So you started a Facebook page, created an amazing cover photo, an eye popping profile image and added some really great apps to your page with awesome thumbnails.. Now what?
For most they end here. They feel like they have built their page so people should come flocking to it right? WRONG.
As I pointed out in my blog about the common mistakes businesses make on social media you cannot pull a Kevin Costner and have the belief that "If you build it they will come." Because they won't...
What I want to discuss with you today is various ways to get more targeted Likes and interested fans to your Facebook page. Some of these are common sense, but for some these may be completely new concepts and methods.
Here's the good news too... All of them are FREE methods except one of them!! Woohoo!!
Tutorial on How to Increase your Facebook Status Likes
Let's get to the tips:
1) Post a status update: Pretty simple right? But you'd be surprised at how often I'm asked to give advice about someone's page and I go to it and they haven't posted any sort of updates in weeks. Or worse yet they have posted every 12 seconds on their page. What you need to remember is that only a very small handful of people will ever come back to your page, if they came to it at all.
This means your only way to connect with them will be on their newsfeed through well crafted and planned status updates.
This is why I have used the Post Planner app for so long because I didn't have to sit on Facebook all day waiting for the exact time to post a status update. I can sit down on Monday morning and plan out an entire week's worth of posts and then just worry about engaging my fans from there.
My advice to you is plan at least 1 post per day and vary up the times each day. If you aren't talking to your fans how can they talk back?
2) Facebook Ads: This is the one that will cost you money, but is the one that will get you the most targeted fans. Facebook has made huge strives lately to make it easier for pages to place ads. Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories are quickly becoming the norm when it comes to ads on Facebook. You can still run the traditional ads in the right hand column to garner Likes but people are beginning to notice those less. Whereas the Promoted Posts show up in the newsfeed and look more natural.
There is a selection you can make when you do a Promoted Post that lets you target friends of your fans that is a great way to get more Likes. Using this type of ad shows your fan's friends that they are connected to a page, thus building trust and credibility instantly. But, you need to make sure you have targeted your post BEFORE you post it otherwise you could end up with likes, comments and shares from profiles all over the world and your post could start to look cluttered and spammy. We tend to always target all of our posts using the Post Planner app before they go live and direct them at English speaking countries only so that when we do run a Promoted Post we don't run into this problem.
Jon Loomer also reported about a feature he has seen on his pages that let him immediately place an ad that has the complete intention of simply getting Likes. I haven't seen that feature yet, but can't wait for it to go live.
Want targeted fans that are likely to purchase from you? Run targeted ads...
3) Page Insights: Let me be real honest with you here... I hate numbers and I'm not an analytic numbers guy. You show me a bunch of charts, graphs and figures and I glaze over like a 7 year old in church. But, paying attention to your page's insights is crucial to your success with your Facebook page.
Why? Well if you don't know what has worked or hasn't worked on your page you're simply throwing darts blindfolded and hoping to hit the board. Facebook's pages insights, just like ads, have come a long way the past year. You can now drill down by post to see exactly how that post performed and what that means to you. Did a simple text update do better than a photo? Or would a video be better? Did your post at 10am get as much engagement as the post at 8pm? All of that can be found in the Insights.
I would caution you however to not check them every day. To me that's like weighing yourself every day and hoping to see results. Many times your weight fluctuates and you get discouraged. Same with Insights. For me 1-2 times per month is enough. You might do it once per week. Either way don't stare at them all day every day hoping to see different results.
I know you're asking "Scott, how does this get me more Likes?". Good question. It gets you more Likes because it means you have a plan and have a clear idea of what is and isn't succeeding on your page. Afterall if you have no engagement your page will not grow. End of story.
4) Post Videos to your Page: What I should say here is "upload" videos to your page. Not just post links to YouTube videos. The reason is that Facebook embeds a little "Like" button on the upper left hand corner of your video that shows to anyone that has NOT liked your page yet that might see it in their newsfeed! You can see an example of this in action below:
Notice the "Like X Factor USA" in the upper left hand corner? How this happens and works is you post a video to your page (side note make sure it's your own video and not something you scraped), then let's say one of your fans named Billy shares it to his Timeline. The video then shows up in the newsfeed of his friend Susan who hasn't Liked your page yet. She pushes play on the video and while her mouse is hovered over the video this Like link shows up. She can Like your page straight from the video without ever going to your page!!! AND BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!!!
Does this feature work in growing a page? You bet. I first discovered this feature in Christmas of 2010 when I posted a video to the Thrive Church page that I was running. Within a matter of 2-3 weeks the page grew by 8000 fans and the video was viewed over 1.5 million times! You can read more about this on the OurChurch.com blog where I guest posted about it with more detailed information.
*Do note that a few have reported to me that they are not seeing this Like button on videos any longer. I have noticed this recently on pages not in the US. So with all things created by Facebook they could at any second take this feature away.
The other reason you should upload videos to your page is that when it's a good video people will share it. And when they share it that also means a link to your page is in the share. Someone could simply hover over "Post Planner" in the image below and Like the page without ever going to the page!!! I love this feature!
5) Link Personal Profile to your Page: One super simple way to get links back to your page and possibly get more likes is to make sure your personal profile is linked to your page in the Employment section of your About section, you can see what this looks like below:
6) Comment on Blogs: This tip ties into tip #5 in some ways because many blogs are now using the Facebook comment plugin for their blog. Which I love and highly recommend. As you can see below when you comment on a blog using the Facebook comments plugin your page shows up and there is a link back to it.
When a blog is using the Facebook Comments plugin you can also change to your page and comment as your page as seen below. This gives an even higher chance that someone will click on your image or the hyperlink to your page and come like it.
If the blog isn't using the Facebook Comments plugin that's fine as well. Depending what they are using you can always link to your Facebook page in your profile on their comment plugin. If people love your comment they might click on your profile to check out more information. Link it to your page and they can come give you a Like!
7) Like Box on your site/blog: This one is pretty straight forward and I would bet most of you are doing this. But I still find some sites lacking this feature. If you have a blog or a website you SHOULD put a Like Box on your site. I'm not a fan of simply putting a Facebook logo for people to click on and then possibly go Like your page. That requires too many actions.
As you can see in the image below someone could Like your page right from the box in the sidebar on the blog. There are many times I go to a blog and see this and click Like without ever visiting their Facebook page. You can get the embed code from Facebook Plugins. I don't recommend embedding the box with the activity stream as it looks very unnatural on your site. Simply put in the box with a few rows of faces and you're good.
8) Use Facebook as your Page: I want to put a disclaimer on this one before I say anything. *DO NOT USE THIS AND BE SPAMMY!!* Facebook added a feature about 2 years ago I think that allows you to surf Facebook and comment on other page's posts as your page instead of as your personal profile.
When this first started people went overboard with it and were simply spamming other pages. That adds no value. How I have seen it used successfully is when a page comments on another page's post and adds value to the conversation. No links, not sales pitch, just interaction.
Keep in mind as a page you can only comment on other pages, not on personal profiles. Just make sure that if you use this you add to the conversation, not just add noise.
9) Killer Content: Even if you do all of the previous tips the bottom line is you must put out killer content if you want to succeed on Facebook these days. You can't just put out junk and expect people to share your posts. Sure some silly memes of cats will get shared, but do you want to be know as that? No.
I'd prefer a page say nothing than put out junk content. If you're putting out good content and have targeted fans that are interested in your content they will engage with you and share it. Content is still king in 2013!
My hope is that these tips help you not only get more Likes on your Facebook page but cause you to get better engagement.
Do you have any tips for getting more Likes? Post a comment below and let us know what you've done.
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