Interest Lists & Getting Your Posts Seen By More Likers

Anyone that has been reading my posts for a while knows that nothing annoys me more then seeing businesses and pages just copying and pasting information on their facebook page without learning all the facts.  There was this one a few months ago and now there is another one circulating about adding pages to Interest Lists.

It looks something like this:

If you spend anytime at all on Facebook you would have seen it by now.  Or perhaps you have copied and pasted it onto your page.

This statement is misleading and could actually harm your page.  And it certainly won’t guarantee more likers see you posts.  Let me explain.

Firstly, it is impossible for all of your likers to see all of your posts all of the time.  No-one spends all of their time on Facebook so you may post information and your likers then may not log on until hours or sometimes even days later.  Facebook isn’t going to show them a post that is now “old news”, unless of course there has been a lot of interaction on that post and Facebook still deems it important.

Secondly, if you are advising your likers to add your page to an Interest List you need to tell them how to use it otherwise it isn’t going to make an ounce of difference.

Facebook Interest Lists Explained

Think of Interest Lists as a way of categorising the pages you like.

To create a new Interest List, hover over the like/liked button of any page or the friends button on a profile while logged in as yourself, not your company’s page.  From the drop-down menu click on “Add to an Interest List”. You don’t have to “like” a page to add it to a list.  You can also go through the existing pages you have liked and add them to a list.

You can create a new list or add to an existing one and choose from three privacy options:  Public, Friends or Only Me. (Public lists are searchable.) So if you don’t want anyone else to see your lists make sure you select “Only Me”.

Now all the Interest Lists you have created are down the bottom in the left hand column underneath any pages and groups you are connected to.  You can then click on those lists at any time too see posts from the pages that are added to that list.

If you aren’t telling people about this feature then they more than likely won’t click on the list and look there as it can be hidden at the bottom of your screen.  Therefore you haven’t gained anything.   You also need to keep in mind that when someone adds your page to an Interest List they can also choose whether your posts show in their Newsfeed or not.  So potentially, they can hide your page from their Newsfeed and forget to check their Interest List for a couple of weeks.

From a personal point of view, Interest Lists are a great way of keeping your Newsfeed organised and less cluttered and having a way of pin-pointing certain pages you want to view at a certain time.  But it can be very time consuming to set up if you are only just starting.

Getting Your Posts Seen By More Likers

All pages owners want their posts to be seen by all their likers 100% of the time.  But that is just being unrealistic.  It isn’t true for any other form of advertising such as print, radio or TV, and social media is no different.  A radio station or newspaper may have a huge readership/audience but not every one of that audience is going to see or hear your advertisement.

You just need to make the most of the statistics that are available and publish your posts at the best times and in the best format.  What is the best time or format?  My advice is don’t read too much into what everyone tells you works best.  Do testing on  your page and determine what works best for your page.  Most people say images get the most interaction but your likers may prefer links or just plain text.  Put in some time and effort and monitor your posts over a period of time.  Work out the best time and the best format and do more of what works.  But don’t become complacent.   Continue monitoring, as something that may have worked 2 months ago may no longer work.  Change your tactics.

When Facebook considers your post important or popular it will feed it out to more of your likers.  So engagement on your page is important.  Encourage sharing and commenting when possible on your posts.  And don’t forget to be engaged yourself.  If someone comments on your post, reply or acknowledge their comment by “liking” it.  After all, Facebook is social media so ensure you are being social.

When marketing your business you shouldn’t just rely on one avenue.  You know the saying “Don’t put all your eggs into one basket”.  Well this applies with marketing your business too.  Ensure you have other avenues to back you up so that your business will still thrive even if Facebook wasn’t an option.