Although I usually talk about Facebook engagement and how important it is, I wanted to take some time to talk about gaining Facebook followers – and some of the common reasons why you may not see follower growth. Building a strong, engaged Facebook following can be difficult.
You only have mere moments to attract someone to a post, have them hang out on your profile, and convince them to hit the follow or like button. There are so many factors that can contribute to whether or not someone decides to join your audience, but here are a few you may not realize affect gaining Facebook followers.
Here are 10 reasons why you aren’t gaining more followers on Facebook
Your Customers Don’t Know You’re Online
I’ve seen many instances when businesses have a Facebook presence but show no sign of it in their actual businesses where customers are already walking through the door. You can also send an email blast. For websites and blogs – make sure your Facebook links appear somewhere on your site (header or footer) and in your blog sidebar. Even better? Share buttons on blog posts, and web store items – making everything as easy to share as possible makes getting more eyes (and Facebook followers to be) easier too.
You Post Too Often – Or Not Enough
Post too often and you annoy your audience by filling up their feed. If you don’t post enough you may also lose fans. Each account and industry is unique so you have to find the balance that your audience likes by testing different post volumes. Publishers and news outlets can get away with multiple posts a day but the same may not work for your business.
Your Post Timing is Off
Timing is everything – especially with Facebook. The right post at the right time can be the difference between thousands of impressions and interactions or just a few likes.
My best advice for you is to test, test, test, and figure out the post-timing that works best for your business. Use built-in network analytics tools to see which of your posts perform best and take note of the time they were posted. More reach, engagement, and shares means more eyes on your content and more potential Facebook followers.
You Aren’t Engaging With Others
Get out there and become part of the conversation, answer questions, and show that real people are working behind those posts. Respond to comments and interactions on your channels, including finding, thanking, and interacting with those sharing your content. Join Twitter chats, and Facebook groups or find relevant conversations and real-time events by using hashtags to find new folks to interact with.
No Personality/Voice/Branding
People love you for being you, and the same goes for your business. Give your business a personality that reflects the brand, but can also resonate with your main target audience. Emphasize it all with a well-branded account – this means using brand colors in posts, sticking to a specific look and feel for visuals, a concise visual style, etc. Branding your account requires thought and planning but will reflect as a unique brand experience your audience recognizes, loves, and keeps coming back for.
No Good Visual Content
Humans love visuals, and if you haven’t noticed, the Facebook networks we use are centered around images and videos. You have the amount of time it takes to scroll to capture the attention of your potential Facebook page followers, and even less time to make them stay and hit that “follow” button. Good visuals are essential to this process.
You Come Off as a Spammy
Use high-quality visuals to attract more spam followers. Having a signature look and feel isn’t a bad idea either. Ideally, you can hire professionals to create high-quality, original content pieces. But those of us who lack big budgets fear not, as there are so many free resources out there. Try using free stock image sites and design apps like Canva to create modern, crisp visuals for your Facebook needs.
You Haven’t Set Goals/Defined a Strategy
I cannot stress the importance of a good Facebook strategy. Consistency is the name of the game when it comes to gaining Facebook followers – in every aspect you can think of. You have to be consistent in your voice, visual style, and posting frequency, and that’s not including the analytics side. This is where a Facebook strategy with defined goals is the hero. Objectives and goals will help keep you focused on the relevancy and quality of each post. Your strategy will help you get organized and stay consistent in your Facebook efforts. All this together equals more reach and a consistent influx of followers.
You Only Talk About Yourself
Just as we don’t like talking to someone who doesn’t listen, someone who only speaks about themselves is equally intolerable. Facebook is not a platform for blatantly telling people that they need you, it’s about adding value to their lives and building relationships. Romance them, show them you know about what’s going on in the industry, or that you can relate to them by sharing content other than your own.
Did you stumble upon a great (brand-relevant) blog post that your audience may find useful? Share it. Did a customer post an awesome photo of your neighborhood? Perhaps you stumbled upon a cool lifestyle photo from a non-competing brand or influencer? Repost it (following repost etiquette rules, of course).
. This can be done strategically to support goals like establishing authority within your industry, showcasing thought leadership and that you’re on top of trends, or simply to become the “go to” of information within your space.
You Don’t Add Value
This is related to the previous point, which could be the main reason why you are not gaining Facebook followers. Perhaps, you are not providing any value to your audience’s life. Consider the number of messages that we process in a day, an hour, or even a minute. With so many inputs coming at you at once (both personal and from brands), people are picky about what brands they choose to allow into their feeds. You have to continue adding value to your followers’ feeds to retain them.
There are so many different ways you can add value. This can be with beautiful imagery, humor, sharing useful information, making followers feel special (reposting content, contests, and discounts), and more. Think about your goal, and what kind of content adds value for your customer while helping you reach that goal. For example, attract fresh relevant eyes to your account by posting a great lifestyle photo each week along with a non-sales caption and relevant hashtags.
