By Amy Porterfield
According to a Hubspot study from 4,000 businesses with a Facebook page, fan count does matter. Businesses with 501 – 1,000 fans had 3.5 times more traffic than those with one to 25 fans. Businesses with more than 1,000 Facebook fans had 22 times more traffic.
Strategy #1: Link Your Business Page to Your Personal Profile.
Our personal and business lives are meshed together on the Internet. People are organically finding you all the time, so you always want to promote your business if these people are potential clients or customers.
To link your business page to your personal profile, first go to your Facebook page. Click “Edit Page” and then “Basic Information.” Copy and paste the ID number. Go back to your personal profile, click “Edit Profile,” click “Education and Work” and type in your Facebook page name exactly as it appears. The name should pop up, but if it doesn’t, hit enter and you will be able to add it regardless.
Next, click on your web developer toolbar, click “Forms,” click “Display Forms Details” and paste your page ID number in the box entitled “Employer ID Number.” Click “Enter.”
Strategy #2: Create a Custom Welcome Tab
A custom welcome tab is a tab you create on your Facebook page that you set as a default. Anyone who comes to your page for the first time will land on your custom welcome tab where you can welcome them and tell them what your page is about. Once they click the “like” button, they will be dropped into your wall.
A custom welcome tab is crucial and can increase your “likes” by up to 50%, according to Porterfield. Provide an opt-in and a call to action by telling them to click the “Like” button and offer them a freebie, such as a video or contest to win products.
Provide a tagline, your website URL and large, enticing product images – 180×540 is the maximum image size you can use on your page, so take advantage of that space.
Strategy #3: Give the Why
Why should people join your Facebook page – what’s in it for them? People won’t click the “Like” button unless you give them a reason. Provide an incentive for people to like your page, such as insider tips, news or strategies. Do this in your Facebook welcome tab video, e-mail signatures and anywhere else you tell people about your Facebook page. Use your other social networks to help drive traffic to your Facebook page. This will dramatically help to increase the amount of “Likes” you will receive.
Strategy #4: Embed Facebook Videos
When you embed videos directly onto your Facebook page, you can take the source code and use that to embed it on your own blog site. If somebody is looking at your video on your blog and they are not a fan, they can click “Like” and they instantly become a fan of your page and you will end up in their news feed without them having to actually go to your page. Upload your videos to YouTube in order to get a white watermark hotlink of your Facebook name.
If you upload a video to Facebook and other people who are not fans of yours see that video, they will also see the watermark. Fans of yours will comment on your videos and their friends will see that, which creates a trickle-down effect. Use as many videos as possible on your Facebook page because it’s the No. 2 thing that people look at on Facebook, next to photos. Upload images to your page and talk about their benefits and what’s in it for the consumer.
Use wisestamp.com on your Facebook page and blog to display the icons of where people can go to connect with you.
Strategy #5: Create a Giveaway Campaign
One great way to get more “Likes” is to hold a contest or have a giveaway; for instance, free products or coupons. To make it simple, have the only requirement be that fans “Like” your page. Promote your Facebook giveaway on your other social media sites to spread the word. Place a banner on your website to prominently show your visitors that something cool is taking place on your Facebook page.
When you give away a prize, you may get people entering your sweepstakes who are only interested in the prize and not interested in your company. If you can make the prize connected with your business, you will have a better chance of connecting with the right audience who will buy from you and become loyal fans. You don’t need to offer big-ticket items to get people to engage.
Facebook has strict rules about contests. The biggest rule is that contests and promotions may not be administered through Facebook unless they are administered through an application. You can build the application yourself or use a third-party application designed specifically for contests and sweepstakes.
For more information about promotional rules, visit http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq.
Test Out Facebook Ads
Increase your fan base by grabbing the attention of your ideal audience with enticing Facebook ads.
Engagement ads are the ads you create when you advertise something inside of Facebook, such as your Facebook page. When advertising your page, the “Like” button will be included in the ad. Users click the “Like” button inside your ad. This makes them an instant fan and they will start to see your posts in their news feed. Ninety-nine percent of users will never visit your Facebook page again after becoming a fan, according to Porterfield. Most people will only see your posts in their news feeds, so because of that, it’s not as important to get people to visit your Facebook page as it is to get into their news feeds.
Create ads that incite action. Create emotion, such as excitement, for your product. Questions work great for engagement ads. Track your engagement ads closely to ensure you are getting the biggest bang for your buck.
You will be charged when a user clicks the “Like” button. Facebook tracks each time a user clicks the “Like” button as “Actions” in your “Insights” dashboard. You will be able to see how many times users click “Like” inside the ad versus the number of users who actually click on the ad to visit your page. Track closely and tweak as needed.
From SEMA eNews
