If you are a creative entrepreneur, Facebook is incredibly important. In the search for followers, however, you may be feeling a little lost in the crowd.
Let’s face it, Facebook is enormous, and if you want to leverage the kind of numbers that you need to succeed, you are going to have to stand out from everyone else.
The problem is that with all the noise that happens on Facebook, it can be terribly difficult to do anything that helps you get the attention you need. If you want to make sure that your Facebook serves you as well as it should, check out these three important tips.
Get Bloggers Involved
One of the best ways to make sure that people come to your site is to make sure that there is plenty of content waiting for them when they do. Think about news sites or even image sites. Every time you go to a site like that, you are expecting to see something new and interesting.
Bloggers who post on a regular schedules can help you keep your viewers interested in what you are doing at all times. This does not mean that you always need to be posting long-winded rants about what is going in your life and your business. Even short blog posts can help your readers figure out what is going on, so use bloggers wisely.
Offer a Prize
Let’s face it, everyone likes getting stuff and win fun prizes. If you want to make sure that your Facebook is a hotbed of activity, start offering prizes. You can hold contests or simply choose winners at random. No matter what kind of service or product you offer, you will find that you have something that is going to make the people on the Facebook ooh and aah. For example, if you are a dietician, offer a free one-hour consultation regarding eating habits. If you are an artist, offer a piece of art or a detailed critique.
Use a prize that appeals to your target demographic. Think about what kind of people will be drawn in by the prize you are offering and adjust accordingly. For example, if you are trying to draw in people who are very invested in the DIY trends, don’t offer a prize that you will just send them. Instead, offer to send them materials for their own projects or consider offering them an exclusive one-on-one tutorial that you can host.
Give Them a Reason
So what are they getting out of being your Facebook friend? If they’re not getting anything out of it, chances are good that they are not going to stay for long. There are plenty of incentives you can provide to people just for joining up. Give friended followers discounts, sneak peeks at new sales and advance notifications of new products. This is something that can help you build a customer base very quickly.
If you are invested in having plenty of friends on Facebook, consider what you need to do to get the attention that you need. There are some fabulous tips out there for keeping people interested in what you’ve got, so plan accordingly!
You are right about the power of driving traffic through Facebook. I plan on using Facebook’s ad platform to do this in the near future. With the vast numbers of people on Facebook we simply can’t ignore the potential it offers. Thanks for the post.
Thanks for the comment Ileane!
So true, people really do need a reason to “Like” your Fanpage. I have recently found a program that allows me to run a fully compliant Facebook Contest & it is working well! If you want to check it out and maybe run one yourself you can check http://www.ButterflyNetworkingContest.com The Facebook URL was soooooo ugly I bought another URL to forward it to.
Running a targeted ad while conducting the contest is a very powerful combination!
The power of facebook is here to stay so we might as well get on board. Giving incentives is something i deffinatly need to work on thanks for the help.
Facebook is really powerful but I have begun to just love Pinterest. I am pinning images that I love and finding friends who share a lot of my similar interests. Now I am adding more links to my blogs and articles. But it is really fun – and the images, some of them, are absolutely amazing.
As for facebook, I can be erratic even though I know that consistency is the name of the game and offering something valuable. i have had a few facebook events and that was a real treat. People showed up that I have known from many years ago and from different professional organizations. I have not yet attempted a contest or even a quiz on Facebook.
Facebook has become a social media phenomenon online and the potential offered by this website for your home based Internet business is too intriguing to ignore. Because of the increasing popularity of this web based social media mogul, Facebook fan pages have become all the rage among Internet marketers as a way to promote themselves, their business and their brand.
After building one of these web pages your attention should now be focused on building your fan base. Here are 5 techniques you can use to attract your target market to your Facebook fan page:
1. The first tactic may be the most obvious because it involves inviting your friends and your current customers to subscribe to your website. Your friends may introduce their contacts to your web page which could result in several new prospects for your home business.
2. The next step in building your list of Facebook fanatics is to introduce your email list to your public profile. Similar to your squeeze page strategy you can invite your list to sign up to your page in exchange for a free gift to serve as an incentive for their participation.
The main objective of your fan page is to create a viral effect therefore your email list may encourage people in their network to check out your Facebook page thereby creating the desired outcome.
3. As with your blog or business website you must update your fan page with interesting content on a regular basis. You want your fans coming back to your page to check out your new information as often as possible because, as we all know, the more often a prospect is exposed to your offer the greater the probability they will become paying customers.
4. Another strategy you can employ to help add subscribers to your Facebook page is to become a fan of other entrepreneurs websites who have a large following and make it a point to interact with them and some of their members on a regular basis. If they find value in your content they may sign up and become fans of your web page and eventually become clients.
5. Finally, don’t forget about your fans. When you’ve created a sizable following you now have the opportunity to establish relationships with your members. You can do this by making regular offers of free quality merchandise to your subscribers as well as following up with welcome and thank you messages in order to make them feel appreciated.
Remember, relationship building is an essential step before someone agrees to become a paying customer because they are more likely to do business with you if they feel as though they know you and trust you and your Internet enterprise.
Mike
Thank you for these great ideas, Alexis. I hear a lot about different ways to get more traffic and more likes on Facebook, and some of them are so incredibly complex. Your ideas are simple. they take a bit of work and you have to follow through on them, but the truth is, your tips work the best. Give people a reason for doing something, that makes more sense than most of the way more complicated programs I have seen.
These are some really good ideas for getting your fan pages rockin’ with fans and likes.
As you point out, building an involved fan base is a pretty critical part of online success.
So these tips are greatly appreciated.