up some rapport & trust... then you've earned the right to mention your product and say "Hey check out our new XYZ Super Dooper Product".

But until you've earned that trust, all you're doing is puking your links on people and turning them off.

5. Only shares cat memes

It's great to have a sense of humor on Facebook. But please don't fall into the habit of only posting idiotic memes and photos that have nothing to do with your business.

Sure they might increase engagement and boost your Edgerank, but do you want to be known as the page that shares pics of Grumpy Cat all day long -- when your business is in real estate?

It may work for George Takei -- but remember he's not selling a product, he's selling himself and humor is what he's about.

If you're a legitimate business moving forward in 2013, fans will want to see less and less of the garbage or "white noise" type posts, and more posts that make their lives better.

Don't get me wrong here. It's ok and even good to share funny stuff from time to time -- it shows your company has a human side. But don't make it your #1 marketing tactic.

6. Goes all political on everyone

Here in the U.S., we just went through the longest Presidential campaign known to man! For 3 years we've seen politicians jockeying for position to win the Presidency from Obama (they all lost, btw).

To me Facebook became brutal and almost painful in the days & weeks leading up to the election. (I even used a plugin for a while to block all politically related words in my News Feed -- to ignore it all! )

Exactly.

The worst part is when a Facebook BUSINESS page decides to go all political on their fans.

I may have Liked the Don's Doghouse page because I like their store and their chili-cheese dog -- but I didn't opt-in to hear their political rants.

While a big business, like say AT&T, might be able to pull off talking about politics and avoid alienating their entire fan base, a small business cannot do that.

A few things happen when you start sharing your political beliefs on your business page.

You get people who agree with you 100% -- and they'll be right there with you, fist pumping & hooping & hollering. That's great. But what about the rest of the fans -- the ones who are silent?

The fans that stay silent are the ones you need to worry about. They may not comment and say the agree or disagree with your posts (whether political or not). Instead they'll just hide, unlike or ignore your page.

Did you know that when someone hides a post -- or your page as a whole -- it's considered a "negative story" to Facebook and decreases your Edgerank?

Not good.

I'm a huge advocate for a page having a personal feel and touch to it. People like to know the real person behind the page (kinda like in the Wizard of Oz) -- but there is a line you shouldn't cross. And politics is one of them.

Keep those things to your personal profile if you so choose, but keep it separate from your business. Your bottom line and the livelihood of your employees could depend on it.

7. Never checks Insights

When you're trying to lose weight, what's the best way to check if your efforts are working? Well, you weigh yourself on the scale.

Same thing is true on Facebook.

In order to really understand what types of posts are working or not working, you MUST periodically check your page Insights.

Facebook offers amazing Insights that show you a crazy number of stats about your page and posts. By looking at them, you can quickly see if you're better off posting at 9am or 7pm. Or Tuesdays vs. Fridays.

If you aren't checking your Insights you won't know these things.

My advice is to check them once or twice per month. Staring at them every day is the worst thing you can do, because you'll get bored and stop coming back to them.

(Just like if you weigh yourself daily you can get depressed when the number on the scale went up instead of down.)

So set aside a day each month that you check your page Insights. Maybe you do it on the 15th so you know it's coming.

To really get the most out of Insights, you should check them once a week... but don't do it on Mondays as that day already is a bummer!

So... are you Crappy?

After reading these 7 items are you a Crappy Fan Page Admin?

I hope not.

My advice is to learn from these tips (and my mistakes) and become a better fan page admin!