You have probably noticed that I think there are more important statistics than your Like or Follower count. However you do need to build a following, if you don’t no one will see your posts or know you exist. Here are some tips on building your Likes on Facebook, including some suggested by my Facebook community.
Ask – The Wise Words Method
At the February KLCK Bloggers meeting Mona Wise from Wise Words shared her method for building her Like count. She went from 0 to over 3,000 in a year.
Her method was simple but effective, she asked 12 friends to ‘Like’ the page and asked them to ask 12 of their friends.
If you are going to try this choose your 12 friends carefully, who is most likely to help you and who is most likely to pass your message on to other friends? You also need to make sure that you are clear about what you are asking. It’s easy for us to forget that people may not necessarily know what ‘Liking’ a page means. Include simple instructions in your email or Facebook message asking people to click the ‘Like’ button at the top of your page, and don’t forget to include the link.
Don’t be tempted to ask people twice, if they don’t respond you could be risking a friendship for persistently asking for a Like.
Of course she also offers great content. But more on this later.
Memes – Shareable Images
You must have noticed the trend over the last few months for meme’s or sharable images. These are photographs with captions that inspire, entertain or are just a bit of fluffy fun. Get them right and they spread like wildfire across Facebook. How does this help you get Likes? If you create a meme it will always link back to your Facebook page. In the description area when you upload the photo make sure to add a bit of information about you and why you are sharing it. You can always include a link back to your Facebook page in the description too. Here’s a video I made on how to add a link to Images.
It’s easy to create your own Meme’s. There are lots of free generators out there. I’m a fan of Troll.me, it allows you to upload pictures and add captions. A great tip from Úna-Minh Caomhánach is to make sure that they have a mass audience. She tried a few Lord of The Rings memes that didn’t reach as far, probably due to a small LOTR literate audience.
Once you’ve created your Meme you will need to ask for the Like or the share initially, once your Likers get used to sharing you won’t need to any more, they will do it automatically. Which brings me on to…
Ask for Likes and Shares
This is something I feel uncomfortable doing but it does work. When a user interacts with a post on your page their comment or like appears on the Ticker on their friends pages. In some cases it also appears on the news-feeds of their friends. This means your updates have the potential to spread way beyond your existing community. So ask people to ‘Like if you agree’ ‘Share if you like this’ ‘Tell us if you know someone like this’.
Try to vary your call to actions and don’t ask for a share on every post as people will soon get tired of it and think you’re begging.
Add a Like Box to your website
Like boxes are fantastic. You’ve probably seen them on websites, filled with pictures of the people who Like the Facebook page. The advantage of a Like box over a button or text link is that people don’t need to leave your website in order to Like your page. I made a video tutorial on this recently and Dee Sewell from Greenside up followed it. According to her comment on my Facebook page she’s attracted 29 new likes in the last month since adding the box.
Competition
Competitions are a fantastic way to attract people to your page. Remember you must abide by the Facebook promotional guidelines when running a contest. I always recommend using the Short Stack App (affiliate link). It’s easy to create pages there and there’s lots of cool bits and pieces you can add on to encourage sharing.
Sweepstakes style contests are the best at attracting new likes, these are contests where contestants just enter their name and email address to go into a draw. The less someone needs to do to enter the more ‘Likes’ you will attract.
You need to push word out about your competition way beyond your Facebook page, posting about it on Twitter and letting your email list know really helps drive traffic
Email Digest
A great suggestion from Greg Fry. When you’re sending out your email newsletter include a digest of your Facebook posts encouraging others to Like it.
When people can see you’re adding valuable content and that you have something to offer they are far more likely to see why they should Like your page.
Great content
This should really be at the top of your list. If you are producing good and engaging content people will want to join your page. Think hard about what will appeal to your target market and be creative. Don’t be tempted just to copy everyone else. Once you’ve decided what it is you will do on Facebook tell people, tell them what the advantage is of joining your page. For me it’s that I share useful hints and tips on using social media for business, what’s yours?
Fan only offers
Do you have something special that you can offer to just your Facebook Likes? Something that would be worth clicking that Like button for? If you’re a retailer it could be first look at new products, exclusive products or a discount store. If you’re a consultant an e-book, a free consultation. Make sure what your offering is unique to Facebook, if you try and pull the wool over people’s eyes the will find out!
Email signatures and printed matter
Finally, one of the most simple things you can do and one of the things that so many people overlook. Include links to your social media pages in your email signature, on your business cards and on flyers and other printed matter.
Do you have any hot tips for getting more Likes? Anything obvious that I’ve missed?
