Top 10 Facebook Best Practices (How My Fan Page Grew to 700,000)

By Fawn Weaver on Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Top 10 Facebook Best Practices

NOTE TO FACEBOOK REPS: If you happen to stumble across this post, which I’m sure you will, please don’t ding my Facebook page for sharing a “how-to” on building and engaging on your site.  Your algorithm is brilliant and I promise not to pretend to know it (especially, because you’re likely tweaking it as we speak).

For most of you who aren’t familiar with my Facebook page, it is aptly titled Happy Wives Club, and has officially crossed the 700,000 mark.

For those who visit this site often, you know I exclusively write posts related to shining a positive spotlight on marriage around the world.  

Never have I ventured into writing about things like social media or building a Platform and after this post, I will happily return to writing articles on my passion: Inspiring marriages to go from good to great and from great to extraordinary.

But after studying Facebook for more than 2,000 hours over the past several years, and being asked by more bloggers and authors than I can remember to share my tips on building and engaging a Facebook community, I decided it was time to write this post for them.

A couple weeks ago, I was speaking at the SITS Girls Bloggy Boot Camp in San Diego, and a professional blogger came up to me afterward pretty excited.

She said she’d heard me give tips on building a Facebook page at the same conference in Dallas months before and her page went from less than 30,000 likes to 117,000 in less than 3 months.  

She applied the principles I mentioned in my talk and wanted to thank me.  When she first approached me to share this news, I had to think about when I’d spoken about Facebook because I couldn’t recall giving a talk on that subject.  Then I remembered someone else at the conference was speaking on the topic and saw me in the room and said, “Fawn Weaver with Happy Wives Club is here and she probably knows more about Facebook than any of us,” and asked if I had anything to add.  

I casually spoke for less than 5 minutes on the topic and from that 5 minutes, this blogger more than quadrupled her community. 

There are three major social networks I use consistently: Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.  I am a believer in doing one or two very well rather than trying to figure them all out (learned that from Michael Hyatt’s book, Platform, which I highly, highly recommend for building and engaging a like-minded community).

Pinterest is amazing because I can upload a post written 4 months prior (like this one and this one) and have it go viral, being more than 1,000,000 times.  No other social network can, as consistently, take old content and make it new again.

I love Twitter because I have connected with some of the most amazing people through that social network. Many of which are highly influential and unlikely to have reached out to me any other way.  They followed me, I followed them back and then a relationship began being built.  I connect with bloggers most often through this social network and find their smart phone app to be the easiest, by far, to use.

That being said, my absolute favorite social network is Facebook. (Pinterest and Twitter reps: please don’t ding me for this…I love your networks too!!)  The reason Facebook is my favorite is that is how I connect daily with this beautiful community of more than 800,000 women.  I’m wordy (as you can tell by this post) so 160 characters or less is really tough for me to create a meaningful dialogue.

Yes, Facebook is constantly making algorithm changes that drive me a little batty at times because I have to spend two weeks trying to figure out what changes were made and how to adjust my posts to ensure the Happy Wives Club community sees them.  But it’s worth it.

Facebook is my number two driver of traffic and when I was releasing my book, Happy Wives Club, it was one of the main ways I shared it with the world.  My Facebook page has continued to grow at an average rate of between 1,000-2,000 a day for the past year.

Of course, there are anomalies when my Facebook page absolutely explodes, like the week Glennon Melton with Momastery.com answered on her blog a question I posed to her as a part of the blog tour for my book.  Instead of using my website, she included the link to my Facebook page and then Huffington Post picked up that blog post.  

On top of that, because of the launch of my book, #HappyWivesClub was the #1 hashtag trending worldwide on Twitter.  All this made for amazing growth.  More than 16,000/day were hitting “like” on my page and my engagement sky rocketed to 300%.  But as I said, this is an anomaly.  Most of the growth on my Facebook page has been good old fashioned hard work and a desire to build an engaged community.

Now, I know for most brands and bloggers, Facebook is the most frustrating social network.  I’ve heard every complaint under the sun.  Some of them are valid but many of them simply aren’t accurate.  What I’ve learned is if you just go with the flow and try to see each change as an improvement, you’ll find something great in each change (this is the same principal for a happy life, by the way ;) ).

Here are the most common complaints I’ve heard and my thoughts on each one:

COMPLAINT #1:  Facebook only shows my posts to a very small fraction of my community.  I worked hard to get those likes and they won’t even show my posts.

My Response: Thank you, Facebook!  It’s not that I don’t want to hear from the pages I “like” but take off your brand, author or blogger hat for a moment and look at it from your community’s viewpoint and see how it would feel if Facebook actually took your suggestion and showed all of the posts, from all the pages you “like,” to you.  

Take me for example.  I have 260 pages on Facebook that I “Like.”  If each of these pages put up 4 posts a day (which is MORE than enough, in my opinion, and I’ll tell you why later), I’d be looking at more than 1,000 posts a day from people who are not my “Friends.”  So when my friend in New York announced she was pregnant by posting the ultrasound picture on her Facebook page, I missed it because I was getting hundreds of posts in my timeline from the hundreds of bloggers and brands whose pages I follow.  

Yes, I absolutely LOVE sites like The Dating Divas and enjoy going to their Facebook page often, but do I really want to see each and every post they put out?  No.  Why?  Not because I don’t adore their posts but because I want to know my girlfriend in New York is three-months pregnant.  Does that make better sense when you take off your brand or blogger hat and put on my “fan” hat?  If not, give it some time…it will.    

COMPLAINT #2: Facebook forces me to pay for anyone to see my posts!

My Response: Put up better posts.  And stop putting up so many.  Listen, I won’t pretend to fully understand the Facebook algorithm. Those folks are way too smart (shout out to Sheryl Sandberg who was kind enough to contact me within a couple days of receiving a copy of my Happy Wives Club book and who, likely doesn’t know, my book and hers have been placed right above one another in Targets around the country for the past couple months) and my brain only attempts to partially keep up.

This time, take off your blogger or brand hat again and put on your “fan” hat.  If you, like me, have liked 260 pages and want to read certain things they post, don’t you want to read their best?  Seriously.

As a follower of many bloggers on Facebook, some of the stuff put up is just junk.  It’s not well thought out, regurgitated filler from another page.  Speaking of which, if you are taking graphics from other Facebook pages without giving credit, stop it.  Karma is no joke and if you want your page to grow, I assure you this is not the way to go about it.  

