When coming up with a social media strategy, the first network many look to is Facebook, and rightfully so. Facebook is the network with the most active users. You might think posting once in a while on Facebook is enough of a strategy and stop there. Not true. A social media strategy does not mean throw up a Facebook page, and maybe a twitter page. You must have a Facebook engagement strategy. A Facebook engagement strategy is one that encourages your fans, customer and future customers to interact with your brand. A post here and there is an ok start, but by no means is it enough. With that strategy you are going to stay flat-lined with limited growth.
4 Techniques To Increase Facebook Likes
1. Create Shareable Content
Content is good, but shareable content… Now that’s golden. Shareable content is so important because it is great content. It is so good that people don’t want to just give it a like, they want to share it on their page to their friends whom they trust. The content your fans share becomes a part of their identity. It gives insight to who they are and what they like. And most importantly, it shows their support for you.
Shareable content increases likes because it puts your brand and your name in front of more people. Specifically, it puts your brand in front of people that aren’t currently your fan. Hopefully, if the message resonates with these people you are going to gain likes and fans all at once.
2. Tag yourself in your photos
This tip is so easy that you will be hitting yourself for not doing it sooner. Tag yourself in every single photo & photo post in which it makes sense to use your name. It’s not redundant. It’s smart and here’s why:
Assuming your content is good and shareable, it is going to show up on the news feed of others. When someone shares it, your fan page will be linked in the “shared” section as well as in the image your fan shared. Rachel Zoe does this extremely well. I shared a photo of her adorable romper to my page. Because she tagged herself in the description of the photo, there are now two ways for people to like her fan page. My friends can now go directly to Rachel Zoe’s page by hovering over her brand name in my action point (Stephanie Frasco shared Rachel Zoe Collection’s photo) or by hovering over her brand name in the actual description of the photo.
Brilliant!
3. Be Consistent
One thing you never want to do on social media is get SMGS, otherwise known as Social Media Ghost Syndrome. This is where one week you are active around a big launch, and then gone until the next launch. (Okay, I made that name up, but you get the point.)
Be consistent in your updates. 2-3 is good for a larger fan page, but at the very least I’d say post one thing per day. If you stick within the range then I wouldn’t worry about people leaving for over posting. If they do leave, they weren’t your target audience anyway. (The same goes for newsletter unsubscribes.)
The more you post engaging and relevant content, the more engaged your fans will become. The more engaged your fans become, the more fans you will attract.
4. Consider Timing
If you want to get in front of the most eyeballs, you need to post at the time when most people are on Facebook. Every audience differs but in general mornings and afternoons work best. If you have an international audience you will want to take this into account and it might make sense to post during optimal times for those time zones.
So, there you have it. Pretty simple, right? Do tell me what you’ve found to work. Remember, the learning never stops. Keep experimenting and you’ll find what works for you.
