Merging Facebook Pages Poll

[Rit]

I've been thinking about merging the Facebook pages.  There are a little over 2,000 likes on the War2 Tides of Darkness Facebook page and a little over 500 likes on the War2Combat Edition page.  Merging the pages would basically keep the War2Combat Edition page the same, delete the War2 Tides of Darkness page, and all likes for the War2 Tides of Darkness page would go to the remaining War2Combat Edition page. 

The other option would be to keep both pages and have posts forwarded to them from the War2 Server Facebook Group. 

Either way, we'll still be able to advertise to a huge audience.  What do you guys think would be best?

https://www.facebook.com/War2TidesOfDarkness
https://www.facebook.com/war2combat

[iL]

I'm not so experienced in merging pages on facebook. What will that mean for users?

What will we loose if we merge these pages? War2 Tides of Darkness page will disappear, so people will not be able to find that page by search or w/e?
I absolutely have no idea how to vote because i have no idea about effects.

[Rit]

I'm not so experienced in merging pages on facebook. What will that mean for users?

What will we loose if we merge these pages? War2 Tides of Darkness page will disappear, so people will not be able to find that page by search or w/e?
I absolutely have no idea how to vote because i have no idea about effects.

War2 Tides of Darkness page will be deleted and the people who have liked it will now see the War2Combat Edition page instead. 

"The people who like your Pages and any check-ins will be combined, but posts, photos, reviews, ratings and the username will be deleted from the Page you merge. The Page you want to keep will remain unchanged, except for the addition of people who like the Page and check-ins that were merged from the other Page. The Page you don't want to keep will be removed from Facebook, and you won't be able to unmerge it."

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/249601088403018

[mousEtopher]

I vote for option #3: collect more data before making a decision.

This situation is not a good candidate for a poll-based decision making; a mob of users having no experience with FB pages, advertising, etc. lack the basis for making an intelligent determination on the subject. Enacting a decision determined by any such arbitrary community vote is action taken for the sake of taking action, not because it's necessarily beneficial in any way.

Sit tight for now. Use both pages, experiment with promoting them, familiarize yourself with the implications of managing the two separate pages and in due time the optimal course of action should become obvious. Since the pages can be merged at any time, there's no need to rush into anything.

Also, having two separate pages for now gives a good opportunity for split testing. For one thing, what methods did tk use to amass so many likes? Most of the likes on the War2combat page are (I think) from Burton's FBA campaigns. He's run quite a few now but still only has 1/4 what tk's page has. Did tk run more ads? Were there other methods of promotion? Is it just that the page is older? Or is it in some way more "likeable" than war2combat? Maybe "War2 Tides of Darkness" is more immediately recognizeable for what it is, whereas "War2combat" is ambiguous.

Another thing -- if you merged the pages and people start seeing posts from War2combat on their timeline, they might not even connect that with the War2 Tides of Darkness page that they originally liked. etc etc. There are plenty of factors like this that need to be considered before doing anything.

[GaNzTheLegend]

maybe turn that tides of darkness into a portugese page since most people that liked it speak it, idk but I think having 2 pages is better for many reasons

[Rit]

I vote for option #3: collect more data before making a decision.

This situation is not a good candidate for a poll-based decision making; a mob of users having no experience with FB pages, advertising, etc. lack the basis for making an intelligent determination on the subject. Enacting a decision determined by any such arbitrary community vote is action taken for the sake of taking action, not because it's necessarily beneficial in any way.

Sit tight for now. Use both pages, experiment with promoting them, familiarize yourself with the implications of managing the two separate pages and in due time the optimal course of action should become obvious. Since the pages can be merged at any time, there's no need to rush into anything.

Also, having two separate pages for now gives a good opportunity for split testing. For one thing, what methods did tk use to amass so many likes? Most of the likes on the War2combat page are (I think) from Burton's FBA campaigns. He's run quite a few now but still only has 1/4 what tk's page has. Did tk run more ads? Were there other methods of promotion? Is it just that the page is older? Or is it in some way more "likeable" than war2combat? Maybe "War2 Tides of Darkness" is more immediately recognizeable for what it is, whereas "War2combat" is ambiguous.

Another thing -- if you merged the pages and people start seeing posts from War2combat on their timeline, they might not even connect that with the War2 Tides of Darkness page that they originally liked. etc etc. There are plenty of factors like this that need to be considered before doing anything.

I think it's justifiable to assume that there are a lot of users on here who know nothing about Facebook pages, advertising, etc. but what about the users who do have some experience with these things?  They are able to help lead the discussion with their knowledge and expertise.  The other users are likely to side with the most reasonable arguments.  In any poll made, there will always be someone compelled to make their opinion known in order to change the minds of others. 

I've been indecisive about this issue and I'm glad you've come up with an argument.  You bring up some really good points and I will research everything you've suggested.  I have experience managing Facebook pages and I'm aware of a few basic strategies for general advertising and engagement.  I don't have any experience with monetary advertising on Facebook though.  I'm curious about how much was spent on boosting the posts on the War2 Tides of Darkness page.  I noticed a HUGE  jump in the reach of a boosted post compared to the reach of a normal post. 

This poll will be locked until further notice.  I think we should continue to discuss the pros and cons here for merging the pages.

maybe turn that tides of darkness into a portugese page since most people that liked it speak it, idk but I think having 2 pages is better for many reasons

Not a bad idea but I think it will just limit our reach and we'll end up losing likes from other countries.  Facebook also gives the option to translate posts.  If I post something on the page in English, anyone who speaks Portuguese will see a "Translate" link on the post. 

[mousEtopher]

Inviting discussion on the subject is great, but a poll isn't really necessary for that. If you really feel the need for an outside perspective there are also plenty of marketing forums you could query and I'm sure get much more useful feedback, articles to read on the subject, etc. (the question of when to merge FB pages is hardly an uncommon one). Probably not necessary though, I still think you'd do fine with some judicious messing about -- experimenting & observing. Keep us posted on your findings!

I'm curious about how much was spent on boosting the posts on the War2 Tides of Darkness page.  I noticed a HUGE  jump in the reach of a boosted post compared to the reach of a normal post. 

Ditto. I just looked over the insights data for both pages -- the majority of likes for both come from ads, but the TidesofDarkness page shows a much steeper upward trend. One spike in particular, January 31 - Februrary 10, was getting over 100 likes per day. Definitely ask tk if he'll share the details of the ads he was running during that time. (Another good spike from Feb 22 to March 2.)

When it comes to running ads, tiny details can make a huge difference in overall efficacy. The image used, the wording of the headline & text are all crucial and usually require a lot of split testing to arrive at winning combinations.