Someone took the time to create a graphic, and put a watermark on it or a URL, so leave it there.  Why?  Because that is what is going to also help you grow your page (more on that in my Best Practices section below).

Create content people want to see and more will see it.  If you put up a post and Facebook shows it to 50 people in your community and 25 “Like” it, guess what?  Facebook shows it to another 100.  And if 50 of those like it, Facebook shows it to another 500 and so on (these aren’t the exact numbers, because I don’t know Facebook’s algorithm, but you get the gist).

Here’s an example of the reach for a couple recent posts of mine:

How I got 700,000 likes on Facebook - post reach

 

As you’ll notice, the post on the left was seen by close to 2,000,000 people.  But you’ll also notice the post has a share-to-like ratio of more than 1-to-1.  This is important.  Not only how many people “Like” your post but how many think it worthy enough to share.

The post on the right was only liked by 365 people and shared by 23 people so Facebook only showed it to 50,000 people (which likely equates to less than 5% of my community size because some of those who saw this were friends of those who follow the Happy Wives Club community page).

If I were to guess how Facebook weights these things, posts that are “shared” would be considered more valuable than those simply “liked” and thus will be shown to more people.  At least, that has been my experience.

COMPLAINT #3: Facebook doesn’t refer traffic to my site.

My Response:  Again, put up better content.  Use images as often as possible, even when putting up blog posts that contain links.  Putting the blog link in your comments and then writing in the status update to “see link in the first comment” is hurting you.  I know you think you’re getting around Facebook’s algorithm with this “trick” but I assure you they are smarter than you.  They really are.  They’re smarter than all of us and the sooner we accept that the better.

For those accessing your Facebook page via their mobile (which is more than 50% of those who come to the Happy Wives Club site from Facebook), by not making the link easy to access, you have just lost hundreds, if not thousands, of people who would have been interested in reading your post had you made it easy for them to get to.

As I said, Facebook is my #2 referrer of traffic and there have been times when it has moved into the #1 position.  If you post great content, and people click through, Facebook will show that content to more people.  Promise.

Now, that we’ve talked about the top 3 complaints I hear.  Let’s move on to the top 3 mistakes I see most often.

MISTAKE #1: You determine you don’t have time to engage on your Facebook page so you outsource it.

My Response: Bad move.  Facebook’s calling card is authenticity.  People know when you’re being fake on that social network.  And they know when it is not you putting up the posts.  The Obamas have it right when they decided they would sign their posts “BO” and “MO” when it’s them so people know when they are engaging directly with them.

You’re not fooling anyone.  If you have someone else running your Facebook page…your community knows it.

I am the only person with access to my Facebook page.  I have no other admins.  If someone is engaging on Facebook as Happy Wives Club, it is me.  The reason is no one else can replicate my voice…or heart.

When I first began my Facebook page, I outsourced it to a social media company.  They were wonderful.  They really were.  My Facebook page jumped to 10,000 likes pretty quickly.  BUT, and it’s a big but, the engagement was in the toilet.  People were clicking “like” but could care less about the mission of Happy Wives Club.

So I took over the account and engagement rose.  Prior to Facebook’s recent algorithm change, which seems to have impacted pages with over 500,000 likes the most, my engagement was usually between 100-150%.  That made it one of the most engaged non-celebrity pages on the web.  Right now, my engagement is somewhere around 60% and it will probably take me a couple weeks to figure out what message Facebook was trying to send in this most recent algorithm change and responding to it in a way that gets my page back to 100% engagement.

Facebook is not free.  It will take your time and energy but is worth it if you truly want to engage with your community.  

If you choose to hire an outside firm to manage your Facebook account, still be engaged.  Give them the content to post on your page.  But people did not follow you or your brand to hear from an outside firm.  They followed YOU and you need to continue to deliver that if you are to not only grow your Facebook community but to increase your engagement.

MISTAKE #2: Using third-party apps to post on Facebook.  Wowzers!  Stop that.  I love BufferApp but not for Facebook.  I think Hootsuite is wonderful.  But again, not for Facebook.  If you aren’t posting live, make sure to use the Facebook scheduler if you want your posts to be seen.

I know, I know, it’s more convenient to post to all your social networks at one time.  But again, I ask you to take off your blogger or brand hat for a moment and this time put on the Facebook hat.  Why in the world would they want to show something on their site you haven’t even taken the time to post there?

Create content for Facebook that is specific to what your Facebook community wants and desires from you (which is oftentimes different than what your Twitter and Pinterest communities want from you).

MISTAKE #3: Not proactively looking for those on the Facebook site who your message might resonate with and should know you exist. 

There are few things in life where the motto, “If you build it they will come” is applicable.  In most cases, that is not the case with Facebook.  As of October 2013, there are more than 1.25 billion Facebook users.  If you want to reach them, I recommend three things:

1. If you have a website, make the Facebook button visible and at the top.  Don’t make it difficult for those who have already found you through other means to find you on Facebook (or your other social networks for that matter).  Many only include the “Share” buttons on their pages.  I highly recommend including the “follow” button in a visible place everywhere you are on the web that will allow it. (If you look at my side bar, you’ll see the button at the top and then again midway down on the sidebar using a different design.)

2. Create quote memes or attractive graphics with your URL at the bottom.    If I were to guess how most find the Happy Wives Club Facebook page, it is because of the quote memes I take hours to create each day (I’ve also recently hired someone to help me with this because art truly is not my gift so it takes me much longer).

There are tons of services out there that can help you create the best graphics.  When I first began, I created them all in Powerpoint because I didn’t know how to use Photoshop.  And then I found sites like PicMonkey that make it easy for folks like you and me to be able to create great graphics for free. 

When I’m traveling and don’t have time to create a new quote meme (and my new graphic designer doesn’t either), I have a handful of like-minded sites I visit with similar missions and I’ll share their graphics with my community.  This way, my community continues to be encouraged each day, even while I’m traveling.  

But whatever you do, do not rip them off of other sites and add your URL.  Bad juju.  If you do that, others will likely do that to you in return.  This is something I know first hand as people crop my URL off all the time and post the meme on their own pages.

To create great quote memes, consider getting a monthly account with an image source (or taking your own photos, something I’m not skilled at so I buy them).  I use ThinkStockPhotos.com which is a royalty-free images service by Getty Images.  Then find the right quotes, add your URL to the quote meme (preferably designed into the image – which is what I do now to protect my images from having the URL cropped off) and voila – you’re on your way to getting your URL shared around the web!

