Facebook Engagement: Why is Page/Post Engagement Rate More Important than Quantity of Fans?

A successful brand is the kind of brand you think of when you’re off the clock. The kind of brand whose content strategy gets in your head and changes your perspective. Businesses want fans – of course they do – but what they really need is an active audience.

Yep – I’m Talking About “People Talking About This”

This isn’t new territory. Measuring the impact of Social Metrics – specifically in the realm of Facebook Engagement – has been the norm in Social Media Marketing since its inception.

Even so, you’d be hard pressed not to find a group, business, proprietor, or amateur marketer sending company-wide thank-you emails over a relatively moderate number of likes.

I’m not saying a Fan base isn’t important – of course it is, it’s something to strive for. But alone, Likes and Fans don’t really reflect much in terms of brand success.

They’re too static. Too lifeless.

Let’s Do The Math

Engagement Rate describes the level of Page and Post engagement you’re getting through your Facebook marketing strategy. It reflects real value – it reflects how often your brand comes up in conversation, how often it’s shared, clicked, liked and remembered.

Essentially – it’s the meter of your Social Success.

If you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about, take a look at your page’s number of Likes. Just beside it you’ll see another number indicating how many people are “Talking About This.”

Both of these metrics are important when calculating the Rate of Engagement on your page. In order to evaluate how well your business is doing – how many of your fans “care” to involve themselves in the evolution of your brand – take the number of “People Talking About This” and divide it by your total number of Likes.

The number you get reflects the percentage of your fan base that rises up out of hibernation to become a voice for your brand.

It’s The Only Reliable Metric

Focus your attention on Engagement – especially as so many of your competitors will be zeroed-in on their number of Likes.

People Like posts and pages for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes they do it because a friend asked them to do it, or because everyone’s doing it, or because they were Fans of a brand or an article at a certain point in time.

Eventually they forget about the posts they’ve liked and never return. Other things take precedence, or their attitude changes, or their own affairs demand their attention.

At the end of the day – you can’t count on Likes or Fans to determine whether or not your brand is doing well. They change as often as people’s interests change – and that’s no foundation for a long-term business strategy.

It Means They Care About What You Care About

A high Engagement Rate indicates the potential reach of your brand. It reflects the relationship your fans have with you and your products or services.

Even with high numbers of likes, a lot of businesses’ pages see relatively few instances of real interaction. Their content often goes entirely ignored.

Conversely, when your engagement rates are high – even with a lower number of Likes – it means that more people are referencing your brand online, liking and sharing your page’s content, and generally attending to your business as a feature of their daily lives.

It Means Connection

Engagement Rates demonstrate how many Fans you’re really connecting with, and how often you’re bringing them back as loyal patrons.

You care about your business. You want it to have life – to grow and change and evolve. You want your Fans to take your brand out into the world with them. It’s far more valuable to have an established, engaged, integrated audience – than to boast a slew of Likes with no real reflective dimension.

Rate of Engagement is an essential metric in determining that kind – the real kind – of Social Media Success.

The team at Synapse is skilled in creating vibrant, engaging content for Social Media, Website Copy, Email Content and more. Start a conversation with us to learn how we can help you invigorate your content.