Facebook: The Stats Business Marketers Need to Know

I think that everyone knows that there are 1.23 billion active users on Facebook. It is such a profound number that it is quoted thousands of times each day by social media and marketing professionals. Today we are going to dive into the numbers that make Facebook a critical part of your marketing plan. Moving forward, you will not hear any numbers about Facebook accounts or users. All of the numbers below are related to Facebook Business Pages – the social media marketers best friend.

50 Million Facebook Business Pages
It is estimated that by the end of 2014, there were 50 million Facebook business pages, roughly half of them representing small businesses. This number is important because it shows us that, more than any other platform, businesses are using social media. If you don’t have a page for business, this number is reason enough for you to pause reading this article and set up a page now.

36 Posts a Months is the Average # of Business Engagements
One of the questions that businesses ask me most is, “how often should we post content on Facebook?” In looking at business pages, the average number of posts each month is 36 – slightly more than one post per day. Typically we recommend to our clients that they post once, maybe twice a day. More than that will cause users to leave.

Do Contests and Offers Work?
We looked for evidence that contests and offers work. What we found was that 35% of Facebook users will like a page in order to get in a contest. We also found that 42% of users will like a page in order to get a deal. So, while these aren’t astonishingly high numbers, they are compelling enough to tell us that there is value in these tactics.

How Many Pages Do People Like?
This is a very interesting question. Our research has shown that: 39% of Facebook users like 1-10 pages; 7% of users like 11-20 pages; 6% of users like 21-30 pages; and a shocking 40% of user don’t like a single page. This tells us that most people (who like pages) like less than 10 pages. So, we must provide enough compelling content to stay in that top ten position.

Reasons for the Unlike
If we look at the reasons why users unlike or stop following a specific brand on Facebook, we see two important things. First, the #1 reason why people leave a brand on Facebook is because their posts are uninteresting. This is why it is critical that you create engaging and creative content for your page and not just post sales pitches or boring company updates. The #2 reason why people leave a brand on Facebook is that they post too often. It is important that you come up with a smart engagement schedule and stick to it. If you find you are losing followers, try pulling back the reigns.

Today we looked at the numbers that drive businesses forward on Facebook. I believe these numbers are interesting because they show that Facebook works. They show us what we can do to build an audience, and a little about what not to do. What do you think? Are there important numbers we are missing? Let us know. Leave a comment.