3. Set aside a Facebook budget to find new community members.  Of the 1,000 “likes” the Happy Wives Club currently gets on average a day, less than 30 of them are paid.  Yes, you read that right.  The percentage of organic likes on my page is 97%.  

How I got 700,000 likes on Facebook - Jan 2014 paid likes

I spend between $2-5/day on Facebook ads and have run the exact same ad since 2010.  It’s simple, not tricky (like using a Dr. Oz picture and pretending he has anything to do with your page), and tells women about this Club.  The ad simply invites them to join a club for women like them.  

Figuring out the ad thing takes some time and can be expensive initially.  The reason is you have to figure out where your core audience resides and that takes some time.  For me,  I created a separate ad campaign for every English speaking country around the world (I told you I’ve spent a lot of time on this).  I used the same ad but created a new campaign for each so I could see the performance of each one.

I quickly discovered I was spending more than $1/per like in the US and Canada and less than $.10 in the Philippines.  So I adjusted my ad spend for each of those countries.  I knew I had a worldwide message so it didn’t make sense to limit it to the US.  Even still, US residents account for more than half of my Facebook community because they have seen posts from my Facebook page on their friend’s pages, as well as Facebook recommendations.

I wish I could give you the best advice here but all I can say is test out a number of things.  I personally prefer PPC (pay-per-click) ads but PPI (pay-per-thousand-impressions) might make more sense for you.

Facebook has a lot of options.  Try them out but make sure to stay within a budget that allows you to maintain the campaign in the long term (not just the short term) because it might take someone seeing your ad and then seeing three of their “friends” share something from your page before a person actually clicks through.

People sharing my posts on their page and Facebook suggestions, not ads, is how most find my page.  Only a small number of people actually click through the ad (a part of that is the graphic is really bad because I created it before I had any idea how to design) but them seeing it and then seeing the name Happy Wives Club again and again on their friend’s pages cause intrigue.  They come to the Happy Wives Club page, see what we’re all about, and decide for themselves if they want to join.

How I got 700,000 likes on Facebook - Jan 2014 Likes Origin

I’ve seriously just written an eBook here (maybe I should have thrown this in a PDF and sold it for $1.99?  Oh well…) so I’ll just wrap this up with this: 

Top 10 Facebook Best Practices:

1. Engage yourself.  If you want to hire a social media person, go for it.  It’s your money.  But make sure you are continuing to engage and stay connected because people are following your voice and your heart, not a social media company.

2. Use graphics.  Lots and lots of them.  The rule of thumb is those on Facebook are incredibly visual.  You will get more likes and shares if you use more graphics.  And something as simple as image size makes a larger difference than you might think.

Stick to the best Facebook sizes.  Of course, the best sizes could change but as of today, the ideal size for quote memes is 403px X 403px.  This size displays well on mobile devices, as well as in your timeline.

When you upload links, my recommendation is not to use the image they pull from the site as it is inevitably reduced to 400px X 209px.  What I do is take whatever my post graphic size is (which is usually 403px X 605px – the latter number doesn’t matter as long as it is a vertical image and isn’t too much longer than 600px) and crop the portion of it that will make the best image at that reduced (400px X 209px) size.  Then I click on the hyperlink below it that says, “Upload Image.”

*NOTE: BufferApp gives different Facebook size recommendations than I use and they are much savvier than me so maybe try both sets of sizes and see which one works best for you.   

3. Don’t over post (I generally post 2-4 times a day at my peak times).  Just like TMI is not good in all other areas of life, it’s not good here either.  I spent months figuring out what time was best to post.  I would post on one day at 5am and then the next day at 5:30am and then the next day at 6am and so on.  I did this for two months to figure out what time the HWC community was engaging online.  

Lucky for you, Facebook now has a nifty tool that does this for you.  Just go to the Insights tab and then click on the Posts tab and you’ll see your best times to post there.  Now, you’ll still want to test out what times work within an hour of the times Facebook shows because I can tell you my most engaged time each day is about an hour off from what Facebook says.  But then again, they’re having to gather info for 1.6 billion pages so narrowing it down within an hour sounds good to me.

I found the 4 times when the majority of my community is online and engaging and I only post during those times.  This ensures all my posts get solid engagement and Facebook rewards you for that by showing your posts to more of your community because they know you are only posting what your community wants to see (no spam, please).

4. Figure out what your community wants most and give them nothing but that.  If I post something and it’s a miss with my community, it is unlikely you’ll ever see anything like that on my page again.  

Google Analytics is great for your site (love them!) but I wonder if you ever take the time to actually look at your Facebook Analytics?  This is going to, by far, give you the most accurate and detailed information.

How I got 700,000 likes on Facebook - Post Analytics

The above is a recent post of mine.  Here I can see how many people not only clicked “Like” or shared this post but I can also see how many clicked through.  This is one of the best ways to see what your community wants from you.

5. Do not copy my brand page.  I say this partly out of selfish reasons and partly because it simply won’t help.  Your community is different from mine and what yours wants and needs is different from mine.  You can look at mine and others with high engagement for inspiration, but ultimately, you need to figure out what your community shares most (because that is how others find you) and keep giving them things they’re inspired to share with their friends.

6. Put in the time or bow out.  Listen, if you don’t have the time to figure out what your Facebook community wants from you, then don’t even waste your time.  Some social networks are good for those with no time.  Facebook is not one of them.  Either make the time to engage or find a different social network that suits your needs.

7. Don’t be afraid to expand your community beyond North America.  I recently received an email from a Happy Wives Club member who was sharing my Facebook site with a friend.  That friend then told her about a YouTube video about buying “likes” and concluded because my top city was Quezon City, I “bought” the fans.  Nope.  But I do get a lot of “likes” from the Philippines.

As a matter of fact, because the Filipino community has been so engaged on the Happy Wives Club Facebook page and blog, I traveled to Makati City and Quezon City -both in the Manila metro area- to interview happily married couples for my book.  Time Magazine just named Makati City the “selfie” capital of the world because they post more selfies on Instagram than any other city.  

So if you have a message that will resonate with Filipinos worldwide, I’d actively look for a way to engage them.  I’ve found them to be the most grateful, wonderful, fun-loving people, who are also highly engaged on social media.  Not to mention, most of them have tons of friends and family members living in the US so when they share your posts on their Facebook pages, they are being shared to a large number of people on both sides of the Pacific.  

