50 ways to get facebook fans

50 WAYS

TO GET FACEBOOK FANS

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About this Guide On August 7, 2014, Facebook announced that “like-gating” would no longer be permitted, and that all existing like-gates will be abolished on November 5, 2014. Like-gating, as defined by Facebook, is “when you force a Facebook user who has not already liked your page to like your page before they can see content on a particular custom tab.” (Source: https://www.facebook.com/notes/say-it-social/how-to-like-gate-your-facebookpage/476914309307). This policy change has the potential to cause serious tactical problems for pages that are seeking to grow their Facebook fanbase, as like-gating has been a common fan acquisition strategy for years.

In light of this upcoming change, this guide was developed to help social media marketers increase their companies’ fan counts on Facebook. None of the 50 of the strategies in this guide will be affected by the anticipated November 5 like-gate ban, and many of the tactics and suggestions listed in this guide can even be applied to other social media platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Google+. The following list of ideas range from simple to complex, and from free to moderately expensive. Use this guide as a roadmap to spur the growth of your company’s Facebook fan base.

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1. GO PUBLIC! Google indexes posts on published Facebook pages, so publishing your page and posting frequently may increase your company’s visibility in search results. If your page is set to “unpublished,” it will not by visible in Google search results.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/184605634921611

2. GET A VANITY URL. Facebook allows the creation of custom vanity URLs, which make pages easier to find, promote and remember.

The process is easy - just log in to Facebook, visit facebook.com/username and set your custom vanity URL to “facebook.com/your-company-name” now.

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3. INVITE PEOPLE. Facebook automatically provides every page with a box that enables both page admins and general users to invite their friends to like the page – use it and encourage both your employees and your Facebook friends to do the same!

4. ARTICULATE VALUE. When promoting your company’s Facebook page, don’t just tell people that they should like the page, but also explain why they should like the page. Use benefit statements, such as “Like Overdrive for marketing advice and wisdom!”

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5. DEVELOP GREAT CONTENT. Remember, the better your content, the more people will want to engage with it and share it with their friends and contacts. The more shares you get, the more new fans you will organically acquire.

6. LEAD BY EXAMPLE. You, yourself, can start the trend by becoming a fan of your company’s page! All of your friends and followers will see that you liked the page and will become aware of your company’s Facebook presence.

7. ENCOURAGE SCHOOL SPIRIT. Send out a company-wide email encouraging your employees to become fans of your company’s Facebook page. Their feedback on, and contributions to, your social media efforts will increase collaboration and lead to more success. Employees come and go, so send these emails quarterly.

8. GET PERSONAL. Personally ask your clients and customers to become fans of your Facebook page. Use email, or even just ask them in a meeting or over the phone. This may act as an endorsement of your company, as well.

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9. EMAIL IT. Email both your personal contacts and your company’s opt-in email distribution lists, inviting and encouraging them to like your Facebook page. Remember to include benefit statements explaining the value of connecting to your company on the social network.

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10. “DO AS I DO.” Ask employees to show some team spirit by emailing their own distribution lists and contacting their own Facebook friends using the invite feature mentioned previously, in tip #3.

11. CREATE A CHALLENGE. Set an office-wide goal for monthly fan acquisition and throw a party, take an outing or have a half-day to celebrate once you’ve achieved your goal! After all, everybody loves a challenge (and a reward).

12. SOCIAL SIGNATURE. Add your Facebook vanity URL and a reason for liking your company’s page to your email signature.

13. CARD IT. List your Facebook vanity URL on your business cards. Whether you hand them out at networking events, to swap information with non-business contacts, or even to enter a raffle or contest, every person you put your URL in front of is a potential fan.

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14. PUT YOUR VANITY URL ON ALL THOUGHT LEADERSHIP MATERIALS. Conclude all of your whitepapers and other assets with a “Socialize With Us” section. Include linked URLs to your company Facebook pages (and all other social profiles), with an accompanying call-to-action to connect with your company on the social web. Conclude all of your PowerPoint presentations in the same way.

