AniaR
02-03-2014, 07:29 PM
Disclaimer: Likes aren't what they used to be. About 1-10% of your fans (likes) will actually see your stuff, and about .25% of your total fanbase will comment/like. While increasing your fanbase has its perks, consider that it isn't what it used to be!
I have spent the past 6 months really searching for how to better use Facebook. I've read article after article, looked at analytic, and researched the hell out of it. I literally doubled my fans. It took me YEARS to get to 5000, and within 6 months after that was able to double my fans to 10k. Many of my examples here will help you get new fans, but consider sometimes you'll get spambots and Facebook is getting better at catching them, you'll see your likes go up and down when facebook catches them.
I'm going to talk about advertising, actual paid for advertising, and I don't want you to confuse it with buying fake likes. You can read what I've written about buying fake likes here. (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?5641-Why-Buying-FB-likes-makes-your-company-look-Stupid)
Here are some of my tips and resources to help you increase your facebook fans!
1. Link your facebook account to every account you can. If you're on other social networking sites, link them up. For instance, twitter will copy your facebook post and send it to your twitter followers. Not only will this help you get NEW fans, it's also help your current fans not miss anything! I often have fans tell me they prefer to follow my twitter for my FB updates because then FB can't filter it. Even if you don't use twitter, you can sync it with your FB and people will still follow it, even if it's just reposts from your facebook. Youtube also does this. You can actually connect facebook>youtube>twitter. What the good thing is: if ANYTHING on youtube or twitter gets some attention or even goes the slightest bit viral, it'll funnel people back to your facebook!
2. Add your facebook in the signature of your emails, and add it to your signatures on any websites you use (like mernetwork) that are appropriate.
3. Join other websites and link up your facebook. For instance, I put my images on DeviantART, several times I've gotten site wide features where 50,000 people have viewed my image. IN the description I have my facebook, so that's a potential 50k new fans! You can check out my list of other websites/social networking sites you can join here: http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3296-Social-Networking-and-Other-Websites-for-your-Mer-persona&p=42159#post42159
4. Paid for facebook advertising: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I tested out several. Here's what I got: paying to "boost" your post is pretty much a waste of money. It wont promote the post to your fans or even your demographic, it'll just post it randomly on random FB timelines. Buying FB advertising sorta works. It's like buying likes but you're pretty much guaranteed they're real people otherwise FB will let the add run until it IS real people. The problem is it's a bidding system, and you can get royally screwed and end up paying something like 30$ for 5 fans. I've done this advertising 3 different times. It only really worked for me once, but I was using a specific demographic of Canada to try and increase my canadian fan base.
5. Like exchanges. There are several facebook groups and pages totally dedicated to simply exchanging likes. Some of these are great, some of them not. For instance, I joined one for local businesses. It helped me a lot. It connected me with several local business. We each likes each other's pages, and then we all started talking about deals for exchanging advertising etc. There are also international ones, but what you get is people who like a bunch of pages so people will like yours, and then unlike them. So the likes aren't genuine and the numbers go up and back down. The best way to find the good ones are to routinely search "like exchange" on the facebook search bar. Many will have events when you can tag your page on an image and people can scroll through and like what they like!
6. Be active on the web. I was able to gain almost 1000 fans by posting on reddit. I had an image go viral, and then I did a follow up ask me anything. Linked my pages, and wowza!
7. Be sure your facebook is always given to the media when they contact you for interviews. I've had my facebook mentioned on several radio stations and printed in papers. It helps!
8. Connect your FB to your official website. You can get great little buttons. Connect to your blog too ;)
9. Browse FB as your facebook page! Comment on others, but don't spam em, that's annoying. It's really helpful to contact local businesses that way. Not only will you end up with more likes from local people who may hire you, you may end up collaborating with the businesses youre posting with!
10. Giveaways and contests! Just be weary of local lotterly laws, and facebook rules! Technically you arne't supposed to offer freebies on FB but you'll see even the most astute company do it. They dont seem to regulate it, but do it at your own risk. I've gained a few fans by doing give aways of my book.
11. Create shareable content. Posts you know people are going to want to see and share, and post the LINK on diff related groups! Don't just post the image, post the link to your page so people can find it.
12. Ask your fans to share your page! It sounds like a no brainer, but people will do it if you ask :)
13. Check your FB anayltics and you'll see when the best times are that your fans tend to respond to posts! Then you can time when you want to post. FB also lets you schedule posts now, so you can schedule them for times that work.
14. Put your FB link on your business cards and hand them out like candy. Ask people you hand them to, to like your page. Tell fans at events they can find you on FB.