Top 10 Facebook Best Practices - breakdown of audience

 

Top 10 Facebook Best Practices - breakdown of audience engagement

Although I don’t target those in the US with ads, you will notice in the screenshot above that my number one country in “fans” and engagement is, by far, right here at home.  My top cities are all in the Philippines because they are densely populated and have tons of people on Facebook.  But as you can see, that doesn’t represent the full picture.  

By ignoring potential community members in other countries, you miss a great opportunity to introduce your mission/brand to not only them, but their friends and family in North America and Europe (the two areas with the highest Facebook ad prices).  

Keep in mind, this is not limited to the Philippines.  You might find your message resonates in Fiji or South Africa or many other places around the world.  Bottom line is the US is only a small portion of the rest of the world so if your message can reach beyond our borders…go for it!

8. Don’t buy Facebook “fans.”  They’re not real.  I got an email a couple days ago from someone who seemed very genuine and said she was listed by Forbes as one of the Top 50 social media folks in the world.  The odd thing is she was selling me on a company she suggested I use (and according to her email was not being paid to promote) to buy “real” Facebook likes.  She said she was suggesting it because she’d looked at my Facebook page and thought I could use it.

My response was simple.  Nearly 1K new likes a day, less than 30 of those are via ads…I think I’m doing okay.  But I have to tell you, her pitch was strong and if I’d received it several years ago, I probably would have been interested.

As a matter of fact, I tried buying a small number of fans back in 2010 -before Facebook explicitly banned the practice- and realized very quickly that it’s no way to build an engaged community.  Although the company claimed these were all “real” fans with genuine interest in my page, when I looked at the makeup of those who actually clicked “like” on my page, almost all of them were men from the Middle East. I’d say it’s pretty unlikely any of those guys had a “genuine interest” in the Happy Wives Club.  

I learned then the only way to do it is through intentional learning and serving, and for the 4 years that followed, I’ve done just that. 

9. Facebook parties are great…but not for engagement.  Okay, so here’s the deal with the Facebook parties where you partner up with a ton of other bloggers and those on your page “like” their pages and vice versa.  I tried this once a couple years ago and my experience led me not to participate in one again.

The reason is my engagement dropped tremendously.  Now, my posts were being shown to people who could care less and only followed me because of the prize we were promoting.  I gained 20,000 or so followers, lost about 30% but my engagement went into the toilet.  I also began receiving rude comments for the first time on the page…ever.

We’re a positive community, no judgement at all, so snarky comments are very rare.  But immediately following the one Facebook push (aka party) I participated in, my engagement dropped and the number of rude comments went through the roof.

That being said, I know many who have found success with these Facebook pushes, but for the most part, those who participate in them see their engagement percentage dramatically decrease in the weeks that follow.

10. Recognize you have a community not “fans.”  Unless you’re a celebrity, it’s unlikely people are following you just to know about you.  Build a community.  Take the time to get to know those in it.  Find out why they are following you and how you can serve them.

Facebook is a very powerful tool and if you use it to be of service to others, you will find it is incredibly rewarding for you and for those within your community. 

That’s all folks!  I just wrote this post off the top of my head, without writing anything down first, so I’m sure I’m missing a few key points.  When I sat down to write this, I had no idea it would be so long.  Sorry about that…  

As time goes on, if I think of things I forgot to add here or if Facebook makes any major algorithm changes that impact my engagement or page growth, I’ll put it in a section below entitled “Update” so you can see it.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

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(Quick plug: I traveled around the world in search of the universal secret of a happy marriage, and all the amazing details are in my USA Today® and New York Times® bestselling book, Happy Wives Club.  The executive editor of Brides Magazine described it this way, “It’s like Eat, Pray, Love but not down on marriage!” I think I like that description.)

**UPDATE**

1. Of course, the day after I post this, the number of people “talking about” my Facebook page dropped to 290,000 – the lowest percentage in as long as I can remember.  It’s a great thing this happened though because it reminded me of a best practice I forgot to include: Stay Calm…and just keep serving your community.  With every Facebook algorithm change -or times of crazy busyness when you can’t engage like usual- you are likely to see a significant drop.  No worries!  It’s only the engagement for that week and you always have the current week to return your engagement to normal levels (exactly what I’ll be working on the next couple weeks).

Update on my “talking about this” stat.  As soon as I posted the above update, I went to my Facebook page and clicked on Insights > Posts to see if the peak times and days of the week my community is engaging had changed.  And guess what?  It had.  So I adjusted the times I posted and within 36 hours, my “talking about this” jumped up to 399,759 people.  Within a week, that number had increased to 682,200. 

Facebook engagement overview - Top 10 Facebook best practices

Facebook Talking About This Stat - Top 10 Facebook Best Practices

 

Again, the only significant change I made to achieve the above results was adjusting the post times to match the newly listed times in my Insights>Post page.  The engagement pattern of my community changed and so I needed to quickly adapt.   On Facebook, the smallest tweaks can make a major difference.

2. Here’s a tip I forgot in the post: I don’t recommend status updates when posting quote memes or graphics (unless you’re introducing a post link).  The reason is you might get alot of “likes” but will likely lose some shares.  For instance, if I post a quote meme that says, “I love my life as your wife,” and write in the status update, “Love you, sweetheart,” all those who call their husbands, “Honey” or “Baby” or whatever pet name they choose will not share that graphic.  You’ve just personalized it for you…and taken away their ability to personalize it for themselves.  Test this out.  All those I know who have made this switch have seen their “shares” increase tremendously.

3. I have a feeling I’m going to be adding a lot of updates in the days ahead.  Just thought about another important point.  ENGAGE with your community.  Don’t just set up posts through a scheduler and then never go back to engage with those who posts comments.  Even if you only engage with a few people per post, every time I respond to someone in my Facebook community, they get a notification that says, “Happy Wives Club likes your comment” or “Happy Wives Club just responded to your comment.”  It lets them know that they matter and are actually engaging with someone real.

4. I mentioned in my post to only focus on one or two social networks.  But I failed to mention the two I focus on personally: Facebook and Twitter.  Both my Pinterest and Instagram accounts are managed by other people in this community (just started using the Instagram one a couple weeks ago).  The reason is those two social networks don’t require a personal “voice.”  So I could turn those over to people with a passion for marriage and who can simply share posts from the blog and Facebook page.

Fawn Weaver is the USA Today® and New York Times® bestselling author of Happy Wives Club: One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage, adopting the same name as the Club she founded in 2010. The Happy Wives Club community has grown to include more than 900,000 women in over 110 countries around the world. When she’s not blogging or working on her next project, she's happily doting over her husband of nearly eleven years, Keith.

