Since Timeline went public on fan pages in March, a few page metrics other than “Likes” are now available for public view. Along with the number of “Likes”, we can also view the number of “People Talking About This” on each individual fan page. You can also view the most popular week of activity on the page, along with the city source and age group of the “Likes”.
A few weeks ago, we decided to add those metrics into the formula for our “How Social is Your DMO?” ranking scale. As we were preparing the USA Q2-2012 rankings, we decided to spend a few extra minutes and compile a list of the 50 US states in order of Facebook engagement and release those this week. Click here for the list of the 50 US states official tourism fan page engagement percentage ranking, which was determined on Tuesday, May 1, 2012.
The Engagement percentage is measured by the total number of “People Talking About This” divided by the total number of “Likes.” There were only three states that had an engagement percentage larger than 10% in the top 5. They were: 1) Texas at 28%; 2) South Dakota at 13% and 3) Maryland at 10%. California, Connecticut and Kentucky rounded out the top 5 – all tied at 7% each.
A majority of the 50 state DMO’s – 36 of them – all fell within the 1% to 5% range. And, of the top six states listed above, only Connecticut had more than 100K in total “Likes.” Connecticut’s page has 100,588 “Likes” while Maryland, who ranked third in engagement, only had 6,458 “Likes”. This is a great example that bigger is not always better.
We all know and understand that this measurement is a moving target and it can literally change hourly – based on a viral post or a successful ad campaign – but it is another interesting metric to watch and measure over time. It would be very interesting to track this data on a weekly basis for a year to get a more accurate profile of overall Facebook engagement for a destination fan page.
Nice work Dave and Think! team.
Must say, the Engagement metric is a much stronger and more accurate measure of Facebook page quality. It certainly takes away the curve that overall destination popularity (Florida, New York) threw into the previous report versions.
As you said, still a moving target, but certainly a solid illustration as to why more fans does not (always) equal more engagement.
- Troy
Comment by Troy Thompson — May 2, 2012 @ 12:58 pm
Thanks Troy! Yes, this begins to clarify the picture a bit.
Regarding measurement for the How Social is Your DMO? Rankings, we do take engagement into consideration on Facebook, Twitter and Blogs. It si more than just numbers of Likes or Followers. And, in the State DMO Q2-2012 report, we have added these numbers in the equation for Facebook. We should have that posted next week.
Thanks again for reading & participating!
Dave
Comment by daveserino — May 2, 2012 @ 1:11 pm
Ditto, Troy.
It’s interesting to see the spread. I would be even more interested to see the engagement rate over time, rather than a snapshot of May 1. Thanks again to Dave and Think! team.
Comment by Stephanie Lynch — May 2, 2012 @ 1:14 pm
Good stuff Dave, that Q2 report will be an interesting read. So many moving parts, tough to nail down any absolutes, but it is certainly a good indicator of overall social (in this case Facebook) health.
Agreed Stephanie, but Dave needs to sleep at some point.
- Troy
Comment by Troy Thompson — May 2, 2012 @ 1:26 pm
Yes, Stephanie, we really need to measure this weekly to see trends and learn what makes your page engaging or not so engaging. There is something here for sure.
We’re going to sleep on that one, per Troy’s advice!
Comment by daveserino — May 2, 2012 @ 1:41 pm
I love this. And I love that Facebook made the engagement numbers public. It demonstrates the total number of fans is irrelevant. There’s a lot of missed opportunity out there.
Comment by William Bakker — May 2, 2012 @ 1:59 pm
Good stuff guys, thanks for the report. Have you tried http://edgerankchecker.com/ to pull the dat? It may eliminate some of the manual work and allow for more frequent updates. (Where’s the intern?)
Comment by Milena Regos — May 2, 2012 @ 2:00 pm
Milena, thanks for the tip! We have not, but it will be something that we will be looking into for the future!
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Comment by Buying Facebook Fans — May 28, 2012 @ 9:12 am