In the past year or so, my favorite radio station has really been stepping up their social presence on Facebook.  They went from infrequent posts about concerts, music news and the like to something completely different.

The transformation started slow.  I started noticing – and liking – their Facebook posts featuring pictures of one of their DJ’s cats.  Because I’m a cat lover, I didn’t notice or mind how off-topic they were.

Now the radio station, 94.7 fm, is posting on their Facebook page often – about 5 to 10 times per day – about all sorts of things. I often find the posts amusing, but it bothers me that so many of them aren’t related to music at all.

My point is: When I “like” a company on Facebook, I expect to mostly see posts from the company that are relevant to them and their industry… and me, their fan.

And what strikes me as very odd is that 94.7′s slogan is “It’s different here,” referencing the fact that their radio station focuses on music, not talk.  But now it’s like they’ve just pushed the talk and non-music stuff to Facebook.

I bet I know how it happened, though.  They started experimenting with other types of posts and found that they got great levels of engagement – more likes, comments and shares.  While those are important metrics to watch and try to improve, I would have to argue that engagement on relevant posts are more important than random ones.

So here’s my advice for this radio station, and just about any other company with a Facebook page:

• Give your Facebook fans what they probably want.  Your most important fans will be the ones who mostly care about things related to your company — you don’t want to just be left with people who like your jokes and funny cat videos.  If you’re a restaurant, focus on coupons and announcing new menu items.  If you’re a technology company, focus on information about your products and news and advice that will help your customers and prospective customers.  You have to keep the signal to noise ratio in check, or else you’re going to lose people.
• Don’t post more often than most of your fans’ friends.  You don’t want to overwhelm anyone’s News Feed, or else people will unlike you or hide your posts so they don’t see them in their News Feed anymore.  Posting more than 5 times per day (instead of once a day or so) doesn’t feel more social or human, because none of my real friends post this often.
• Pay attention to feedback.  Keep an eye on how many people are unliking your Facebook page, and listen to and solicit feedback from both your radio station listeners and Facebook fans.

Do you have other tips for companies on Facebook, or things you see that make you want to unlike a company Facebook page? Share in the comments below.

Want advice for avoiding being unfollowed on Twitter? Check out my article with 15 tips, some of which also apply to Facebook.