 

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are snarky, offensive, or off-topic. If in doubt, read My Comment Policy
  • http://theartofsimple.net/ Tsh Oxenreider

    Great tips, Fawn! Love your upbeat attitude about FB…it’s contagious. :)

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Tsh, I’ve seen you rock it on Facebook so I know you know what you’re doing! Humbled to be in your presence. :)

  • Rachel Wojnarowski

    Thank you for this!You are such an awesome chick!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      My pleasure, Rachel! How are you?

  • RosannC

    Thanks for the great tips, Fawn! :)

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thanks, Rosann! Hope they work well for you too. <3

  • http://joyfulmothering.net/ Christin

    This is an incredible post, Fawn. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it out. Because of you, I am going to give Facebook another shot. *Thank you, girl!*

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Woohoo! Definitely give it another shot. It would be a shame to not build your community on the only social network with 1.62 billion people, don’t you think? And you know I’m happy to help you whenever you need! Speaking of which, I have a VA project for you and have been trying to make the time today to email you. But expect an email from me soon :) .

      • http://joyfulmothering.net/ Christin

        Wonderful! I look forward to it! (I’ve missed working with you!!)

        • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

          Ditto!

  • Allie Casazza

    I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to see this post on Twitter today. Yesterday, my husband and I made the decision for me to officially work from home growing my blog and writing my books and really committing. This ain’t no hobby anymore! Your post was timed perfectly for me, and I am taking every ounce of your advice. Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Woohoo! Congratulations on taking that leap of faith. Now, you have one more tool in your arsenal to serve your community. Cheers!

  • Tara Carson

    You are AMAZING, babes! Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous tips with the rest of us! XOXO

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Back at cha’, Tara! Love me some Dating Divas.

  • Christine St.Vil

    Fawn you are incredible!!! I just read through this for the second time and have bookmarked it. I’ve already adjusted some of my scheduled posts to test out some of these great tips. Thank you SO much for sharing your wisdom so freely :)

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      So excited to see your note about with your first 24-hour results. Exciting!

  • Ronnie_BMWK

    Great tips

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thanks! Glad I could help.

  • http://www.jackiebledsoe.com/ Jackie Bledsoe, Jr.

    This is better than silver and gold!! Thanks, Fawn!

    I was familiar with you targeting the Philippines, and I began to follow this practice the past 2-3 months ago. Just by “playing around” with that my FB page went from a few hundred to over 2k ‘Likes’ in a short period of time. Now, maybe I should stop “playing around.” :)

    You are doing some amazing things, Fawn! Thanks for letting us be a part of it.

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thanks, Jackie! And yes, I think it’s probably time to stop “playing around” and go out and build your community. Social proofing is incredibly important for the US but not as much in other countries so don’t be afraid to find like-minded people around the world. Because when they share your posts, their friends from all over the world are seeing those posts. My Facebook community in the US is about 300,000 people and of those, I’d guess less than .000000000001% found me via ads because I don’t use ads to build community in the US. But all the other tips mentioned above is what I’ve done to find and engage women here in the US. Make sense?

      • http://www.jackiebledsoe.com/ Jackie Bledsoe, Jr.

        My pleasure! Wow, more than half of your community is outside the US. Honestly, when I first began targeting the Philippines I got a little disappointed as my ads targeted the US as well, but most of the new people came from the Philippines (I was like “where are my US folks??”). But seeing what you’ve share here has changed my perspective. I see the results I’ve been getting can be a really good thing!

        Okay, yes it’s time for me to stop playing around! I’m putting into practice as much of this as I can. I’m excited to see how my community develops. Thanks, again!

        ps – I emailed you (to the email on your “Meet Fawn” page). I’m sure you get thousands of emails daily (which is still probably only like 0.0000001% of your community…smile), so you may not have noticed my email. I’d love to hear back from you, and have you share your story on our show. :)

        • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

          Thanks, Jackie! My Facebook community is about 50/50 – 50% is US and 50% is around the world. On the blog, interestingly enough, the vast majority of those visiting are from the US. So you will notice different patterns depending on the country. And I spent today responding to all my unread emails (I can’t even begin to tell you that undertaking :) ). Did you get a response from me? Did the email come directly from you?

          • http://www.jackiebledsoe.com/ Jackie Bledsoe, Jr.

            Yes, very interesting. I can only imagine the fun you had clicking “reply” to emails yesterday. :)

            I did not get an email response from you. The email came directly from me … jackie(at)jackiebledsoe(dot)com. I checked my spam folder as well, and found nothing. Is it possible to send it again, or forward it to my Gmail address (jbledsoejr)?

          • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

            Hi Jackie, I just realized if it looked like an interview request, I probably sent it to my assistant because I’ve gotten so many as of late (and last week, I had a radio host out of Sydney, Australia call for an interview I’d completely forgotten to put on my calendar – wowzers) so now I’m having my assistant arrange them. I’ll look through the ones I sent to her yesterday and see if your email is in there. I bet it is. Expect a response from me today. Sorry about that.

          • http://www.jackiebledsoe.com/ Jackie Bledsoe, Jr.

            Ha! Good “problems” to have. Keep spreading that message! :)

            Also, I like your system/process of handling email interview requests. Smart. I’ll be looking to receive your email. Thanks and no need to apologize

  • Erica {let why lead}

    I enjoyed every word. Thanks so much, Fawn! (Now I feel like I owe you $1.99, at least!!) I really agree about building a community (not “fans”), and I just loved your overall approach. Can’t wait to try some of these types! It really is a giant experiment, but kind of a fun challenge, too. :) Best wishes!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      It truly is my pleasure! I always say I’m going to write an eBook and sell it for $1.99 because I see so many doing that but I probably won’t so you get to keep getting this info for free :) . Yes, keep experimenting! Have fun with it. But when you approach your Facebook page with this thought, “How can I serve those already following me? What can I give them that will make them want to share my mission/purpose with their friends?” you’ll be inspired (not frustrated) and you’ll enjoy the experiment (because once you figure it out, it’s incredibly rewarding). Cheers!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      It truly is my pleasure! And thank you for reading this looooooong post (and catching that $1.99 eBook joke :) ). Yes, keep experimenting! Have fun with it. But when you approach your Facebook page with this thought, “How can I serve those already following me? What can I give them that will make them want to share my mission/purpose with their friends?” you’ll be inspired (not frustrated) and you’ll enjoy the experiment (because once you figure it out, it’s incredibly rewarding). Cheers!

