Last July, Facebook introduced page administrators to the Pages to Watch module, allowing them to choose up to five pages they did not manage and track their likes and other analytics.
With this year’s Facebook updates, the Pages to Watch tool has now been added into the social network’s Page Insights, rather than being broken out as a separate module. The upgrades come with the ability to add more pages to the list as well as an analytical look at the number of posts and engagement those pages have received.
The tool comes with a few pros (instant analysis) and cons (hyper chronic competitive stress). Many page owners are simply livid that Facebook is openly providing “inside information about your marketing program so (the competition) can more easily monitor/monkey/copy your marketing strategy without having to go out of their way."
I can’t blame them for thinking that. It’s essentially the real-time social media version of The Lonely Island’s doing "The Creep.” (Side bar – These guys do some of the best digital shorts. I’ve never been disappointed.) But there is a flip side…
If you’re competitive in nature, Pages to Watch provides a “challenge accepted” state of mind. Savvy marketing and PR pros should expect the inevitability (don’t be a laggard) and flip this resource to work in their favor and use it as a means to think more critically about their content and engagement strategies.
I was pretty excited because last Friday I got THE notification.
In their
defense (whichever fan page it is), the odds are pretty strong that we’re
creeping on them, too. I immediately built my own list when the module first
came out eight months ago.
To paraphrase
Nicki Minaj, “Get your Facebook strategy flex’n and your analytics T-Rex’n, and
creep!”
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