How To Increase Your Facebook Fan Base.
“Like us on Facebook” is probably a phrase that you have seen or heard countless times before. Chances are that you have “like” some of them before. Suffice to say, Facebook is fast becoming the most essential social media tool for businesses or brands to build a fan page, if it is not already one yet. Like it or not (pun not intended), Facebook is set to change the way we shop, reflect our show of support and affect our decisions or opinions.
Most businesses or brands these days have a Facebook fan page, regardless of whether they are a huge chain store or a sole business establishment like my local friendly optician. I must say that I was most surprised and bemused when I received an SMS from my optician one day requesting that I “like” his shop’s fan page. Yes, I did “like” it. My optician, like many of the businesses out there today, is trying to harness the power of Facebook as a free marketing tool by getting as many “likes” as possible. The trick lies in your persuasion to get people to “like” you. Hence, here are 5 tips on how to increase your Facebook likes.
Tip 1: Promotion / Giveaways
Social media is all about human interaction and subsequently, human behavior too. You don’t need to be an expert to know that humans love free stuff. Therefore, owners wanting to promote their businesses or websites are highly recommended to run promotions or giveaways as a mean to engage potential fans, whenever possible. This is a simple yet effective marketing tactic and cost so much lesser than traditional advertisements.
According to a recent survey of global online consumers conducted by Nielsen on the Media it was found that an overwhelming majority of people liking a brand, company or celebrity because they wanted to receive discounts and special offers. Other main reasons include wanting updates and showing support.
Thus, giving offers or free gifts to a number of people who “liked” your page is a sure way to generate an exponential increase on your “likes”. In addition to that, you could also ask for these fans to post about your page and / or promotion on their Facebook or Twitter too. Make full use of the excitement generated by your offer.
Tip 2: Quality Content
My personal observation on my Facebook page as well as other fan pages, is that whenever there is an interesting post or funny clip being uploaded, it gets shared around and before long, it is spread through the Facebook network, without me or the businesses or brands having to make direct requests to have them shared. Many a times, these posts and clips do generate “likes” as it gets shared repeatedly. And best of all, these “likes” are genuinely given and would lead to curiosity and subsequently more visitors to your page.
Tip 3: Photos Tagging
Another good way to generate “likes” is to load pictures. Everyone loves a good picture, especially if they are in it. So if you are planning to run some events, do remember to take as many pictures of the participants and of the event as possible. Have these pictures uploaded to your Facebook fan page and invite your fans to tag themselves. Once this is done, their friends get to see them and yes, you guessed it, will “like” it.
Tip 4: Linking to Other Social Sites
Other social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn are a great source of fans and friends. Since Twitter is only a microblogging service and does not allow more than 140 text-based characters, it is a great platform for posting teasers and directing traffic to your Facebook page.
LinkedIn on the other hand, would be an excellent place to introduce your business to as it is a social networking for professional relationships. Link it back to your Facebook and those who wished to learn more about your business will automatically drop by.
The more traffic you direct to your Facebook, the more chance of it getting “liked”.
Tip 5: Positioning of “Like” button
Speaking of social media sites in the above tip, are you aware that most internet marketers these days would have a Facebook “like” button on their blog’s articles? The main idea here is to get your blog readers to support your Facebook page. The crucial part is the positioning of the “like” button on your blog. The best position for this button is of course at the end of the article, where your readers would most likely notice it right after they finish reading your article and thus, increase the chances of clicking on it. Depending on your layout, of course you can also place it higher up, near to the title of the blog article.
I admit that it is not easy to successfully market your business or website via Facebook. It is after all a free marketing tool. There is no such thing as free lunch and thus, you will have to work hard to achieve the effect you want. But if you follow the tips above and put in the effort, you are most likely able to generate and continue to generate “likes” to your fan page, resulting in a positive impression on your business or website. It may even be more effective than the traditional advertisement!
