It's not the number of friends you have

I have clients who see their competitors on Facebook and get worried about their number of fans/likes compared to their own. I remind them, it's not the number of fans they have, it's how they get them and why they keep coming back.

People start following pages and groups for various reasons. Sometimes it's because they associate themselves with a cause like "Getting Betty White to Host the Academy Awards". As of today, this page has 150,526 people who like this. Most of the people who hit the Like button will rarely come back to this page but they are showing their support in getting Betty White to host the Academy Awards.

Other pages that get a high number of followers, are those making a statement. For example, "I Hate Snoring". Most people can relate to this statement whether they themselves snore, or they know of someone who does.  However, the likelihood of these same people coming back to this page to stop their snoring is unlikely.

One of my clients is Sereno, The Center for Snoring Solutions.  If their Facebook Page contained more than snoring related topics, they could have daily updates about sleeping, sex, beds, even the benefits of drinking water. However, daily updates isn't the goal. Neither is getting a very high number of fans.  The goal is to educate the masses about a common problem, snoring, that afflicts so many lives and provide access to a service that alleviates the snoring problem.  Sure, if more people follow this page, there is a great chance the message can reach a wider audience.  However, if the message is diluted with inconsistent information, not many people will get it.

If you have a service to provide and you are using Facebook as another media resource, you need to also provide a use or function to keep them coming back.  Be knowledgeable, educate, entertain, and provide useful information in combination with selling your services.  Don't get steered away from your message. Stay focused on your expertise.  Replace quantity with quality and you'll be the place to go when people need you.