  • Lidia Kenig Scher

    Extremely well done and very useful to me and my audience. Thank you!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Absolutely! Will you allow me to make one more strategic change for you? Once you consider them your community rather than your audience, your Facebook page will grow and those within it will become more engaged. At least that’s what I found to be the case when I stopped looking for “fans” and “followers” and truly began building a community.

  • Angie Tolpin

    So thankful you shared your “tips.” For me, it was very affirming and also eye opening to some things I have never even attempted or tried {such as ads} or finding out the best time to post. I just love your heart for authentic community my friend! That is what my heart also tried to accomplish through my pages. But it is hard at times when I don’t get engagement. Sometimes, I feel discouraged and think I should just throw in the towel… but then I remember that if God wants me to share something with others… it’s because of Him. It’s not about me or any “fans.” It’s about edifying His body and the great commission {making disciples}. Again, thank you for your post. I am truly thrilled for how the Lord is using your ministry to strengthen marriages globally.

    Blessings Sister

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thanks, Angie! Yep, it’s not about “fans,” it’s about building and serving your community. <3

  • Melinda Todd

    For the images discussion, not only is it bad juju, it is also illegal to use anyone else’s photos without their permission, even if you leave their url on it. Do NOT use someone’s photos w/o their permission. You can be sued for it.

    Thank you for sharing all of your experience and advice. I love what you do and enjoy the happy community!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Hi Melinda! We’re not talking about photographic images, we’re talking about quote memes and thank goodness what you said is not the case. Otherwise everyone on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest would be getting sued right now. One of the best ways to get your site seen and known about is quote memes with your URL. And the purpose for creating those is so they’ll be shared. Hope that makes better sense.

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      I don’t want to assume you know so, just for clarification, these are quote memes.

      • Melinda Todd

        I definitely know what they are. I have not heard that they fall under different guidelines/laws of photos. I often pay for my photos and sometimes make memes out of them, I would definitely not like it if someone cut my url off mine, esp if I paid for the image. I will have to see what the rules are to be safe. Love the one you shared above!

        • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

          Hi Melinda, they are different. They are being properly credited and are royalty-free images (I purchase mine through Getty Images). But yes, you are correct regarding the URLs which is why I gave the tips above (do not cut off URLs). There is nothing wrong, however, with sharing quote memes on Facebook as that’s the precise reason they’re created. It’s one of the best ways to share your site and/or social network URLs around the web. Hope that helps.

  • http://Club31Women.com/ Lisa Jacobson

    How kind of you to share your wisdom and experience with us, Fawn! I’m so grateful for all you’ve offered here. I truly want to do my “best” and yet I have to be careful with how I invest my time and efforts. I really enjoy my FB community and this gives me a clearer idea on how I can do it better. You’ve been a blessing! ~ Lisa

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      My pleasure, Lisa. Let me know if I can be of help to you. <3

  • http://www.learningtospeaklife.com/ Carlie Kercheval

    Awesome post, Fawn! I love Facebook and really agree with the idea that it is about community and engagement and not “fans”. I’ve NEVER liked the idea of anyone being my “fan” but I LOVE the idea of building community. As a matter of fact, I recently merged two of my websites and left behind one of the FB pages to post on one that has 10,000 less “likes” on it because I just adore the community I’ve built on the other. Anyhow, you are amazing and I appreciate every keystroke you wrote above. Can’t wait to meet you while I’m still in CA :)

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      That’s awesome that you decided to focus on your smaller community because that’s where you felt you were being led. Few would have done that so kudos to you, Carlie! And yes, we must meet while you’re still in CA.

  • Christine St.Vil

    Ok so I’ve read this a couple of times and it’s bookmarked for easy reference. Yesterday and today I tried posting my memes without any “intro words” and I’ve definitely noticed an increase in likes and sometimes shares. I’m going to continue to apply these tips/tools little by little. But thank you Fawn, for helping me get excited about FB again :)

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      You’ve read this a couple of times? That’s awesome considering it is sooooo long! I’m so accustomed to the “less than 700 words” blog posts (something else I learned from Michael Hyatt’s Platform – woot! :) ) that this one just seems to go on for an eternity. But I’m so happy you were able to implement one of the suggestions and see improvement right away. The name of the game with Facebook pages is figuring out the needs of your community and giving them only that. Sounds like your folks want to be able to add their own status updates to the quote memes you post. Kudos to you for trying that out!

      • Christine St.Vil

        Haha!!! I heard someone once say, “I’m not a slow learner, I’m a thorough learner” LOL I love that I can implement a little of these tips at a time. I tried adjusting my FB ad (which I hadn’t bought any ads in probably a year), and I’ve gotten over 100 new “likes” in less than 24 hours! Who knew something so simple could be key to growing your page? :)

        • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

          Seriously, every little thing makes a huge difference on this social network. Now, that you’re gaining 100 likes/day, you’ll want to make sure everyone that “likes” your page is immediately engaged. When someone initially likes your page, that’s the time they most want to listen to what you have to say because you’re the “new, shiny toy” and you have only a small window to show them what you’re all about or they’ll disengage and once that happens, Facebook will stop showing your posts to them. So start engaging them immediately and continue to engage them daily.

  • fortheloveofbeagle

    I have read this and found that I was doing somethings well and others not so much. I find facebook overwhelming and consuming. When I sit down and look at it, time flys by. Do you dedicate specific times only and no more? I will really have to evaluate if being part of a “boost” group is hurting more than helping. I will say, it is the same people over and over, so using your ideas probably not helpful.

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Hi Fortheloveofbeagle, Facebook can absolutely be overwhelming and consuming if you don’t know how to target your efforts and resources. Quick question for you. When you say a “boost” group, what are you referring to? I want to make sure I understand before responding to ensure what I say is actually helpful to you.

      • fortheloveofbeagle

        I am part of a pet blogger community that helps people grow their blogs by posting biweekly opportunities to get likes and comments on facebook. It seems to be the same people over and over. Not sure if that helps or hurts.

        • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

          Oh gotcha! Well, only you can answer that question (although it seems as though you already have). The best way to find a community is to engage the one you have and to share posts that they want to share. Because the more people sharing your powerful content, the more people that will come looking for you. If that happens with this group, then great. But if it doesn’t, sounds like a waste of time that can be better spent doing some of the things that have proven to be effective (Hint: they’re listed above ;) ).

