Facebook Page Secrets: Getting More Likes

Getting people to like your Facebook Page isn’t as easy as it’s made out to be. But at the same time, it’s not as hard as people make it out to be either…

What’s most important when trying to attract new Facebook fans is being consistent, offering value and having a strategy. They may be obvious and you’ve probably heard them before (several times I bet!) but let’s be honest, chances are you’re reading this post because you haven’t made time to commit to the process. Harsh I know, but stay with me.

You Reap What You Sow

You created a Facebook Page because you were looking for something. More customers, increased sales, website traffic, brand awareness or maybe something else. When was the last time in life you were able to start something new, not put any effort in and still get a good return?

If you want to become a runner, you need to put the miles in day after day. If you want to become a great cook you have to cook a lot of rubbish dishes first. If you want to grow a business you need to put in a heck of a lot of work. Guess what? Facebook pages are no different. You want a return? Expect to put a fair amount of effort in.

Start With Strategy

First things first, you need a strategy. It doesn’t have to be amazing so don’t freak out if you’ve never put together a strategy before. You can change and improve it as you go along. So what does a strategy look like? My advice: start small. Get an A4 piece and paper and simply answer these questions:

What is the purpose of my Facebook Page?

Who am I trying to attract?

What kind of content will be useful for these people?

What kind of content are these people likely to respond to or share?

The answers to these questions become the basis of your strategy.

The purpose of my Facebook Page is _____________. I’ll do this by sharing ______________, which will attract ______________.

It may look really simple, but trust me, most people skip right past this stage and end up with a page that is just a mish-mash of posts, confusing their audience and confusing themselves!

Now that you have a simple strategy, it’s time to add some value.

The Likes Are In The Value

It kind of goes without saying, if your page doesn’t provide any value then don’t expect any likes (well other than your mum and a few faithful friends!). There are over 50 million active business Pages on Facebook all competing for attention. The best way to make sure you get your chance to shine is to be valuable.

A common way to approach a Facebook page is to share what’s happening in your business. Imagine though, if on our Facebook Page we posted about a new client we’d won, how one of our team had passed their Google exams, and that we were currently working on our end of year accounts. I bet you’d unlike the page pretty quick smart or at the very least just scroll right past our updates. Why? Because what’s happening in our business isn’t interesting to you. Without being too harsh, how much of what you’ve been posting lately is interesting to your audience?

But if I don’t talk about my business, what do I talk about?

Let’s say you’re an Animal Shelter and the aim of your Facebook Page is to get more people visiting your adoption centre. You’re trying to attract animal lovers to your page, as well as people looking to get a pet. Valuable content for potential adopters might include tips about animal care, information about breeds and what type of owners they suit, as well as stories around local pet businesses like pet food suppliers, groomers, dog walkers etc. You could start conversations about popular animal shows on TV like The Supervet, or share articles about the special bond animals share with their owners.

You’re probably thinking something along the lines of ‘How does posting about The Supervet get animals adopted?’. Well, in short it doesn’t. Well, not directly anyway.

But indirectly….

People who like your page and like your posts:

• are shown more of your posts,
• are more likely to have a positive sentiment to your brand, and
• are more likely to think of your brand when they’re ready to purchase.

It’s no longer about selling, but about being valuable. Facebook Pages that just sell rarely work. Those that provide value are the ones that people return to when they’re ready to take the next step. They’re also the pages that people share with their friends.

Persistence Pays Off

The next step to getting more Facebook Page likes is being consistent. Consistent and valuable content will get you much further than valuable but only sporadic content. My recommendation is to post once a day.

At one point the likes on our Facebook page plateaued so we decided to do a little experiment. The hypotheses was simple, would posting everyday (as opposed to just a couple of times a week) help us get more likes? For one month we posted everyday and the results were extremely impressive.

We increased our total page likes by 26%, our engagement was 8 times the previous month and our website traffic from Facebook grew by a whopping 1950%. Not bad hey!

Up For A Little Facebook Page Challenge?

I’d love to give you a challenge. Put a couple of hours aside this week to come up with a strategy and a few ideas about how you can offer value to your audience, then follow it with consistency. Post every day to your Facebook Page for 30 days and see what happens. You’re guaranteed to learn a heck of a lot and maybe even pick up a few extra fans along the way ;)

Originally published at www.beesonmedia.com on September 18, 2016.