Since SMSEO’s Facebook Fan Page has grown to nearly 2,500 fans, I’ve noticed that fan count is in a state of constant fluctuation. At one point there will be 5 new fans, then a few minutes later 2 fans have left and so on.
There was question posted over at Yahoo Answers where the numbers were much larger in scale, and the person was asking why their Fan Page was losing thousands of fans a day. This particular Fan Page had more than 1.3 million fans, just to put it in perspective.
My take on this fluctuation, regardless of the scale we are talking about, is that it’s a process of iteration that is ultimately healthy for your Fan Page.
Regardless of why you have a Facebook Fan Page (business, music band, individual, products, etc…) the fact that people are leaving, and more are being added, tells me that healthy growth is taking place.
Think of it like weight lifting. In order to grow your muscles, you must break down your muscle tissue so it can grow back bigger and stronger.
When people leave your fan page, that means your page was not the best fit for them – for whatever reason. And this is good thing because ultimately, don’t you want the most dedicated fans to be following you?
And when people leave, the fact that more people replace them means that your fan page is growing in the right direction.
What you need to do is expand your horizon regarding the growth of your fan page. Get a more linear view of what your growth goals are and how you want your fan page to grow.
When it comes to Facebook, you don’t necessarily want to play a pure numbers game.
The people who are fans of your page are those who are volunteering to receive your page updates, which means they are “high quality leads” to begin with, and worthy of your respect from day one – so quality is definitely better than quantity.
With evolutionary process of growth unfolding on your page, in due time you will start to achieve some level of scale with the numbers. And on a large scale, at least you’ll then know that all of those fans are people who are also “high quality” connections – whatever your goals and objectives may be!