Skip to main content

So, I was checking my Sprout report for our profile like I always do on Monday and noticed that our Facebook followers dropped 1.4k since December 4. Are they having another purge that I missed? Or is this a blip? I have metrics meeting on Wednesday and would rather not be breathing in a paper bag the entire time. 

While we had about 800 page unlikes, we still had a net growth of ~400 since Dec. 4. It’s lower than the previous week by about 1k. This happens from time to time, but we also have over 3.1M followers, so these numbers are not a concern for us. I’m not sure what the percentage change is for your page.

Some questions I would ask:

  • Did you recently start a new paid campaign targeting current followers?
    • If yes, maybe it’s reaching people who have been following your page but haven’t been engaged, and it’s having the reverse effect?
  • Did you recently end a campaign that included a giveaway or other incentive for following your page?
  • Did you share something on the page or via an ad that isn’t your typical content? Are you seeing negative comments/reactions?

What is the time-range that you’re going to be reviewing during your metrics meeting?


Thanks, Judith. This is good food for thought. I can immediately answer all of these as no campaign, no ending campaigns, and no content that is not typical. I’m in oncology space so for us to bleed like this is uncommon, and there have been some of the standard negative, but they make sure to send that to our inbox. 

I review monthly with our team, but weekly for me and this was since 12/1, so to see that in a week -- when normally it’s around 20-30 for the bleed is normal. This is unprecedented. 

That said, oncology gets a lot of fake accounts dumping responses on our pages and I’m wondering if they are purging those accounts -- which would make sense. I ban a lot of people trying to sell fake cures. 
 


You’re welcome. Did you run more donation ads than usual or serve the same ads to the same users too many times? It could just be a fluke, of course.

Unfortunately, we also receive many bot/fake accounts, but most of them don’t follow us; they just leave comments to try to phish our supporters.

 


Reply