Growing your Facebook page

[Matt Koshko]

Brands and companies are continually moving towards social engagements. Having a Facebook page for said brands & companies can be very valuable. In many ways you can gain insights in to your customers, members, and audience - an important part of most marketing plans in the 21st century.

 

Some ideas on growing a Facebook page:

• Offering special deals only found by liking your FB page
• Rewarding engaged "fans"
• Strategically placed ads to like your page
• Adding a "Have you liked our Facebook page yet?" link in outbound emails

 

What are some ideas you have? What has worked in your marketing efforts?

[paulserban]

Facebook changed things up again, but in this time it's REALLY GOOD NEWS for Page owners.

Yesterday, Facebook announced a slight tweak to its News Feed algorithm.  From today you will begin to see more "text-only" posts from friends in your News Feed.  You will also see LESS text-only posts from Pages in your News Feed (this, because Facebook noticed text-only posts from Pages were not getting much engagement).

 

WHY IS THIS A GOOD THING?

Here's the good news. Facebook also announced  that they will start to push MORE "link-share" posts from Pages out into the News Feed of our fans.

 

What's a "link-share" post? Oh, I was hoping you'd ask!

 

Most of us embed our links directly into our status updates, but that's no longer effective.

 

HOW TO CREATE A LINK-SHARE POST

When you add your link to a status update, the image with the title and description should automatically get pulled into the post, thus creating a "link-share" post. You can then delete the link in the status update box because the image and the description are now clickable.

 

Simple as that, no?!

 

Here is what Facebook had to say about this recent change:

 

"The best way to share a link after this update will be to use a link-share. We've found that, as compared to sharing links by embedding in status updates, these posts get more engagement (more likes, comments, shares and clicks) and they provide a more visual and compelling experience for people seeing them in their feeds."

 

This is a good news for Page owners because images take up more room in the News Feed and therefore are more eye-catching and interesting than a simple text post.  So I see only good things coming from this new change.

ONE MORE TIP!
You can continue to also create status updates where you actually upload the image yourself.  When you do that, I suggest you upload an image that is 1200 x 1200 pixels. Facebook will resize the image for you so that your post will show up correctly (nothing will get cut off) on your timeline, in the desktop News Feed and on mobile News Feeds as well.

 

I KNOW IT CAN BE FRUSTRATING

As a marketer, I am sure you know that Facebook is extremely valuable to our business.  However, I know it's frustrating when you hear that organic reach has declined and each time you post on your Page, only a fraction of your fans see your post in their News Feed.  This makes me mad too!

But I also know there are ways to increase your organic reach and there is no denying that Facebook is a very powerful tool for relationship building and list building.

[thriftgirl62]

About a month ago, Facebook announced they would start bumping posts up to the top of the news feed every time there is a new comment posted by one of your friends so you don't miss the interaction.   There will also be fewer infographics and weird pictures designed to catch your attention and take you off Facebook and over to some website or blog if you click on the image.  

 

This means less free traffic for bloggers and advertisers who are trying to get free traffic to their ads.  Instead, Facebook will be promoting friend's newsworthy type stories that interest you and your friends and leave pictures that have no purpose other than to lure traffic away right where they started from so they won't even get posted to the newsfeed at all.

 

The "link-share" post  automatically grabs the description, title and image from the page being shared but  only if the Open Graph tags are where they're supposed to be on that page.  There are thousands of pages that still don't use the proper tags or image size which should be at least 400px wide so nothing shows up except the comment, link and title.   

 

I've got ideas for the major problem you mentioned about only a % of people seeing your updates....more later!  Thanks!

[Traiborg Social Network]

There are many methods and techniques for marketing via social media. I’ve added a few here as a starting point, but this list isn’t exhaustive. With the information you have about your target audience, do some research — then develop a marketing strategy for your online business.

 

The Power Of Freebies!

Everybody loves getting something for free. Make sure whatever you give away on Facebook is going to be perceived as valuable to your niche audience!

 

Try Facebook Ads

If you’ve never spent money on advertising before, buying an ad when you’re unsure of its ROI can be scary. Luckily with Facebook ads you can specify a limit for your campaign to stick within your budget. Facebook ads are targeted precisely to your audience, so this strategy can yield good results.

