It's a fascinating point, and something it took me a long time to get my head around. We manage a number Facebook pages on behalf of Trading Standards for our Trusted Trader business. We normally do a daily post, and there is some interaction, but very limited, making us question and investigate from time to time the viability of them.
But they have continually proven a great way to get brand messages out and analysing marketing data from new members, we know they are a great source of new leads, with a lot of lurkers researching the scheme and deciding if it's suitable for them.
Another interesting measurement is this forum, which I concede I have little time to interact as often as I'd like, and in the past have toyed with the idea of closing it just to simply things, but it has an incredible number of lurkers. For example, in the last 30 days it has generated 23,680 page views, yet the actual new post count is very small. The reason why we put so many adverts on is to monetize the lurker traffic, which works incredibly well. (If you are a member, you shouldn't see any adverts). There is zero point putting ugly adverts on pages that don't generate any traffic, so the forum is actually a good little earner. In an ideal world it would be nice to see a lot more engagement and new posters, but I think the heyday of the traditional forum has waned, with bigger platforms such as Quora taking centre stage.
But because it still generates respectable traffic, any new messaging will get a good audience. This is the key to anyone submitting content or devoting time to social media, forums or blogging platforms. Is the effort with the reward?
Project a positive image of yourself and your business, don't just go in with the tiresome sales pitch. Lurkers are normally looking for something, so let them learn something about you and your business and turn a lurker into a client or contact.
Having that same positive image and reputation across multiple platforms should become part of your blended marketing strategy. The days of constant self-promo "buy my stuff, buy my stuff" posts should be long gone, but a lot of people are still figuring this out.
