1. Invite friends, colleagues and customers to like your page
Don’t be shy, your friends need to be your first followers. Send them a simple message introducing your business and ask them to kindly like your page. Not sure they will be interested in your posts? Tell them they can hide them in their newsfeed later on if they wish. The idea is to try and get as many ‘likes’ as possible at the beginning, even if they’re not necessarily quality ‘likes’.
Do the same with your colleagues and employees, send an email around to announce the creation of your business page and invite them to like it. Make it a fun process, tell them you’ll offer a drink to anyone following you (provided your company is not too big). It may be a little more tricky to get your customers or business partners to like your page but here are a few tips you can try: add your Facebook page link in the signature of all your emails with a special incentive if they like it. This should trigger a few more likes.
Also add the link to your website. Finally have it featured on all of the company’s literature, including business cards. These all seem very obvious things to do but you’d be surprised to see how many businesses forget about it.
2. Let your followers do all the work for you
When people like people share. So once you’ve set up your Facebook page and have a good number of followers, start posting regularly but don’t inundate everyone’s newsfeeds either. Also keep in mind that Facebook is not a place for business generally. People spend time on there to have fun, talk and share things. So make sure your posts are fun and always appealing to your followers.
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Special offers
Offer something unique only available to people on Facebook: a discount on your products or a freebie once a certain number of ‘likes’ is reached. This is bound to generate a lot of interest and ‘shares’ which is what you’re after.
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The Great Giveaway
A very popular way to increase shares and likes is simply to give away some of your products for free. This is usually done through a ‘get more likes’ campaign. Tell your followers that if the number of likes has increased by 50,000 at the end of the month, you will pick 10 ‘likers’ and offer them one of your products.
Now if you’re reluctant to give away your products for free, think about how much it would cost you to advertise your business in a magazine or in a publicplace for example. With Facebook there are no costs except for the products you’re giving away and your reach can be massive. So don’t hesitate a second, give something away.
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The cute factor
The number of pictures of cute puppies and kittens shared and liked on Facebook is quite impressive. So why not give it a try? Get a company mascot and post regularly about it. This will undoubtedly generate a lot of interest. Alternatively, if you find it difficult to have a live animal on your premises, why not opt for a soft toy?You may think it does not have much to do with selling your products and services and you would be right. But the idea here is to grow the number of followers, that’s all. And once again Facebook is a fun place so in between serious posts, an update about your company pet will be welcome.
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Quizzes, surveys and polls
Try to think of interesting surveys, polls and quizzes that will trigger a response from your followers.
A survey can be just a simple question about your products and services but make sure it’s not just random but participative about an important issue if possible. People answering your question will need to feel they have their say in your company’s decisions.Once again, try to make it as appealing as you can to a large audience because the idea is still to get more new followers through those vital ‘shares’. Ask them to pick their favourite products from a list. Facebook offers you the possibility to create polls. Make the most of it. But whatever you do, don’t be too salesey. Always keep in mind people are on Facebook to have fun.
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Vary post formats
Don’t always post links to your website. Varying the format of your posts will help avoid your followers being bored. So make sure you use all the formats available: links, text, videos, audio and pictures. Try to be unpredictable; if you need to communicate something important why not just change your cover picture and put it on there? People will see this new picture in their newsfeed and it may have more impact than a simple text post.
3. Are you a hospitality or retail business?
If yes, get people to check in when they’re in your premises. Get them a 2% discount on their bill if they do it for example. This will create a buzz and get you more followers and more importantly more customers. To do so you’ll need to create a Facebook place instead of a Facebook page. Click here to find out how to do this.
4. Create desire and anticipation
Are you launching a new product or service in a few months or weeks? Don’t just announce it on the day of its release. Start talking about it well before the due date. Give your followers regular news about the development of this new product or service. Turn it into a countdown. Create anticipation. Make them want to share the news.