15. CONTACT US. In addition to your phone number and email address, devote a section of your company’s Contact Us page to your social media pages, including links to your company’s Facebook page, as well as your company’s other social profiles.

16. CALL-TO-ACTION. Include room for side bars in your website design, especially on pages such as Knowledge Centers or Resource Libraries that house your whitepapers and other thought leadership materials. Use these side bars to house prominent calls-to-action that link to your company’s Facebook page and contain eye-catching graphic and short, concise copy that will encourage your site visitors to click through and become your newest Facebook fans.

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17. SURFACE THE BUTTONS. In addition to links to your About page, Contact Us page and whatever other information you display in your company’s website header and footer, include a social button bar in each that links to all of your social properties. As users explore your site and become increasingly interested in your company, they will become more likely to follow you across the social web.

18. … THEN BLOG IT! Does your company have a blog? Add a social button bar to your blog header, as well! Displaying all of your social channels in one place will encourage your blog’s readers to like and follow you across the social web.

19. REACH OUT Identify influential bloggers who write about your industry, product category, or brand, and ask them to like your page. Tell these bloggers about the value of your content and send them examples to post and promote on their blogs.

20. ADD A BUTTON. This feature can be put on any web page (including your company’s website and blog!) and will enable website visitors to like your Facebook fan page without having to visit the actual page. Users who click on the like button will instantly become your Facebook fans. You can make a simple like button that shows just the number of people who like your Facebook page, along with the names of up to two of their own friends who like the page.

The slightly more advanced option shown below allows the user to include the thumbnail profile photos of users who like the page. Click here to learn more and get started now: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/ like-button.

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21. ADD A BOX. Add a like box directly to your site or blog so people can like your Facebook page straight from that page. Click here to learn more and get started now: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/like-box-for-pages.

Source: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/like-box-for-pages

22. GATE IT. Did you know that you can gate site content with a Facebook like button? You may no longer be able to gate content on your Facebook page, but with Overdrive’s Fan Maker, you can prompt your website’s users to like your Facebook page. Preview Fan Maker here: http://www.ovrdrv.com/fan-maker.

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23. THANK THEM. Don’t waste this real estate! Whether for content downloads, contest entries, contact requests or anything in between, use your thank-you confirmation pages as opportunities to promote your Facebook page and other social properties. Feature links to your social properties, along with encouragement for viewers to learn more of your content and increase their engagement with your company.

24. HIRE YOUR FANS. Add Overdrive’s Fan Maker to the Careers page on your website so that applicants will be prompted to like your company’s Facebook page before they are able to view your job listings. If someone is interested in joining your company, they should be cued into your social activity, anyway!

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25. CREATE A GATED COUPON PAGE ON YOUR WEBSITE. Everyone likes saving money, so why not capitalize on this as a way to gain Facebook fans? If your company sells consumer goods, whether online and/or offline, devoting a page on your website to coupons and promotional codes is a surefire way to attract traffic. Gate this page with Overdrive’s Fan Maker to ensure that every user who comes to your site seeking a discount will be prompted to like your page on Facebook.

26. CREATE A SOCIAL HUB. Make sure your company’s website has a Social Hub that includes a widget of your Facebook status feed, along with a prominent call-to-action to like your company’s Facebook page and a button to do so right from the Social Hub. (Do the same with all other social channels on which your brand is active). This not only puts all of your social sites in one place, but also helps users find new places to interact with your brand. See an example here: http://www.ovrdrv.com/socialize.

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27. CROSS-PROMOTE. Reach out to your company’s followers on other social platforms and encourage them to like your company on Facebook! Regularly post on your company’s other social profiles, telling your fans on these networks why they should like you on Facebook and providing them with incentives and calls-to-action prompting them to do so.

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28. ADVERTISE ON YOUTUBE WITH A CALL-TO-ACTION OVERLAY. Combine the power of YouTube with the power of Google AdWords by creating a call-to-action overlay over any promoted YouTube video. These overlays can include a headline, a description, a display URL, a destination URL and an image, and will show up any time the video is viewed on a watch or channel page. Click here to view a tutorial.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5395DaktZE0

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29. INTERLINK. Most social channels allow users to provide links to their websites and other social channels. Make sure to take advantage of this capability by linking up all of your social sites. If users feel that they benefit from one social connection with your company, chances are that they will be eager to form a second (or third!) connection.

