10 ways to get people
to follow your Facebook Business Page
Right, so you have just created a new Facebook Business page, updated all the relevant details and now
you want to start posting information so that you can use your new marketing channel. But you cannot
market to a vacuum. Where are your followers coming from? It doesn’t matter how many people visit
your website or how many are on your mailing list if you need them to be on your Facebook page too.
Here are your first obvious 10 steps to take when you get started.
1. ‘Like’ your own page. Yes, sometimes this step gets forgotten. Everyone who likes the page
means that Facebook promotes it on that person’s Feed so that their Friends can become aware
of it too.
TIP: Remember to also Like’ other peoples pages and always be a valuable
member of any group you join and page you like. People in these groups are
looking to build their followings too, so provide them useful content and help add
value to their communities and they will reciprocate.
2. Invite your personal Friends to follow it. You don’t have to invite all your friends, so that the
strange family members that you would rather keep far from business issues can be kept out of
the loop, but some of your friends would be very interested in your business or project, and
they might be sitting on a valuable database of their own and could share your posts with these
connections.
TIP: Be sure to ask everyone else in your network to become your friend. If they
aren’t already on Facebook, invite them to join and to add you as a friend when
they do.
3. Update your email signature to include a link to your Facebook Business page. This should
preferably be a button with the link behind it, but at the minimum, a hyperlink back to the page.
TIP: Depending on your business, your email signature may be seen by a lot of
people. To increase these numbers, ask people to tell others about your Facebook
link within your email signature.
4. Put a button on your website with a link back to the Page. Facebook offers some options in the
Edit Page section.
TIP: Place your Facebook link in a prominent location.
The more people that see
it on your business site, the faster your following will grow.
5. Create an Event for your Business page and invite people by using their email addresses from
your mailing list. Once they have responded, then communicate with them (slowly over a
period of time so that Facebook doesn’t block you for abusive behaviour) and invite them to
follow the business page as well. The Event can be a legitimate Event for your business such as
a Sale or Presentation or you could invite them to the Launch of your new Business Page.
TIP: Remember your business goals.
Having 1000 friends that have nothing to
do with your business is great, but having 100 friends that are specifically related
to your business is even better.
6. Befriend Others. When you find other Facebook users that pertain to your specific industry,
send them a friend request to ask them to add you as their friend, too. Then invite them to
follow your Business Page if relevant.
TIP: Be sure to include a small note along with your friend request and let the
person know why you think it would benefit them to add you.
7. Promote Your Facebook Profile on Your Business Cards. Facebook is just as good at
communicating with your customers as the phone and email, and in certain aspects, even
better. Include your Facebook link on your business cards with your other communication
details.
TIP: Be creative with your Facebook marketing by including fun or value. When
you give your card to people, let them know why they should follow you and they
probably will.
8. Promote Your Facebook Profile in Your Advertisements and flyers. Your current advertisements
are a great way to get your Facebook link in front of loads of people for free. It shouldn’t cost
you anything to change your ad and you’ll get lots of friends just for including this little piece of
information.
TIP: Remember value! If you have the space, let people know what they will get
for following you on Facebook and you’ll see your conversion rates skyrocket.
9. Organise a Contest Through Your Facebook Profile. Contests are always a good way to build
excitement in your brand. Promote a contest through your store, website and Twitter profile
and name the winner in a Tweet.
TIP: Think about the type of prizes your prospects would find most beneficial and
then offer them to the winners. Those that don’t win are a great pool of prospects
for you to market to in the future.
10. Use the Facebook Advert to draw attention to your page. It is very simple to use and doesn’t
need to be expensive if you set a budget. You can determine certain demographics, such as
male / female, age, etc as well as whether the advert should display to your current followers, or
friends of your followers only etc. Also decide for how long to run your advert.
TIP: It is sometimes more effective to run it as a short campaign rather than just
leave it there indefinitely, and remember that these sorts of adverts are not
appropriate for every kind of business or product.
List building is a slow and organic process. Don’t rush it and get impatient. And always rely on multiple
channels to get your marketing message out. If for some reason Facebook blocks you and you cannot
communicate with your clients, make sure you can still communicate through Twitter and via your email
list. Have more than one Administrator on your Facebook page (Add them from Edit Page).