Friday, July 27, 2012

Studying the Stats

Above is the overview of the stats from my Facebook fan page. The graph goes up and down depending on whether I manage to snag someone's attention on the never-ending scroll of status messages in their news feed. It isn't easy and other people can have different results depending upon who their fans are. I do have fans who read my excerpts and enter my contests, but by far the overwhelming favorite topic on my fan page is food.

My fans like to look at food--though not usually the food I have prepared at home. I snapped a photo of my sausage biscuit in a fast food restaurant one day and was amazed that people found it so interesting. Yes, it was tasty but really there wasn't anything unique about it. I took a photo of my fried shrimp at the Lobsterfest and lots of people looked at that. I know there are people who claim to hate reading about what anyone had for supper, but people on Facebook sure are interested in looking at a photo of it--add the recipe and it's even better.

I try to include photos or videos with every post. I don't have an amazing number of fans like Diana Gabaldon (one of Daughter #1's favorite authors). Diana Gabaldon doesn't post photos with every status message on her fan page, but it doesn't matter. For me, it matters.

Flowers and gardening seem to be a big hit, which is a problem for me because I do not have a green thumb. My luck with plants is abysmal. This is embarrassing since my sister is a horticulturist. She is always searching for plants for me that I can't kill. Still, I have taken some nice photos and my fans apparently appreciate the pictures. They can commiserate with me when the deer eat my plants. They can give me advice about what deer might not eat.

Yes, my fans enjoy giving me advice. It's okay. I can always use it. Especially when it comes to gardening.

I'm not terrific when it comes to decorating either. So when I put up a photo of the lampshades I bought that did not look right, I received a wealth of suggestions.

When I dropped my favorite Corningware roasting pan, I got a lot of sympathy. Evidently, there are those who can relate to my klutziness.

Losing weight is a great topic, too.

My fans do look at photos of my artwork, an area where I do have some skill. I get lots of compliments, which sort of makes up for the posts about my klutziness.

Ancient photos receive quite a bit of attention. So far, the photo I posted of me in my Girl Scout uniform has gotten more hits than anything else I've posted. I've gotten more hits than my number of fans. Maybe they all looked at it twice?

What would you like to see on my Facebook fan page?

2 comments:

MarkD60 said...

If your fans like food, maybe you should publish a cookbook? Or a romance novel about two orts in love, separated at a take out restaurant when purchased by different customers. They are reunited when both customers coincidentally go to the same "bring a side dish" party.
Only to tragically die in the end!
Forgive my silliness.

Penelope Marzec said...

MarkD60:

An clever premise. Maybe you should write that story. :^)