Often business owners ask me ìHow can I increase the number of ëLikesí on my Facbook page?î My standard response to this question is always amongst the following lines: ìThe key to creating a page with a large number of ëLikesí is to create a page that encourages user interaction.î And it is as simple as that, you need not focus on anything else. Creating a page that has fans interacting and engaging with content regularly will drive a pageís messages to the top of your fans ëNewsfeedsí.
As you know, the reason you want a Facebook user to ëLikeí your page is so that in the future your branded communications via Facebook will reach their Newsfeed, hopefully creating brand resonance and future custom for your business. Facebook employs a complex algorithm that works out which content should appear on a usersí Newsfeed. If a user engages with a page regularly (looks at, comments, shares a post, high frequency of visit, etc.) the algorithm will distinguish that page as important to that user and will in return make future posts from this page feature more prominently in their Newsfeed.
Contrastingly, if someone was to Like your page today, but never return or interacted with it, within a few weeks its ability to appear in that users Newsfeed is next to 0. Therefore, engagement is the key to Facebook page success! You must make sure every individual who Likes your page has a reason to interact with your content. Doing so will push your Page further through the social network and into the Newsfeeds of ëFriends of Fansí allowing huge growth in terms of numbers of Likes, in turn leading to increased web traffic and brand awareness.
So I’ll say that again in a different way; to get more Likes on your Facebook Page you must first make your current fans engage with your page. When you have accomplished this Friends of Fans will start noticing posts by you in their Newsfeeds via their friend, and being the inquisitive species that we are, we know these friends will be taking a look at what their friend is doing. This is all tracked through Facebook’s built in page analytics.
There are numerous ways to increase page engagement and interactivity;
- Post newsworthy and interesting content on a regular basis. If you do not have any unique content of your own to publish, share something related from another page (or rewrite and repost it yourself 😉 )
- Upload remarkable imagery and video ñ we are seeing on a regular basis that image based content is being shared far more than anything else on social media sites. As humans we interact with imagery far more eagerly than just plain words. Moreover, social media users like to look interesting and show off their beliefs to their friends and there is no better way of doing this than through sharing photos and video.
- Create a company blog and link to it from you Facebook page. Simply cut the URL of your latest blog post and paste it into the status bar on your page. Write a little summary of what the article is about and hey-presto you have just posted something interesting on your Wall. Do this once a week.
- Run competitions and applications ≠ñ have a read through this classic Curve Interactive blog article to find out how you can use competitions and applications to increase participation and engagement on your Facebook Page.
Using these 4 best practices to increase the user engagement of your Facebook page you will see a great leap in the amount of Likes your Page gets. Furthermore, now because you are posting regular, quality content these new fans are going to be seeing messages from your brand more and more often. This is going to lead to fans reaching brand resonance quicker and creating future customers who are looking forward to the next time you broadcast a message on Facebook (market to them!).
A key point to remember form this blog article is that social media users like to look interesting and show off their beliefs to their friends. When you want your fans to share one of your posts have a think about whatís in it for them? Try wording your messages in a way to reflect this. Make the images you post so fantastic/funny/intriguing than people just have to share them!
Social media, because itís all about being human in the end.
By Josh Hamit @hamit