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30. HOLD CONTESTS. As of August 7, 2014, Facebook no longer allows pages to hold fan-only gated contests, but you should still hold contests that are available to the entire Facebook community! Advertising these contests and encouraging entrants to post about them will increase awareness that your page offers the chance to win free prizes, and people will want to like your page so they will automatically view your future contest-related posts in their News Feeds. Be sure to abide by Facebook contest rules, which can be found here.

Source: https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2014/08/07/Graph-API-v2.1/ and https://www.faebook.com/page_guidelines.php#promotionsguidelines

31. HIT THE BIG SCREEN. At speaking events, use the projection screen to promote your Facebook URL. (This, like all times when URLs must be entered manually, is another instance in which having a vanity URL will boost your likelihood of receiving traffic!)

32. ‌ THEN MAKE IT INTERACTIVE. Begin your presentation by encouraging the audience to like your Facebook page in order to more easily connect with your brand and continue an ongoing dialogue even after your presentation is over.

33. OFFER AN INCENTIVE Reward new fans with something small, like a free eBook, a $5 coupon or a promotional code in exchange for their like.

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34. GIVE BACK. Announce to the world that for every new fan you acquire for a certain duration of time, you will give a certain amount of money to your favorite charity. Make sure the charity knows about your campaign, so they will promote the initiative alongside you, helping you to raise money for and awareness about the charity, while simultaneously growing your Facebook community.

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35. PACKAGE IT UP. If you sell packaged goods, make sure that your packaging promotes your Facebook page, displaying your custom URL as well as your go-to benefit statement. If people like your company enough to buy your product, give them the chance to connect with you on social media.

36. RETAIL IT. If your company gives paper receipts to your customers, stamp them with your Facebook URL. Just like with packaged goods, it’s likely that people receiving your receipts like your company enough that they will want to connect with you on Facebook.

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37. PRINT IT. Doing print advertisements? Add your Facebook address to the ad along with a call-to-action to like your page.

In addition to printing your full URL, include a QR code that leads to your Facebook page, so prospects can access your page simply by scanning the code, using their smartphones.

38. HIT THE GREAT OUTDOORS. Do you advertise using billboards? Add your Facebook URL in large, clear print! Whether sitting on a bench, riding in a taxi on the highway, or simply going for a stroll, people are constantly on their smartphones – encourage them to become a fan of your page while they’re out and about!

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39. BLAST IT ON THE RADIO. Do you advertise on the radio? Sign off by telling listeners to visit you on Facebook at your vanity URL! Offer an incentive for listeners to visit and like your page, such as a coupon, contest or a piece of free thought leadership material.

40. PUT IT ON PRIMETIME. Does your company run television commercials? Share your Facebook address in high-def by including it on the bottom of the screen throughout the commercial! Feature the URL prominently at the end of the commercial, ending with both written and spoken calls-to-action to check out your brand on Facebook for updates and more information.

41. MERGE DIGITAL AND DIRECT MAIL. If you send out direct mail pieces or catalogues, tell your customers that they can find more information about your company and products on your Facebook page. As with print ads, including a QR code that leads to your Facebook page is an effective way to reach prospects immediately, but don’t forget to include the full URL, as well!

42. ADVERTISE WHILE THEY WAIT. Whether it be for an appointment, a drop-in consultation or just a person to ask for help, people are constantly waiting. In the age of the smartphone, waiting often is synonymous with surfing the web or poking around on Facebook. Capitalize on this by putting signs or posters around your office, store or waiting room, prominently displaying your vanity Facebook URL and a simple call-to-action on each sign.!

43. TAKE IT ON WHEELS. Use the moving real estate of your company vehicles to promote your Facebook URL, along with a one-line benefit statement about the value of visiting your Facebook page. Print it on the doors, windows and hood, or create bumper stickers with the URL!

