New Research on Facebook Pages: Top Three Insights for Brands

Michael_Jackson_Most_Popular_Facebook_Page

Sysomos, the company behind social media analytics products Heartbeat and Map, is quickly becoming my favorite source of research on how we use social platforms.

Sysomos had put together an excellent report on Twitter users in June 2009. Now, Sysomos has followed up with an equally useful report on Facebook pages: Inside Facebook Pages.

Sysomos analyzed nearly 600,000 Facebook Pages to investigate usage patterns related to popularity, amount of content posted, number of fans, and categories. Here are the most interesting findings and the insights they translate into for brands:

Finding 1: The average Facebook page has 4,596 fans while the median page has 218 fans. 4% of pages have more than 10,000 fans, 0.76% of pages have more than 100,000 fans, and 0.05% of pages (or 297 in total) have more than a million fans.

Insight 1: These numbers can serve as a good starting point for setting targets for branded Facebook pages: a big brand should aim for between 10,000 to 100,000 fans, but is unlikely to attract a million fans.

Finding 2: Pages with more than one million fans have nearly three times as much owner-generated content as the average Facebook page (70 against 27), but nearly 60 times as much fan-generated content (587 against 10). The frequency of administrator wall posts remains constant as the number of fans increases (about twice a month).

Insight 2: Facebook fan pages reach a tipping point (at about 5000 fans) after which the fans start creating more content than the page owner. Brands should try to reach this tipping point earlier by actively encouraging fans to create content through contests and giveaways.

Finding 3: Amongst Facebook pages with more than one million fans, the most popular pages are for musicians/bands (16.7%), celebrities (16.0%), products (11.9%), television shows (8.5%), and films (3.4%). Michael Jackson is the most popular page on Facebook, with 10 million fans.

Insight 3: Entertainment and pop culture driven Facebook pages have the highest number of fans. Brands should encourage their celebrity brand ambassadors to create and promote their own Facebook pages and use them to cross-promote the brand.

For more details, see the excellent Inside Facebook Pages report from Sysomos.

Cross-posted at 2020 Social: Because Business is Social.

I am co-founder of social business strategy company 20:20 Social. In my previous avatars, I have held senior marketing roles at the Tata Group, taught social media at Georgetown University, and co-founded Vote Report India. Do read my bio and consider interviewing me for a story, inviting me to speak at an event, or asking me to help you with your social business strategy.