 

Use Images And Videos

You’ll get more interest and click throughs with visual information — photos, infographics, and video. Whether you’re offering a tip or tutorial, discussing your vacation, or promoting a product, your message will be more compelling with a visual.

 

Don’t Neglect Post Titles

Treat your Facebook business page post updates like headlines — that’s what they are! Spend some time on them, and brush up on techniques copywriters use to keep people reading past the headline.

 

Be Your Likeable Self

It’s essential your audience feels that they know you in order to develop trust and purchase from you. So show your personality. And always be friendly, helpful and available.

 

Spend Time Online

Don’t post and dash! Spend some time responding to your Facebook audience. When they comment on a post, thank them for their comment and open up a conversation. Just a few extra minutes spent engaging can give your brand a boost.

[Chad Allen Farmer]

When it comes to fb an really effective way to get people engaged in your page is by using direct mail marketing. There are few keys though. One is the design of the post card or letter. It has to immediately remind the receiver of fb. The subject should be real brief and to the point and lead directly to a call to action. Typically if you can get post cards designed like other social sites, printed and mailed this would work on other networks.

[Guest Paul Nulty]

Interesting comments, however let's not forget Facebook is a business and in essence they want marketers, business's and promoters to pay for ads. I have come across some Traffic Exchanges which do offer a Social Exchange offering a way to increase page likes and views. however I do think it is best to advertise to an audience that are genuinely interested in what you have to offer and more importantly to those who will actually engage with your page. In order to get more views and more likes inside of Facebook I have seen some really great offers for example: "Like our page for your chance to win a free xxxxxxx". Offers are always a good way to create interest.

[Heath Miles]

I am a member of over 650 Facebook groups and have my own Facebook advertising group.

I try to advertise on as many groups as possible to get different and new members to my own

advertising sites.

[Matt Koshko]

I am a member of over 650 Facebook groups and have my own Facebook advertising group.

I try to advertise on as many groups as possible to get different and new members to my own

advertising sites.

 

And how is that working for you? I'd love to know your metrics.

[Sean Supplee]

I wish Facebook would stop changing their fan page set up lol. The apps I used to have running on my fan page become obsolete and you can no longer use them. There was one where you would display a message to non fans to get them to fan in order to unlock the video or content. It was a very lucrative way to building a quality fan base.

 

Just having your fan page everywhere you can seems to be key now but not everyone sees your feed anymore either. Its become what I like to call a FOS (Facebook optimization system) lol

[digimm]

I am a member of over 650 Facebook groups and have my own Facebook advertising group.

I try to advertise on as many groups as possible to get different and new members to my own

advertising sites.

 

im trying to do the same thing , but the weird thing is facebook somehow blocked me and after showing my ID they unblocked me but the APP i have been using to auto post facebook updates has become unavailable for me but i made a new connection and now i don`t know if i wanna use it again on auto pilot  because they have been cleaning all my post from their system kinda spooky because they did not tell me why i was getting blocked they just said , oh sorry here you go you can facebook again. this is my second facebook account but this time with my real name the first one was stupid because i used CASH and MONEY in my names and had over 500 groups and 5k friends but they never did reactivate my account after showing my ID so i was kinda scared it happened again, i don`t want to post cat video clips to act natural to them or what ever they trying to do 

[Guest Paul Nulty]

Has anyone tried doing any offers to get more page likes?

 

I plan on doing some offers like prize give -a way's but not really sure how to put it together, I'm thinking maybe ask people to like my page in order to be the first to see , but at the same time I'm thinking... I really want people to like my page simply because they like the value and info I share and provide. 

 

I have one idea which I think may bring me some viral traffic, I'll keep it for now until I try and test it - Later I'll share the results and outcome.

 

P.S. You can find me on Facebook and watch my post's for reference?

[robertdorsey]

Often times, posting business related posts on your personal profile is not a good thing if your family and friends are not interested in what your business is all about.

 

Having a fan page, or business page, seperates business from friendship, and targets those who are interested in what you are working on.

 

Later

Robert

[Kevin J Timothy]

Instead of your blog or landing page, leave the URL to

your Facebook fan page.  Or, for blogs with the

Facebook comment social plugin, sign in and back

link to your fan page.

[rpbizzz]

Yes, I like this idea...

 

 

Instead of your blog or landing page, leave the URL to

your Facebook fan page.  Or, for blogs with the

Facebook comment social plugin, sign in and back

link to your fan page.