  • http://www.modernmarried.com/ Maggie Reyes

    Fawn! This is so uberly-useful! thank you so much for taking the time to break it down – so many little details that are truly easy to follow! I always included a sentence or two with my pics – totally going to take those out and test what happens – will report back!
    Also, agree with approaching your Facebook page as a community – that has been huge for me and made me enjoy it sooooo much!
    Thank you!!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thanks, Maggie! And yes, definitely report back. Christine has already reported making that slight tweak made a difference for her in less than a day. Something tells me yours will be the same. And one more thing for your quote memes (since I’m familiar with yours as I’m having a few of your fantastic quotes from 2012 turned into memes as we speak). Make sure your text is the “star” of the show and your image/background are the supporting cast. When someone is scrolling through their timeline on their Facebook page, if your words don’t jump out at them, they’re unlikely to stop scrolling to check it out. And of course, the more people that engage with your image, the more people Facebook will show your post to :) .

      • http://www.modernmarried.com/ Maggie Reyes

        Okay ya’all – I am both a member and proud contributor of the Happy Wives Club and when I just read that some of my quotes are being turned into memes aka they are being Fawnified, I would just like say that Glee was felt in all the land…I can’t WAIT to SEE them! and SHARE THEM! Woohooo! And yes, making the text the star, still learning, and practicing and sometimes hitting that point better than others – thanks Fawn!!! GLEE. As in exuberant joy, delight, elation. :-)

        • http://www.toodarnhappy.com/ Kim Hall

          Fawnified. You are too funny, Maggie! That is so exciting!
          Great insight coupled with practical suggestions, Fawn. It’s my favorite brain food. Thanks so much! :-)

          • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

            My pleasure, Kim! That’s my favorite brain food too :) .

  • http://morgharpnich.com/ Morg Harp Nich

    So, I used these tips…especially about advertising in other English speaking countries and watching my Facebook page grow from 200 to 700 in ONE. DAY. Unreal!! And I’ve only spent like $10 so far. Thank you so much!!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Woohoo! So excited for you. Yes, having a global approach is important when finding your voice and community on Facebook. America the Great is truly great…but we’re not the only country out there engaging on social media. The beautiful thing is American social network users are big on “social proof” so gaining likes, even if from other English-speaking countries, helps you gain more in the US. And as I said to Christine in the above comment, make sure you begin engaging all your new community members immediately. Don’t just be satisfied with them clicking “like.” Don’t be satisfied until you’re actually giving them something they deem worthy of sharing. That’s when you’re not only engaging them but their friends, which in turn, allows your page to grow even more.

      • http://MelissaInspiresReading.com Melissa Frost

        Fawn, how do you engage said member once they’ve clicked like?

        • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

          Hi Melissa, It depends on your community. But for the most part, using the tips of engagement I’ve recommended above is what I’d suggest. For my community, I like posing questions that they are likely to engage with (e.g. What is the most wonderful thing your husband did for you this past week?) and once people begin responding, I engage with them in that particular post. Doing the same after posting a quote meme and people begin commenting. Hope this helps.

  • amy stephens

    This was very insightful! Thanks so much! I had actually never heard of your page before. I have had mine since 2011 and up to 44k fans. Right now I am posting up to 10 times a day to keep my page “active” and have been part of many “giveaways” to bring in more fans. I am glad to see a way to maybe tweak what I have been doing. I do have a question for you. I think I would LOVE to start making myself some quote memes to be posting. But I certainly don’t want to be breaking any LAWS or anything. What pictures can be used that won’t be “stolen” and can we just use any quote, as long as we give credit to who had said it? I was also thinking maybe posting some fun quotes on pictures of my sock monkeys..and other sock animals (as that I one of the things that I sell)???

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Hi Amy! Great job on building your Facebook community. In terms of quote memes, yes you can use any quote as long as you note where the quote was from (if the author of the quote is “Unknown,” I won’t always include that because there’s still no one to attribute it to). I purchase all my pictures royalty-free from Getty Images via ThinkStockPhotos.com. I pay $189/mo. for an annual membership and am able to download 50 images per month (which is much cheaper than any other image service -with good images- I’ve found so far). The $189/mo. offer isn’t online but I’ve had mine for a few years and they continue to honor it for those who call in to them (rather than ordering it online). Just call them and say you know someone who has an annual deal with them and they pay $189/mo. and they’ll likely offer you the same.

      The other option you have, if you’d prefer not to purchase images, is to create quote memes without them. For instance, I haven’t posted this one up on my page yet but this is a new one.

      Not sure how the quotes on the sock monkeys would work but if you sell those, then try it out.

      Does this help?

  • Amy at Living Locurto

    Thanks for sharing the great tips Fawn! I think that is so interesting about the insights and how you changed the time of scheduling and it made a huge difference. I am now off to look at my insights now. You rock!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Yeah!! So happy you found this helpful. The last few days, since they began rolling out the new Facebook timelines, I’ve noticed my top engagement times feature hasn’t been working. So if you notice yours is down too, maybe try refreshing it tomorrow.

  • Nicole

    you say “When you see someone with strong engagement on their Facebook page, ask them how they did it. Maybe you’ll come across someone, like me, who doesn’t mind sharing their Facebook best practices with you for free.” Here’s the thing, everyone that I’ve asked has a different story and extremely different techniques – you mention things that you should NOT do, yet I know others who do those things with great success. So I’m thinking there is no “best practices” when it comes to facebook. Something works for one page and not another, that’s the part that is so very frustrating

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thanks, Nicole! Let me see if I can help you out with those frustrations. On all the points that I say, “don’t do,” I’ve not found anyone who is doing those 3 things and are successful. Which Facebook pages are you referencing? I’d love to meet someone that has succeeded at building an engaged Facebook community using 3rd party sites to post on Facebook, social media companies or not seeking out other like-minded people (either through memes, ads, or both).

      In terms of something that works for one page and not another, this is absolutely true. That’s why the most important tip I give above is getting to know your community and what it is they want from you. Even if you have a small community, if you spend the time to find out what they engage with the most (e.g. “share” not just “like”), and then you give them nothing but that, others will find you through your current community. Does that make sense?