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44. FACEBOOK ADS. Run Facebook ads that drive users to visit your page! Click here to learn about different types of Facebook ads, options for advertising on the platform and which ads are best for your company and campaign.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/1428545254039017/

45. GET A BOOST. By paying a predetermined sum of money, you can create posts that will appear not only on your company’s Facebook page, but also in users’ News Feeds – including Facebook users who are not yet fans! Boosted posts can be targeted according to location, gender and interests, and the more money you pay, the larger the audience your post will reach. (If your Facebook page has at least 50 fans, you can boost your post to solely your fans and their Facebook friends). They look just like normal posts, but with the text “Sponsored” under the post, in the left-hand corner. Learn more here.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/547448218658012/

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46. CREATE AN AD TO PROMOTE YOUR PAGE DIRECTLY ON FACEBOOK. Facebook allows page admins to create a standard ad right from your page that displays your company’s name, logo, industry and number of Facebook fans, along with a clickable thumbs-up “like button.” replace These ads can be targeted by country, interests and demographics, and can be run continuously (and shut off manually) or with a scheduled end date. In addition, when you choose your daily budget, Facebook tells you about how many new likes this campaign should get you per day. Click here to learn more.

47. RUN A PAGE LIKE AD According to Facebook itself, “page likes is the best advertising objective to create a page like ad to get more likes for your page,” as users have the ability not only to visit, but also to like, your page directly from the ad.

Page like Campaigns run across desktop and mobile and on the right-hand side panel of Facebook, and can also be targeted based on users’ location, demographics, interests and connections. In addition, Facebook allows users to upload up to six different images to create more ads at no extra cost. All three ad types display your custom-picked photo, the name of your company, a limited (and varying) amount of text and the words “Sponsored Page,” in addition to allowing users to like your page directly from the ad. The desktop and mobile displays also show users your company’s logo, industry and number of Facebook fans, as well as telling users which of their friends have already liked the page. Click here to learn more.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/www/216847905190534/

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48. ALL IN 140 (PROMOTED) CHARACTERS. If your company has a Twitter account (which it should!), run a Promoted Tweets campaign to target users who will likely be interested in your company or product(s) and encourage them to like you on Facebook. Click here to learn more.

Source: https://support.twitter.com/groups/58-advertising/topics/260-promoted-tweets/articles/142101-what-are- promoted-tweets

49. CREATE A LINKEDIN AD. If your company does not have a LinkedIn page, you need to make one before reading any further. Done? Great.

Now, start advertising on the professional social network to draw fellow professionals to your Facebook page!

LinkedIn ads allow precision B2B targeting, customized budgets and various ad formats, including basic and video, in addition to allowing users to create up to 15 variations of the same ad. Click here to learn more.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/ads/start

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50. SWAG IT. Put your Facebook URL and incentive/value proposition on your swag – pens, hats, t-shirts, stickers, mugs, etc.

Serve hot beverages to visitors in the mugs, leave the pens and stickers around the office for clients and visitors to use and take and divide the higher-value items between employee gifts and prizes for Facebook contests.

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About Overdrive Overdrive Interactive is a digital marketing agency based in Boston that helps clients grow their businesses with highly creative and measurable digital marketing programs. We specialize in eliminating the blurry line between online media, search engine marketing and cutting edge technology to create social media marketing platforms and campaigns that encourage engaging experiences, create lasting consumer connections and drive profitable customer relationships.

DIGITAL MARKETING SERVICES + Social Media Marketing + Search Marketing (SEO and SEM) + Online Media Planning, Buying and Management + Website and Application Development + Digital Creative Services + Inbound Marketing + Email and Marketing Automation Management

NEED HELP WITH YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING? Take action and see why some of the world’s leading brands turn to Overdrive Interactive to launch, manage and measure their online marketing channels: Call Us: 617-254-5000 Email Us: info@overdriveinteractive.com Visit Us: www.ovrdrv.com Like Us: www.facebook.com/overdriveinteractive Follow Us: www.twitter.com/ovrdrv Download this guide: www.ovrdrv.com/get-facebook-fans

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