Everybody likes to be Liked! And getting Likes on your Facebook Page can be a very good thing for your business, organization or group.

Custom Fit Online just received our 200th Like on our Facebook Page. (By the way... BIG TIME THANKS to our followers!) While this might not be in the 100's of thousands that some big brands enjoy we are on our way. Custom Fit Online clients, like Tourism Pemberton, have thousands of Likes and we accomplished this by rocking the following approach:

 

Set Your Strategy 1st

Start with the end in mind. Imagine that you already have 1,000s and 1,000s of followers. Now be honest. If you did reach those numbers how did you think you would get there? I betcha you were already ridiculously popular outside of Facebook (like a big brand) and/or you had a plan and worked that plan.

To start your plan ask yourself these questions:

1. What is your purpose? Is your site about selling, creating leads or building a brand? Each purpose shapes how you move forward with your Facebook page.
2. What is your voice? What is the unique story you can genuinely tell? How do you bring this story to life in a authentic, compelling and personal way? First and foremost, your voice should be in person... the first person. The hard sell approach doesn't work on Facebook so keep the shameless self promotional voice to a minimum. And if you are going that route admit it. For example, "Now for some shameless self promotion..."
3. Whom do you serve? Our BFF Bob Dylan puts it like this... "you gotta serve somebody". Who are your supporters and followers? What type of content will connect with them? What's important to them? What engages them? How do you best serve them?
4. What are your goals and objectives? How much time can you dedicate to your Facebook page? What type of relationship do you want to have with your followers? Are you looking for quantity or quality with your followers? What defines success for you on Facebook?

Build Your Initial Audience

What's that Crosby, Stills & Nash song? I might be dating myself but it's "Love the One Your With". What I am trying to say here is start building your audience with people your already know. Hopefully these people love you back.

1. Who do you know right now? Connect with your Facebook friends. Reach out to them in your newsletter, in-person, etc.
2. Work your lists baby. Use personal contacts and email lists to promote your page. Facebook has a Contact Importer feature whereby you can import lists from other sources such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.

Make Facebook a Core Part of Your Business

Now shout it from the mountain tops! Go ahead, yell it at the top of your lungs. "I am on Facebook. Hear me roar!"

1. Do you have a 'Friendly' URL.  This is often referred to as a friendly or "vanity URL". Try to get your company or organization's name into your Facebook address. For example, our Facebook URL is Facebook.com/CustomFitOnline ... oh, we are so vain!
2. How are you going to plug-in? Utilize Facebook's "Social Plug Ins" on your website and blog. Need an example? Look all the way to the top right of this blog page. Notice anything Facebook-y?
3. Now spread that 'Friendly' URL everywhere. You are going to put that on all of your printed materials, email signatures, advertising and anywhere else you can... right? Forehead tattoos might be a little much but you get the idea.
4. Share and Share Alike. Cross-promotion is a good thing. Did you know that if you tag a person in your post this will appear on their Facebook wall and be shared with their community? Plus you can reach out to other businesses, personalities and brands and cross-promote your information virally.

Treasure What You Measure

If you read my blog posts regularly (and by the way, thanks mom... always good know to know I have one avid reader) you know that one of my favourite phrases is "You Treasure What You Measure". And this applies to Facebook.

1. How Insightful are you? Facebook's Insights section shows some great analytics for your Facebook page. I love reviewing what posts were seen by the most people, what posts had the most engaged users, and what went 'viral'. I look for common themes among these posts. Were the 'best performing' posts links to other blog posts, bits of info about Custom Fit, photos or quotations? The best performing posts often share some characteristic. By the way, rich content like photos and videos tend to do really well.... vs. just text or links.
2. Can you track more? We use Google Analytics "event tracking" to see when and where visitors leave our desktop or mobile websites to visit our Facebook page. We use an application formally known as Lujure, now known as Heyo to build the beautiful Facebook apps on page and our clients' pages. When it was Lujure we could actually add Google Analytics code to these app pages. Since the app has been branded Heyo we no longer have that service but they promised us it will be returning. Hey Heyo.... we're still waiting!

Speaking of Apps and Engagement...

Engagement doesn't necessarily involve a ring. Although it might help sometimes. So how do you get your followers do something on your Page? Stuff like Liking your posts, commenting on them, sharing them, etc.

1. Facebook has an app for that. Use Facebook apps like photos, events, links and notes to create easily shared content.
2. Do you dare to go custom? The custom apps noted above can be an excellent way to encourage engagement with your existing followers and find new followers. What can you do with these apps? We have found running contests / sweepstakes is an excellent way to grow followers as people first have to LIKE the page before entering. Try other apps like adding online bookings, feedback forms, your blog or events calendar, photo galleries or more on your page with custom apps.

Flash Some Cash to Facebook for Ads & Sponsored Stories

So you are crying out in despair? You are not happy that you actually have to pay to get Page and Page Posts seen more often? Yeah, we're not ridiculously happy about that either but considering the alternative we have taken the plunge and use Facebook advertising. It doesn't have to cost a lot because you can really target / segment your buy!

1. What's Good? Facebook Ads Are Good: Facebook ads hang on the right-hand side of your Facebook wall and encourage your to LIKE a page. Writing compelling ads and having the right type of photo in there is one way to build an audience.
2. What's better? Sponsor stories rock. We've had good success with Facebook ads but in most cases we've had more success with Sponsored Stories. These come in three flavours:

So, How's Facebook Working for You?

Have you had success using Facebook for your business? If so, what is working best for you? If not, feel free to leave a question below about improving your Page's performance and we'll answer back real quick!

And if you liked this post why not LIKE it. Just click on either of those wonderful Facebook buttons below.  ;)

Filed in // Social Media Marketing