  • http://everafterland.com JenEverAfter

    Thank you for such an amazingly informative post! And, as someone who
    frequently types up VERY long-winded blog posts, let me tell you that I
    did not think it was too long at all!! I checked out my “most active
    times” for my page that you had mentioned above, and I was wondering….
    It showed that my “best time” for the past week was in the evenings. I
    don’t normally post anything in the evenings. So is it possible that I
    am receiving more activity on those posts because during the day others
    are liking and commenting and that’s putting it into more newsfeeds
    later on in the day? Or does it work like that?? I hope this making
    sense. My brain is spinning a bit still trying to process all of that
    information. I, too, have this post bookmarked so I can come back and
    read it a few more times! My only other question – do you have any
    plans to do a write-up regarding Twitter??? Pretty, pretty, pretty
    please!!!!! (I’d even pay the buck-ninety-nine for it!) Thanks again!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thanks, Jen! Okay, as for Twitter…I’ve not studied that social network at all so that post would be incredibly short! LOL. I tell you who talks about that alot, and best practices, is Tiffany Romero (co-founder of SITS Girls). Maybe Google “Twitter tips” and “SITS Girls” or a similar keyword combination and you’ll likely find what you’re looking for.

      As far as your posting times, I always post in the evenings. The reason is some people check Facebook in the morning and some check it at night. So by posting at both times, I make sure to reach the bulk of my community. My best bit of advice is just to test out different times. Try posting for a week at your normal time and then again at the time Facebook recommends and decide based on the results. That’s really the only way to do it. Hope that helps!

      • http://everafterland.com JenEverAfter

        Thanks so much for the input! And one last question, how do you like disqus? I’ve been debating using disqus or commentluv. I like the look of disqus, but don’t like the idea of everyone having to register for it in order to comment or the idea that if I decide to stop using it, I would lose all my comments. Not that I have to many right now….but I will!!!

        • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

          My pleasure, Jen. What I love about Disqus is you don’t have to register to comment on it. I get “anonymous” posts all the time. You can set up your Disqus to require it or not to require it. Personally, I like this more than CommentLuv but it’s just a matter of preference. When I was remodeling this site in 2012, I realized all the larger blog sites I followed didn’t use CommentLuv and more often than not used Disqus so I figured there must be a reason why.

  • http://gigieatscelebrities.com/ GiGi Eats Celebrities

    I am in complete and utter awe of you and your growth. It’s inspiring, yet also overwhelming, and while you lay every thing out in black and white, I am still just confused, ha!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Well, if I can be of any help I am more than happy to do so. Feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll answer them to the best of my abilities.

  • Still DatingMySpouse

    This is awesome! Thanks for sharing and doing what you are doing for marriages and wives!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      My absolute pleasure! Hope you guys are doing fantastic.

  • Lora Langston

    Wow Fawn! I haven’t seen you in awhile. Congrats on everything :) Thanks for this post.

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      My pleasure, Lora! Make it a great weekend!

  • Anne Marie

    Fawn, thank you so much for these tips!! As I was reading, I began implementing certain ones. I would love to get the resources of my blog out to more people around the world because I publish Bible lessons. Is it possible for you to go into a little more detail on how to spread more worldwide?

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Hi Anne Marie! My biggest suggestion would be to purchase Michael Hyatt’s book Platform. That’s the best step-by-step book I’ve seen on the area of building a platform and that sounds like it’s what you are trying to do. So I’d recommend picking up a copy of that and then implementing its suggestions. I hope that helps.

  • http://www.LettersFromSunnybrook.com/ Rebecca | LettersFromSunnybroo

    This was incredibly helpful!! I have been reading and trying to understand how to use Facebook better and you broke it down in a way that finally makes sense of the trends I thought I was seeing. I feel much more optimistic about sharing and growing my page now. I love the positive message and enthusiasm you bring with the Happy Wives Club!!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Oh good! So happy this was helpful, Rebecca, and thank you for your words of kindness!

  • TakeActionWAHM

    Brilliant – thank you so much for this. I had about given up on Facebook. I get about 80% of my traffic from Pinterest. But the fact is, I’ve started getting a little worried about that – I don’t want to be so dependent on any one source for traffic. So I’m really looking forward to putting your tips into motion and learning more about what’s going on with my sadly neglected fan page!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      How’s your fan page been doing since you began dedicating some time to it? I agree with you, 80% from one source is probably a bit risky given how many algorithm changes Pinterest has been experimenting with as of late. And they are, similar to Facebook, trying to figure out a model that allows them to make more money which means it’ll likely be much harder to get as much traffic from them for free. Spreading it out so you have 3 major sources of traffic, if possible, is definitely your best bet. My top 3 referrers of traffic all contribute a significant percentage so when one drops due to an algorithm change, the others are still solid. So happy this helped!

      • TakeActionWAHM

        I’m getting more traffic from Facebook, Twitter and G+ now – I’m still getting way more than I’m happy with from Pinterest, but the % has been falling. My facebook page has more than doubled in fans, and I’ve gone from getting 5-10 organic views to around 100 or so on average, as many as 800+ on some posts.

        • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

          Woohoo! So excited to hear this. Thank you for sharing. That is awesome!

  • http://futureexpat.com/ Karen Goodman

    I’m inspired. I first started on social media to promote my local real estate services (I sell homes), and only later started my personal blog for fun. My goal with my blog has recently shifted to make a little money off of it and promoting myself as someone who can be hired to help local small businesses create a similar presence. I’m not really trying to turn it into a full time career on it’s own. Up to now, I’ve followed the Gary V philosophy of branding myself as @karenstl on all of the networks…as a real estate agent, blogger and now social media consultant..rather than having separate profiles. I have a real estate page but just shared my blog to my personal profile, mixed in with regular interaction. I’m now thinking I should start a page up for my blog and focus on high engagement rather than high number of likes, and let it grow slowly from people who really want to see my stuff. I think I’m going to start by creating a page and then specifically inviting only the people who have engaged with my content in the past when I shared it on the personal profile, and let it build from there.

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Sounds good, Karen! Let me know how that strategy works out for you. I’d love to hear about your successes.

  • Denise Boswell-Buck

    Found this article on Pintrest. Thank you so much! “don’t recommend status updates when posting quote memes or graphics” was an eyeopener for me.

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Great! Facebook did a major algorithm change January first that impacts pages with larger Facebook audiences (over 100K) the most. So my page has been impacted greatly in how many are seeing it, but as usual whenever Facebook makes a change, I’ll study it for a little bit and test a few things out and then recalibrate. It is still the site that fosters the most engagement so it’s worth it in my opinion. But if you don’t have a massive audience yet, your page should not be impacted too much. Cheers!