Part 6 – How To Get More Fans To Your Facebook Page – By Tony Burke
Has your Facebook page growth been stalled? Now might be a good time to start evaluating your Facebook strategy; see what’s working and what isn’t, and cut out whatever is stalling growth. Let’s start with the basics: a lot of people get impressive engagement on their personal Facebook profiles and while that’s a good get in itself, it’s still important to set up a business page.
If you’re creating a product, offering a program or service, your business page will allow you to create an image that will allow you to become an authority on the subject. Once you get to that place, you can then discuss your business freely. It should be your goal to become that go-to authority in your niche and that’s why you need to have a business page.
Set up a marketing plan to get you more fans
Start with these three phases when putting together the plan:
• Attraction– this means finding different ways to grow your fan base depending on what they’re into. Learn as much as you can about your audience and create a persona of your typical fan. That way you know how to center the campaign around them.
• Promotion – come up with strategic posts and keep them short and to-the-point.
• Sales – one of the best ways to get audience feedback for when you want to sell products and services is to ask questions. You’ll find out what your audience wants and develop something they will spend money on.
Now in the next step you can use the following tips to really grow your fan base.
1. Connect with fellow page managers
So let’s say you run a small ice cream store and have already set up a Facebook page with a decent following: try to make a live connection with the pizza parlor across the street if they attract the same clientele. Talk to the owner and invite them to do a little cross promotion on Facebook, where you can share posts with your audiences and forge stronger connections.
2. Share content
This works across all social platforms because when people see and share your content, it has a direct impact on your sales. Have you considered taking original photos and using them as part of your content on Facebook? It could be a simple behind-the-scenes picture at your workplace, a thought provoking image or an inspirational picture: whatever you decide to post should serve to get people sharing. Just make sure to follow copyright laws when downloading pictures online.
3. Tag your Facebook page on your personal profile
The goal here is to make sure your prospects can access your page easily. Pages aren’t getting too much attention these days so you need to come out and make sure to tag your business page so that people can like it right from your update.
4. Link the page to your profile
It’s a simple thing to do but a lot of businesses get it wrong. If users can search and find your personal Facebook page, then you want to make it so that your business page is just as easily accessible.
5. Include Facebook in your email signature
Do you send out emails every day? This is not a complicated trick: just a reminder to include a link to your Facebook page in your email signature. Use a mail program that allows you to customise your email signature and put in clickable icons.
6. Comment on different pages
This is yet another great way to get more people to notice you on Facebook. Find out which other pages your audience could be having conversations and get involved. Like complementary Facebook pages as your own, and then keep an eye on your home page feed and respond to the posts.
7. Run contests
Lots of businesses do this just to get more likes on their page. It will cost you to run a contest but hopefully you’ve set aside a marketing budget for this campaign. All the contests have to be run through Facebook aps but they don’t cost too much and they’re relatively easy to set up.
8. Be mobile friendly
Set up a QR code for your business card and use the link for your Facebook page. Websites such as QRStuff and QR Code offer the codes for free so set up the codes on any of your business cards so that people can find you.
9. Use a sponsored like story to generate more fans on Facebook
There are many ways to advertise on Facebook these days and one popular option is the sponsored like story which advertises your page to your fans’ social networks, basically notifying their own friends about your page and showcasing that the user’s friend already likes your page.
10. Include a Like box on your site
If your website gets a good amount of traffic, you should be able to get a fair number of likes on your page. Track where the likes are coming from and find ways to win more fans from those avenues.
11. Use blog feeds
Apps such as RSS Graffiti and NetworkedBlogs can be used to import posts from your blog and right into your Facebook page. Make sure the posts are useful to your audience and keep it engaging so as to enhance interaction.
By now you’ve probably heard that offering your Facebook fans something extra can be an effective way to grow the number of fans you have. It’s simple, you come up with an offer you know people will love, spend time promoting it through all your social channels, and in the process, get more people coming in on your official Facebook page.
For many businesses, special offers are a regular component of their marketing strategy. Things like special discounts, coupons and giveaways are used to attract new customers and reward the most loyal. But sometimes creating this type of campaign is not as effective as one would hope, and prospects remain unmoved.
In such cases, a downloadable content campaign would be a great solution. If for instance you run a restaurant, you could offer your followers a recipe for the upcoming season. Likewise if you’re a marketing consultant you could offer a white paper with helpful tips for prospects and clients to enhance their marketing efforts. It is a way to showcase your expertise and also build familiarity and trust, which will be crucial to your own growth.