Other Resources:
Getting to know your facebook fanpage (article by Raina) http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?5414-Getting-to-know-your-facebook-fan-page-A-GUIDE
Articles about gaining FB likes with more points:
http://www.meltwater.com/social-media-blog/10-easy-ways-to-get-more-facebook-likes-for-your-business-page/
http://www.postplanner.com/get-more-likes-fans-facebook-page/
I have spent the past 6 months really searching for how to better use Facebook. I've read article after article, looked at analytic, and researched the hell out of it. I literally doubled my fans. It took me YEARS to get to 5000, and within 6 months after that was able to double my fans to 10k. Many of my examples here will help you get new fans, but consider sometimes you'll get spambots and Facebook is getting better at catching them, you'll see your likes go up and down when facebook catches them.
I'm going to talk about advertising, actual paid for advertising, and I don't want you to confuse it with buying fake likes. You can read what I've written about buying fake likes here. (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?5641-Why-Buying-FB-likes-makes-your-company-look-Stupid)
Here are some of my tips and resources to help you increase your facebook fans!
1. Link your facebook account to every account you can. If you're on other social networking sites, link them up. For instance, twitter will copy your facebook post and send it to your twitter followers. Not only will this help you get NEW fans, it's also help your current fans not miss anything! I often have fans tell me they prefer to follow my twitter for my FB updates because then FB can't filter it. Even if you don't use twitter, you can sync it with your FB and people will still follow it, even if it's just reposts from your facebook. Youtube also does this. You can actually connect facebook>youtube>twitter. What the good thing is: if ANYTHING on youtube or twitter gets some attention or even goes the slightest bit viral, it'll funnel people back to your facebook!
2. Add your facebook in the signature of your emails, and add it to your signatures on any websites you use (like mernetwork) that are appropriate.
3. Join other websites and link up your facebook. For instance, I put my images on DeviantART, several times I've gotten site wide features where 50,000 people have viewed my image. IN the description I have my facebook, so that's a potential 50k new fans! You can check out my list of other websites/social networking sites you can join here: http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3296-Social-Networking-and-Other-Websites-for-your-Mer-persona&p=42159#post42159
4. Paid for facebook advertising: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I tested out several. Here's what I got: paying to "boost" your post is pretty much a waste of money. It wont promote the post to your fans or even your demographic, it'll just post it randomly on random FB timelines. Buying FB advertising sorta works. It's like buying likes but you're pretty much guaranteed they're real people otherwise FB will let the add run until it IS real people. The problem is it's a bidding system, and you can get royally screwed and end up paying something like 30$ for 5 fans. I've done this advertising 3 different times. It only really worked for me once, but I was using a specific demographic of Canada to try and increase my canadian fan base.
5. Like exchanges. There are several facebook groups and pages totally dedicated to simply exchanging likes. Some of these are great, some of them not. For instance, I joined one for local businesses. It helped me a lot. It connected me with several local business. We each likes each other's pages, and then we all started talking about deals for exchanging advertising etc. There are also international ones, but what you get is people who like a bunch of pages so people will like yours, and then unlike them. So the likes aren't genuine and the numbers go up and back down. The best way to find the good ones are to routinely search "like exchange" on the facebook search bar. Many will have events when you can tag your page on an image and people can scroll through and like what they like!
6. Be active on the web. I was able to gain almost 1000 fans by posting on reddit. I had an image go viral, and then I did a follow up ask me anything. Linked my pages, and wowza!
7. Be sure your facebook is always given to the media when they contact you for interviews. I've had my facebook mentioned on several radio stations and printed in papers. It helps!
8. Connect your FB to your official website. You can get great little buttons. Connect to your blog too ;)
9. Browse FB as your facebook page! Comment on others, but don't spam em, that's annoying. It's really helpful to contact local businesses that way. Not only will you end up with more likes from local people who may hire you, you may end up collaborating with the businesses youre posting with!
10. Giveaways and contests! Just be weary of local lotterly laws, and facebook rules! Technically you arne't supposed to offer freebies on FB but you'll see even the most astute company do it. They dont seem to regulate it, but do it at your own risk. I've gained a few fans by doing give aways of my book.
11. Create shareable content. Posts you know people are going to want to see and share, and post the LINK on diff related groups! Don't just post the image, post the link to your page so people can find it.
12. Ask your fans to share your page! It sounds like a no brainer, but people will do it if you ask :)
13. Check your FB anayltics and you'll see when the best times are that your fans tend to respond to posts! Then you can time when you want to post. FB also lets you schedule posts now, so you can schedule them for times that work.
14. Put your FB link on your business cards and hand them out like candy. Ask people you hand them to, to like your page. Tell fans at events they can find you on FB.
Other Resources:
Getting to know your facebook fanpage (article by Raina) http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?5414-Getting-to-know-your-facebook-fan-page-A-GUIDE
Articles about gaining FB likes with more points:
http://www.meltwater.com/social-media-blog/10-easy-ways-to-get-more-facebook-likes-for-your-business-page/
http://www.postplanner.com/get-more-likes-fans-facebook-page/