Your Facebook fanpage considered a list?

17 replies
When you post something in your fan page, it will tell you how many people have been exposed to it on their Facebook news feed. Have you thought about it as if it was an email list? You can write something interesting in your fanpage post, and then put a link at the bottom .. Just like you do with your email newsletters
#considered #facebook #fanpage #list
  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
    Nothing on it could be as valued as my list, particularly those who've I've established relationships with and have experience with my products.
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  • Profile picture of the author danlew
    For me, I think it was already considered another source of building a list. Once you have gathered a lot of targeted fans in your page, you can start monetize your own campaigns to them in your FB fan page.
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  • Profile picture of the author IzzuDino
    Come to think about it yea... it can act like a list.
    To know conversion stats like click rate on the links you place would make this a viable alternative to email marketing (especially after the Gmail updates)

    If click rate is acceptable, then this would be one of the best techniques because:
    (a) FaceBook is the first thing most people log into when they come online
    (b) No worries about deliverability
    (c) Google can't screw us up (unless they buy FB)
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  • Profile picture of the author misterkailo
    I like that when someone Likes or Comments the post will show up in their friends' news feed as well. It can go viral and get you more eyeballs to whatever you are promoting as well as extra LIKES on your fanpage
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    • Profile picture of the author IM Player
      I always thought that's the main reason people (at least IM-ers) create fan pages for - to eventually have a list they can promote to. But you have to remember that people come to facebook to entertain themselves, not to buy something. Considering that, you have to first of all choose wisely what your fan page is going to be about, not all niches sell on facebook; and secondly you have to be really good in interacting with people. You REALLY gotta get their attention and trust before even trying to promote something. And when you do, it should look natural, like you're sharing something useful with them, not like you're selling. All this is based on my own experience - getting subscribers to your fan page is not hard, it's much harder to make them buy something.
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      • Profile picture of the author Natino
        Originally Posted by IM Player View Post

        I always thought that's the main reason people (at least IM-ers) create fan pages for - to eventually have a list they can promote to. But you have to remember that people come to facebook to entertain themselves, not to buy something. Considering that, you have to first of all choose wisely what your fan page is going to be about, not all niches sell on facebook; and secondly you have to be really good in interacting with people. You REALLY gotta get their attention and trust before even trying to promote something. And when you do, it should look natural, like you're sharing something useful with them, not like you're selling. All this is based on my own experience - getting subscribers to your fan page is not hard, it's much harder to make them buy something.
        Couldn't have said it better myself IM Player!

        People just don't seem to want to click on links on FB! I suppose the alternative method would be to sign them up to a proper list off FB

        Guarantee if you've developed trust, you could simply ask people to post their email address in the comments section and a proportion of them would do it

        OR have a competition of some sort where they need to provide their contact details. Give them some kind of incentive to provide details

        Anyway now I'm getting carried away
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      • Profile picture of the author Jonny2spoons
        Originally Posted by IM Player View Post

        I always thought that's the main reason people (at least IM-ers) create fan pages for - to eventually have a list they can promote to. But you have to remember that people come to facebook to entertain themselves, not to buy something. Considering that, you have to first of all choose wisely what your fan page is going to be about, not all niches sell on facebook; and secondly you have to be really good in interacting with people. You REALLY gotta get their attention and trust before even trying to promote something. And when you do, it should look natural, like you're sharing something useful with them, not like you're selling. All this is based on my own experience - getting subscribers to your fan page is not hard, it's much harder to make them buy something.
        Really well said. Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with people (including your list possibly) but people aren't on facebook to be sold to.

        Having said that, it doesn't mean you can't make a lot of money from a facebook page. Just don't use it as a sales page - make it fun and far reaching so that it grows to have a large number of likes. Then you can think about making money through shear weight of traffic.

        I've tried all types of internet marketing, and facebook pages are by far the easiest and most profitable method I've ever seen!
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      • Profile picture of the author jasondinner
        Originally Posted by IM Player View Post

        I always thought that's the main reason people (at least IM-ers) create fan pages for - to eventually have a list they can promote to. But you have to remember that people come to facebook to entertain themselves, not to buy something. Considering that, you have to first of all choose wisely what your fan page is going to be about, not all niches sell on facebook; and secondly you have to be really good in interacting with people. You REALLY gotta get their attention and trust before even trying to promote something. And when you do, it should look natural, like you're sharing something useful with them, not like you're selling. All this is based on my own experience - getting subscribers to your fan page is not hard, it's much harder to make them buy something.
        You're on the money. Although I will add that even though they come to be entertained, they do buy or take certain actions that lead to you getting money.

