Have you tried commenting on other Facebook pages posts as your business page?

If so – have you noticed that it’s helped with your visibility/traffic to your page? Has anyone been able to track this kind of traffic in the insights? 

I’ve done this for some local clients, but don’t see much of a return (or at least, I don’t think I see much of a return). Starting to wonder if it’s worth the time and effort! 

@pacey Thanks for your response. I agree that when others post self-promoting or spammy links, it’s very annoying. I would delete those as well. 

But I also think that in some situations, it’s nice to support others in the community. Whether it be an online community or a local community, businesses helping other businesses can go a long way. 

I just don’t know how the consumer plays in to this – whether or not they see the post, and whether or not they click on the page to learn more. 

@demorden Haha, I like that response. I agree, if the post is on-topic, and is a genuine comment, it stays. We’re definitely on the same page here. I’m sure others are as well. 

@pacey  What is your angle on why to delete and ban? Curious.

@amoresocial Tread carefully here.

I agree this can and does help FB pages help each other, but most posts I get are pure spam. So, like @pacey I generally delete them. Although the next one I get I might leave it there and write something witty in response.

If you want to do this, then get to know the business you want to interact with, build a connection first. And start by commenting on their posts in a completely non-spammy, genuine, way.

If the only reason for you being there is to promote yourself, you are doing it wrong.

Cheers,
Russ

@valissa  @russellallert Great input. I see I’ve started a heated debate  

I completely understand your point, Valissa. I tried expressing it earlier, but sometimes it’s hard via text. I have one client who is located in a very social town (both offline and on). So it’s normal for pages to post on each others walls to support each other. It’s actually encouraged! It’s all about the local movement – supporting shopping local. 

I think it really depends on the dynamics of the businesses. 

I also fully agree that some people are just posting obnoxious spam – there’s not denying that. I think you have to think before you post – would this come off as spam to me? If so, don’t post. 

@samantha @ianpace @russellallert @valissawarren @daunjaconsenI actually do a bit of both.If I comment on a Page which offer the same or similar services I will comment with my personal profile.If I’m not competing with them I’ll comment as my Facebook Page.I have never had any problems that I am aware off.

@valissa I’m not saying it is at all. It depends on a whole range of factors, but all the ones I have gotten so far have been spam. And by spam, I mean something that adds nothing to the conversation and are simply there to be self-promoting.

I hope that clarifies my thoughts a little better.

Cheers!
Russell Allert

@sudeep I don’t think most pages have the admins publicly visible, but that’s certainly a good idea. Several of our clients are in the same small town and participate in a weekly business shoutout for other business pages in the area. I think the concept originated offline, but it’s grown pretty significantly over the past 6 months or so. While it can be annoying at times, for the pages that don’t otherwise get much activity on their pages it’s nice to see that form of support. 

Keeping it quality is really the heart of all social content, IMO. Agreed! @russellallert  @gabriel @amoresocial

@jorgenpoulsen Completely unrelated… Whoa! I didn’t realize that my Facebook login had created a separate username for me. Thanks for the mention so I can fix that  

It’s nice to hear so many different points of view so thanks to you all,  to @amoresocial in particular for having started this thread.
Anyway. IMHO the most important thing to consider is the general attitude of other administrators towards the matter. Some will react positively, some not. Some prefer to be contacted before, so that any social interaction will be -more or less- planned, some other prefer spontaneous content. Etc…
You can see that this is true here, in this post.So… the problem is understanding what kind of person you are dealing with.
But how?! One element could be seeing if there are contents from some other pages, and if yes, if such contents seem to be planned before or not.But I’m talking of some kind of “seventh sense“, here.

Can someone propose some ideas?

Building connections with other pages is so much more important than whatever couple of clicks you will get by posting on other people’s pages. Here are a couple strategies that I utilize.

1) Try to find a contact. Often a page will have its website in their info, and if you visit it you can find contact information. Reach out and try to connect with the page owner this way. Offer something of value. If the page owner themselves ends up promoting you, you will get so much more visibility!

2) Tag a page that is a good connection in a post on your page. The page admin will see this and may reciprocate.

3) Look for pages that have a high level of posts by other people, but none from the actual page owner. These are often in very generic words, people, etc. Often this is a page that has been abandoned by the owner. Since lots of people are visiting the actual page (rather than just seeing things in their stream), you will probably get at least a few eyeballs, and if your post is really good you might just be able to get them to come check out your page.

4) Comment in an existing thread rather than just on the wall. Add value to a conversation that is already going on on the wall. People who have already commented will be sent a notification, and are more likely to see your post and interact.

Wow, realizing I have a lot to say about this. I think I just found one of my webinar topics for the next couple months.