How to Build a Good Quality Facebook Page?

Before asking yourself how to build a good quality Facebook page you should primarily clarify why you wish to build one at all. Unless your KPIs and targets are clearly set it will always be just blind shooting. The fan numbers should definitely not be the only criterion to assess. It might easily happen that your page will attract over 2000 fans but just 100 will be activated, i.e. mere 5% will be commercially viable. How should one minimise the number of passive fans and prevent users from deleting your “super” page from the feed in a few days? Read on to learn.

Both options are correct; however, each of them is appropriate for a different type of communication. Whichever option you decide to go for the important thing is putting your cards on the table straight away. Everyone should have the opportunity to make an idea of the person behind the page.  With a non-branded page the solution might be disclosing information on your company’s sponsorship of the page in the page description. If you decide to withhold your identity and start bombing your fans with dozens of advertising statuses as soon as you get one hundred fans you will lose your fans very quickly.

Page Name

The first and major step is choosing the right page name. If you underestimate this step there will be no chance of rectifying it. As you are sure to know, Facebook does not allow renaming pages.

How Should One Choose the Right Name?

The name must primarily captivate attention. If someone becomes a fan (by clicking “like”) his or her friends are going to see it. They will see something like “User X liked page Y”. However, if we use a nondescript name the likelihood that the friends will be interested is negligible.

There are several ways of choosing an efficient name. One of those is using a phrase others will want to identify with, and will click on “like” just to demonstrate that willingness.

Possible Examples Are:

“Love Coffee in the Morning”

“Not Ashamed of Being Gay”

“Family Is My Number One”

The advantages include the great conversion potential and also the fact that your target group will be selected quite precisely which allows you to focus without any socioeconomic filters whatsoever.

The disadvantage is a higher degree of passivity of such fans; this will increase the demands on page administration.

Another efficient option is using an argument in the name. Or, better still, a powerful argument!

A name like “Men’s Suits” is unsuitable because it is too general and lacks a powerful argument.

The name “Suits for Serious Men. Tested on Women.” would be much more effective.

Can you feel the argument and how it narrows the target group down at the same time? Moreover, the argument works with the well-known slogan, “tested on animals”; however, it is applied to women in a funny way. The entire statement communicates that these are suits for modern men who want to appeal to women which is true in 90% cases and which is practically the only reason why men look after themselves.

Speaking of arguments, I mean something unique and captivating. Marketers often consider the word “discount” a powerful argument. The problem is that when you look at Facebook advertising you can see that the word “discount” is used in every other, if not every single, one. Discounts range from 10% up to 90% and although the information on interesting deals still works a classic Facebook visitor is overwhelmed by it; therefore, this kind of argument is inappropriate.

Other Interesting and Unique Arguments in the Names Might Be for Instance:

“Refunding 1 CZK for each minute of delay. Your ČD.” (A nice dream, I admit.)

“A free book for Neoluxor fans every day.”

Last but not least, you have to bear in mind the Facebook Ads; this is advertising each page admin may use. Such advertising, if it should promote the page and if you want it to include the “Like” button, will implicitly carry the title of the page name.  I personally recommend using Facebook Ads for almost all new pages and getting approx. 1,000 fans first through advertising, to build a base for further expansion.  With well-written advertising and well-chosen image in your ad, an average fan will cost you about CZK 8 to 10. Of course this number is not absolutely precise because new fans can catch a few others and that will be free, of course. Therefore, you can get 2,000 and more fans for CZK 8,000. Under any circumstance, the page name plays a crucial role in that.

How to Communicate with Fans?

Now, the most important thing is understanding where your fans come from and what they are like. They have “liked” you because you caught their attention somehow. Now it is up to you to meet their expectations.  Many marketers are too afraid of losing their fans if they write more than one status in two days. The truth is, if your statuses are nothing but straightforward advertising it does not matter how often you publish a status; they will take you off the feed in the end anyway. Yes, now it is very simple to do from the wall.

However; if you meet their expectations they will not even mind 3 statuses a day. They started following your page because they wanted to and because the topic is interesting for them. And your fear of users who log on once in a few days and become overloaded with statuses from a single page is quite unsubstantiated. Statistics clearly show that over 70% Facebook users log on multiple times a day.

Still, certain rules should be observed.

As I have already mentioned, being unique is the crucial thing. You have to distinguish yourself from the mass of contributions on the wall. Do not be afraid of being controversial and personal. Facebook is a medium where even a most serious company might show its human, unconventional face. Facebook should primarily strengthen the relationship between the company and its clients (i.e. fans).

Page fans tend to be steadier if they can feel their opinion matters to the operator.

Yes. Be brave, be specific and speak to individual fans, too.

Facebook pages should be headed by a mature personality. Someone should do the writing in a very specific style closely associated with the target group. Do not hesitate and name the person so that the name corresponds with the page content and name. For instance, “Golden Moments” (biscuits by Opavia) use the name “Zlatka” (Goldie). Humour and individuality; these things will always work. Just sending links is not enough.

Your fans will communicate more if the page comments upon current events (news, TV programs, cases etc.)

What Kind of Communication with Fans Should Be Avoided?

Do not ask machine-like general questions.

People in marketing tend to write a question in the end of each status with the faith this will improve user interactivity. The truth is the opposite. People get fed up with such questions very quickly; moreover, the questions feel unnatural as well. Would you ask about every “silly little thing” in real life like that? Or, better still, would you like someone else to ask you about such things all the time?

Therefore, questions like “How was your winter?” or “And how about your holiday?” will not work in the long term. People should not be spoilt by questions; they should look forward to an opportunity to tell their opinions to be noticed by others. Moreover, the questions should be more natural. For instance, “The person who can tell me the ending of the movie last night earns a big plus!”

Do Not Delete Comments.

Only delete comments in extreme cases, if the comment contradicts the law etc. If you can do nothing but delete it please publish the reasons straight away.

There will always be an intentionally detractive picky person; however, if you delete the comment you are risking your credibility. Credibility building is a very complex and demanding issue in the anonymous Internet environment. It is basically one of a company’s most valuable properties with great impact on profits.

For example on Youtube it is much worse; something like “Comment deleted by author” appears instead of the original comment.

Ideally, try to use powerful arguments to disarm the detractor and motivate other fans to fight him themselves.

Author: Jiří Pala, Online Marketing Specialist, Euro RSCG 4D