Having a Facebook Page for your business is a great idea! It’s a place that you can begin to develop a community of loyal customers and friends who are excited about what you have to offer, and who are willing to share with their friends. But if you’ve set up a Facebook Page and things seem slow, here are some tips to help you engage your community and make it more active.
- Plan content that your fans want. Remember that Facebook doesn’t show your posts to everyone that likes your Page. Usually just up to 10% of your fans will see any one post. However, you can greatly increase your chances of a post being seen when others engage with your post through either a Like or a Comment. So if you want your content to be seen, think about why your fans liked your Page in the first place, and then give them what they want! And plan ahead. Write out your posts at least a month at a time in advance, taking into account holidays, observances and special sales and deals you may be offering. Take a look at the kinds of posts that have created the most engagement for you in the past, and write more like them. This is the best way to reach your current fans, and possibly even have them share your posts with their friends, creating even more visibility for your Page and business.For more tips on improving your Facebook Page post reach: Tips for Improving the Reach of Your Facebook Page Posts.
- Invite your online friends and contacts to like your Page.Right below the Cover Image section of your Facebook Page, there is a “Friends” section in your admin view of your Facebook Page. From here you can select friends to invite to Like your Page. When you do so, your friend will get a notification that you’ve invited him or her to Like your Page. You can also share a particularly engaging piece of content from your Facebook Page with a note that if they’d like to see more of this type of content, they should like your Page.
- Offer deals that help community service organizations. For example, a local restaurant offered a deal where if people dined at the restaurant on a particular night and brought a flyer, 10% of the check was donated to the local food pantry. Lots of people in the community that supported the food pantry were excited about the promotion, and shared the information with their friends, tagging the local business on Facebook. This encouraged others not only to dine at the restaurant, but also to Like the business on Facebook, creating more fans for the business.
- Interact as your page on other relevant Facebook Pages. If you click the little wheel icon in the upper-right corner of your Facebook Page (in the blue bar at the top) you can choose to use Facebook as your Page. Then, every comment you make on Facebook comes through with your Page name, rather than your personal account. When you are on Pages related to your business (such as a Work from Home Women Page or a crockpot recipes Page, for example) post helpful comments as your Page. Answer questions, thank people for great information and offer tips. Don’t use this as an opportunity to spam the Page with your contact information. Rather become a useful part of the community. People whom you interact with may want to find out more about you, and click on your name, which will lead them to your Facebook Page.
- Advertise on Facebook. One of the best ways to grow your Likes on Facebook is to advertise on the platform. By running ads specifically designed to grow your Likes, you will find that your Like number grows fairly rapidly. Even starting with a budget of $10/day can help you grow the number of Likes on your Facebook Page. For more tips on writing effective Facebook Ads, read this post: 8 Tips for Effective Facebook Advertising.
Facebook offers lots of tools to integrate your Facebook Page with the rest of your online presence, but the real magic happens when you use your Page to truly engage your fans, and create a presence that people want to see, and share with their friends. With a little thought and attention, your Facebook Page can become a place where you will engage the biggest fans of your business, and create a community that you’ll enjoy interacting with.
How have you grown your Facebook Page? What are your tips for successfully growing your Likes? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.
