Ok so you want to be liked. Who doesn’t? But I’m not talking about any ‘like’. I’m talking about Facebook ‘like’. Well if it’s the latter that you are after then you have come to the right place.
But before I give away my secrets of how to be ‘liked’ on this powerful social media platform lets remind ourselves why you want to be ‘liked’.
The power of the ‘like’ lies in its viral nature. When an existing fan ‘likes’ your content their non-fan friends will see it and can comment on it and like it as well. As they can see their friend is a fan, they are more likely to trust the source as worthy/credible and something they wish to be part of. Your current fans may also click the ‘Share’ button underneath the post and post it to their wall giving you instant exposure.
So how do you increase your ‘likes’ on Facebook? Well probably the most important thing to remember is that you need to live up to the likeable status. You also need to make visitors feel like your page is a community worth being part of. How do you do this?
Let’s have a look at how you can how you can improve your likeability and your chances of being ‘liked’ on Facebook.
- First impressions count. If your page is messy you will scare visitors away before they even have had a chance to browse through. So it’s important to develop a well-organised page with good layout and attractive design. Also bad spelling or grammer will send out a very unprofessional image.
- Create a community page that is attention-grabbing and engaging. Consider providing original content that is interesting or adds value. Also consider using controversial or humorous content. Even if you’re an expert in your field, use a variety of sources to make your content more varied and wide-ranging. Present your material in a variety of formats e.g. links to YouTube videos, photos (including those uploaded and tagged by your fans), etc. Most importantly, provide quality content that is highly-targeted to your niche.
- Create catchy titles. Ensure they are engaging and relevant to your market. Whilst you should try to make them keyword rich, don’t be overly constrained by this – it’s the title content that matters most. If you are stuck for inspirational title ideas, see what others in your niche have written.
- Regularly update your page with new content.
- Give users a common cause to gravitate towards. If it’s worthy or in alignment with their beliefs, this gives them a reason to like you.
- Have consistent active engagement with your visitors/ fans. If people ask questions, provide answers – Don’t follow Autotraders strategy by not responding to your many comments. Also, leaving interesting comments on other fans pages will make you more popular with them and widen your exposure to their fan base.
- Reward loyal supporters with customizable badges/tabs, special deals, freebies and fan-only contests. Include posts with special offers exclusive to your Facebook community.
- Make use of your existing social networks e.g. if you have a strong following on Twitter or Linkedin, use it to promote your Facebook page and vice versa.
- If you have a subscriber list, email your subscribers to inform them about your Fan page, and include a link to the fan page in every email.
- Encourage your loyal customers to be fans. This is fairly easy, as they already like your product/service.
- Promote to your friends – They are more likely to pay attention and less likely to be irritated by your promotions. Use the ‘suggest to friends button’ to suggest your fan page to all your friends. Ask your friends to help out in discussions and return the favour by doing the same for them. Mutual gain makes it an attractive offer for you both.
- Remind your fans to like and share with their own friends. Place a shout-out or reminder to ‘like’ your status updates and tell fans to click on the share button next to your message to alert friends about the update.
- Attract the attention of others by tagging an author or a popular Facebook page. But don’t just tag randomly. Ensure you have good reason to tag them.
- Use Facebook search to locate other pages in your niche. Seek public discussions related to your business. Add value to popular pages and build relationships with admin/members. Ask the admin of other pages to post your link.
- Network with other page admins to establish a special event. Work closely alongside one another to ensure it meets everyone’s business objectives.
- Search for groups in your niche, join these groups, and promote your page to them. Make sure the interests of the groups that you join align with that of your own page.
- Integrate Facebook social plugins to your website to encourage connections.
- Create a Facebook like sign to help promote your Facebook page.
- Consider buying Facebook advertising. This can be a great way to generate more likes. It helps if you have a likeable brand or good value proposition. There is a fee, but it’s relatively cheap. If you use this method remember to ensure your ads are attractive, attention grabbing and relevant to your target audience.
There are a lot of techniques here. If you are new to Facebook don’t try and implement them all at once. Only do as many as you can successfully handle. As you develop your skills branch out into other methods.
by Lilach Bullock
