I have been doing quite a bit of testing this past month on Facebook interaction levels and what is the best number of updates for a business page now that Facebook has completed its most recent changes.
First, it is important to know that for over a year we have recommended two status updates a day so that you would not spam your audience and fans. However, with the changes that Facebook made in September everything is now different. With people being able to subscribe to your page without being a fan; fans being able to block, filter, or subscribe to the type of updates you provide; and now your inability to react directly with fans and not even know who is a fan by name, interaction levels need to be different.
This is what I have found out so far in my testing:
- For Facebook Business Pages with about 100 to 500 fans updates about five times a day seems to work to get you exposed.
- Actively responding to comments or posting is key to fan interaction growth.
- Doing only two updates a day seems now to simply get lost in the Facebook noise.
For Facebook Pages that have 500+ fans the thirst for interaction is stronger. In many cases up to 12 updates a day PLUS interaction with the posting of comments, doing polls, and sharing video appear to not hurt a page but rather grow a page. You can review an interesting analysis done before the new Facebook changes in this interesting article for more background. Remember however that their findings are pre-Facebook changes and so may not be valid today but are good for review.
I am continuing our testing through the end of the month. Find out how you can join in and help and get our white paper recommendations at the end of our testing period sharing our findings.