“How do I get more Facebook Fans?” This is a question I often hear from new business owners. Somewhere along the way new business owners get the idea that “more Facebook fans = more sales,” and that’s that. Though having a large fanbase is only 1 part of a successful Facebook Fan Page, an increased fan base could help increase your business, because it gets more people to see what you have to offer, and learn why they should come to you. So, how do you get more Facebook fans?
How to Get More Facebook Fans
Getting more Facebook Fans is something I have recently focused on for my Unearthed Comics Facebook fanpage. I had about 140 fans for a few months and things were moving slowly. I ended up reading several articles, listening to some helpful podcasts, and consulting some people in the comic industry. After a month of concerted efforts, my fan base grew from 140 to 5,080, without paid advertising. Here are a few of the things that helped me:
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Tahoe Golf Tech has a branded Facebook page so viewers know immediately what they offer and that they are a professional service.
You first need a Facebook Fan page with a complete profile, a branded profile and a cover photo. Again, all of your representation needs to look professional enough to entice people who are not previously aware of you and may be looking for similar services. Be sure to complete your profile with a description using keyword-rich phrases and include a link to your website.
- Learn how to use Facebook as an admin of your new Fanpage versus your own personal profile. As of 7/2013, you can do this by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right hand corner and selecting your Fanpage under “Use Facebook As.”
- Once logged in as your new Fanpage, start searching for businesses or other fan pages that compliment, not compete with, your business and “like” their pages. For instance, if you have a shoe store, you may want to start “liking” other local businesses in town that do not sell shoes but offer things like clothing, hair salon, coffee shop, etc.
- Once you have liked several of these businesses, then you can click on HOME on the upper right hand corner. You will now see a feed of wall posts from those new businesses you like. (You will notice this is different from your personal home as it only shows the news feed from the businesses you liked through your fan page).
- Start liking and commenting on these businesses’ posts, offering real kudos or kind insights. This will allow their followers to start seeing your name and comments. Again, those businesses that have more followers will most likely be the ones who have the most followers like or reply to your comments versus the businesses that only have a few followers.
- Create a regular schedule for commenting and liking these businesses’ posts once a day for a few months. You will not only start to be noticed by fans of these businesses, but the business owners will also acknowledge you. In turn, a mutual relationship can be formed where you send customers to these businesses and vice versa.
- Once you have established this practice, sample with more cross-promotion, where you “share” posts from these businesses with your fan base. In turn, these other businesses may share some of your promotions as well.
This is just one way to get more Facebook fans by investing time and energy.
Formula for a Successful Facebook Page
However, as I mentioned above, having a large fan base is only 1 part of having a successful Facebook presence, with the other ingredients of the formula being:
a marketing strategy that helps you convert your fans to actual leads- an understanding of how Facebook works
- a recommended, tested posting schedule
- dedicated time to be on Facebook
- interesting content
If you are looking to improve your Facebook presence without investing in advertising, try the techniques above, read through some of these helpful articles below, or feel free to contact me.
Some helpful links:
- 21 Creative Ways to Increase Your Facebook Fanbase (though published in 2010, this is still applicable)
- 20 Ways to Increase Facebook Page Visibility
- Top 10 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Reach