Top 4 Ways To Get More Page Likes on Facebook in 2017
IT CAN BE a struggle to get more likes on your business Facebook page at times. You pick up the odd one in dribs and drabs, but it seems more at random than any consistent growth.
You consistently churn out what you feel is good content, but seem to get little back in return.
The good news is, it's not just you.
Facebook has almost entirely killed off organic reach for businesses (<5%), meaning you either need to invest some cash in Ads, or use strategic tactics to get any real traction as it stands in 2017.
Here are 4 of the best ways to get more likes - and some don't even cost you any money!
1. Run a competition - with WORTHWHILE prizes
Yes, that means putting your hand in your pocket, or giving something from your business that has genuine value.
Would a free £20 voucher or a makeup bundle worth £15 be enough to make you like, share and tag a post from a business you don't know, to all your friends?
As a rule, I would always advise people to offer something with at least £75 of value - or do something like one of our Run DMG partners Salon Select NI, who over one week offered their followers the chance each day to win one of their '5 Favourite Things'.
Running a competition with a worthwhile prize can therefore be VERY effective in both re-engaging existing followers and at the same time opening your services up to all their friends and family too.
2. Get people who liked your posts to like your page too
This is a Run Pro Tip that a lot of people still don't know about.
You can invite anyone who likes one of your business posts to like your page too.
Discovering this and implementing it for one business in the past increased page likes by 8% in under a week!
All you have to do is click on the number of likes under any post on your page, and you'll automatically get a list of every user who has liked the post.
On the right of each user's name, you will see a button that shows if the user has already liked your page. If they haven't, hey presto you can invite them to!
This is especially useful if you've just run an ad as often people will like the post itself, but not take any further action unless instructed to.
Talking of ads...
3. Use Facebook ads
Running a competition as above is great. However, the likes you generate from this won't be highly targeted - and some people will 'like' your page just to enter the competition, with no real interest in what your business is about.
So, how can you target exactly the kind of people who will be likely to, if not now, at some point in the future, buy from you?
I will do a separate piece on FB ads soon as they are a bigger subject but a common mistake people make - and a great way to waste money - is to target them far too generally.
For example, you run a health and beauty salon and just target your audience as 'women within a 20km radius.'
Or...
You are a personal trainer with about a 70:30 ratio of male to female clients, mostly aged 25-40. But you just target 'anyone in a 20km radius' of your gym.
Who should they set as their Facebook ads audience?
The Beauty Salon owner should be targeting specific age groups and interests to fit who their ad is aimed at. So, hair dye/colour might be targeted at their older clientele; 35-65 maybe.
Let's say these customers are married too. But what other Facebook pages do they like, what books do they read, what hobbies do they have, do they go to that upmarket local pub for Sunday lunch every weekend? Where would they shop?
These and more are ALL things you can target on Facebook. And don't forget at certain times of year (Valentines, Christmas etc) they should also be targeting men occasionally...
For the second example, the personal trainer seems to have more of a male market, so targeting males makes their ad more likely to convert than if they run a general ad for both men and women.
So, they'll target men aged 25-35. Let's say these guys are single - the reason they train so hard is to look good in the bars at the weekends!
In fact, we know some of these bars so we'll include them in the interests section of our audience here too.
Most of these guys happen to read Men's Health, and like football so we'll add those as interests too.
They also subscribe to a certain bodybuilding blog, and so on...
I'm running an ad campaign soon that has ten different interests for the audience - you might not need that many at first but you definitely shouldn't just be 'spraying and praying' a general audience, on about 90% of whom you are wasting your money.
Two useful resources on Facebook itself to find your customers' interests are Graph Searches and Audience Insights - which I will discuss more in an upcoming Facebook Ads blog so subscribe below to make sure you don't miss out!
4. Give back!
This should not come as a surprise, but no one wants to see your 10% sale offers every day or you promoting how great you are all the time, newsflash - that doesn't work in 2017!
Social media users are so bombarded with advertising these days, they build up an immunity to most of it.
People also generally don't go on Facebook to buy things, or be subjected to ads.
In general, people go on Facebook for three reasons:
1. They are bored, and want to be entertained.
- Give them interesting/relevant/funny content on a regular basis to amuse them!
2. To see what their friends and family are doing.
- Get their friends and family engaged with you, remember even if they only like one of your posts this will show to some people in their news feed! Ultimate goal: get their friends and family to share pictures of themselves at your business; images (and videos) are far more powerful than text.
3. To share relevant content that makes them look better to said friends and family.
- People rarely share things to 'help you out' or 'spread the word', they share things to look like an insider/seem knowledgeable; to get a reward; or because being associated with you improves their self-image.
Offer value. Be educational. Be original, and do it in your own style, don't try to copy someone else's.
'There is no need for a hard sell...the right content at the right time makes things happen' David Meerman Scott
Good social media karma comes back to you.
And the best thing is, you can be the worst salesperson in the world, but every time you post something relevant to your followers it cements your value to them, meaning next time they are in need of services like yours who are they gonna call? Yep, you (unless they really are after Ghostbusters).
If you enjoyed reading please share using the buttons below, and make sure to subscribe here or below if you haven't already!
Does your social media need a boost? Don't hesitate to email Gil@run-dmg.com or find me on LinkedIn
Thanks, Gil David