        Of course, your page has to be set up a certain way for that to happen, but there are plenty of buyers (ENDLESS buyers) on Facebook who don't know they're buyers yet until they're presented with something to buy lol
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    • Profile picture of the author brutecky
      Originally Posted by misterkailo View Post

      I like that when someone Likes or Comments the post will show up in their friends' news feed as well. It can go viral and get you more eyeballs to whatever you are promoting as well as extra LIKES on your fanpage
      Well this is not entirely true. The comment 'may' show up in there friends news feed. There is a chance. But you need to be aware that 'will' is not correct. Its not certain that something I for example like will show up in my friends news feed.

      As for your fans being considered a 'list'. Well I guess they could be considered a list. Though it would be a bad list. Think of this. On average my emails get opened by 24% of my list (some people do much better). So 24% of all the people on my normal email list will open my emails. Since they are taking the time to actually click the email in there mail program and open it up you can assume with confidence that they read at least some of the email (and hopefully all of it if its well written)

      Now for a fan page on average Facebook will show your posts to 12% of your list so right there the 'open rate' is 1/2 for what email is. But you also have to consider that when Facebook says that a post was 'viewed' by someone all that really means is that the post was on there news feed. There is no guarantee that the person really saw the post or read any of it. Perhaps the post was pushed down below the fold by other news feed items and they never even seen it. Perhaps some other item in the news feed grabbed there attention and they where focused on or read that. Perhaps they didn't even read through there news feed because after they logged in to Facebook they had a friend request or a message from someone or a game request or something that took them away from there news feed. In all these situations the user never actually read your post or paid any attention to it but Facebook still counts it as 'viewed' since it was shown in the news feed. In fact on average only about 5% of your fans will ever actually 'read' your posts.

      So while Facebook could technically be considered a list its a list that has a 5% 'open rate' unless you choose to pay Facebook to boost the post the post. Either way its a pale comparison to a real and true Email list.

      It is for this reason I strongly suggest running contests, deals, offers, sweepstakes and such on your fan page in order to capture your fans email address's and build a true Email list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Warranty
    yep, I think that it's a some type of list.
    The things are the same - if you send sh*t to your list - they won't read and unsubscribe.
    But if you build relationships,post great content, and then(rarely) sales links - everything is the same, if not better.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by misterkailo View Post

    Have you thought about it as if it was an email list?
    No, because it isn't, in the ways that matter, and - open-minded though I am - I don't like to carry lateral/imaginative thinking quite that far, when it involves my income. Anyway, the thread belongs here: Social Media Marketing Forum
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Plus you can segment that "list" by targeting your posts, just like targeting ads, to see seen by specific fans of your page.
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  • Profile picture of the author jgant
    FB is fantastic for getting subscribers. It's my number one source for new subscribers because of the viral nature and "endorsement" by friends.

    While it's not owned by Google, FB isn't owned by you (or should I say controlled by you) so any major tweak to Edgerank or policy changes could have a major impact on that traffic source. I love the traffic, but am keenly aware it could change, hence I focus on getting new fans to be email subscribers.
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  • Profile picture of the author AlexGeorge
    I would never say a Facebook page is as valuable as an email list. They don't convert as well and a lot of people just ignore a lot of posts from Facebook pages. A facebook page can be good for promoting offers and directing fans back to your website, but it doesn't hold the value that a quality email list does.
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  • Profile picture of the author pelican
    facebook fanpage is not a list but it can be use to build a list easily since you already established a relationship.

    you cant just market stuff to your fans, it is not very targeted. those who willing to give you their email are willing to read your marketing email.
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  • Profile picture of the author Evolved
    Funny because I was just talking about this the other day. I use Fan Pages a lot. Of course it is not a legitimate email list, especially because Facebook can take it away at anytime, but let's put that aside for now. Other than that, it is almost like an email list. You have a large group of people together in a community which all share the same common interest (whatever your page niche is). There are a lot of people who think building Fan Pages are waste...it is actually a really really great thing if you know how to monetize them properly and use them to their full potential. You can market to them in a similar manner as an email list.

    Now, I see this all too often, the people who talk about "Facebook only shows your post to xx% of your people on your Fan Page." See most people don't understand how to use a Fan Page to their full potential. I had an image (which had my affiliate link in the description) that got shared over 18,000 times. This image had an audience of over 1,300,000 people. At the time my fan page had maybe 50,000 people max I think. So only 50,000 fans, and an audience of over 1 million people. Try sending an email blast to 50,000 people...each person would then have to email that to 200 of their friends just for your email to have an audience of 1 million people

    Now yes I know it's Facebook, not the "buyers" mind set, people will ignore or not even see your post. This is also true, but thats why you need to research first and find out what pages to start and what converts well on Facebook.

    In all, it's not a legit email list, but it's pretty darn close with lots of other benefits.
    An actual email list is definitely better for long term success and you can't think a Fan Page will replace it.
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