So you've created this great Facebook page for your business - and now you need fans - or "likes" as they are referred to these days. Why do you need fans? Because each time you post something - the only people that will see it are your fans. The more you have, the more exposure you will get.
Here are some tips for getting more "likes"
First - suggest the page to all of your friends. To do this - when you are on your Facebook page, there is a link in the top left side that says "suggest to friends" Click on that and then select each of your friends and hit send. Make a status on your personal page announcing the debut of your Facebook fan page and ask your friends to "like" it. Ask them to also suggest it to their friends. Each time that someone "likes" your page it shows up in all of their friends news feeds that they liked it. So more exposure!
Second - hold some kind of contest. This worked really well for me on my jewelry page. I ran a cute baby contest and encouraged people to submit photos of their baby and the winner would be the one with the most likes. So they went and told all of their friends to vote and of course they did - but the catch is they can only like the photo if they like the page first. My fans went from 250 to 759 and the contest is still running another week! Some may unlike it later but the majority won't bother with that.
Third - Add your Facebook page link to your email signature, web page, blog posts, or anywhere else that you are "speaking" to people. Entice them with something like "Facebook fans are the first to know about new listings" or something along those lines.
Fourth - Add photos to your fan page and tag them. Pictures of clients, listings, colleagues, etc. tag the people in them to get more exposure to your page. Ask people to upload photos to your page - of local attractions, their home for sale, anything you think would be of interest. You could also turn this into a contest. Ask each of your fans to upload their favorite photo of a local attraction and the one with the most votes will win X prize. For the prize you could partner with a local restaurant that may even donate or give you a discount on the prize.
Fifth - Tag people in notes and statuses. To tag someone you type @ and then start typing their name - when you see that person's name come up click on it. For example "I had a great client lunch with @Mike Smith today. Thank you for the chance to list your home." This makes your status show up on his page and all of his friends can see who he listed with. Forced word of mouth marketing!!
Sixth - Don't make your status all about business. People will get bored with it easily. Make it interactive - ask questions that encourage people to comment. I have seen some fan pages ask for who they think will win a certain sporting event, crunchy or creamy peanut butter, favorite dress at the golden globes, you get the point. Anything that gives people the chance to talk about themselves will encourage comments. Those comments show up in their news feed for all their friends to see.
Seventh - Post relevant links. Keep up to date on what's going on in your city. Hear about a free event this weekend? Post it! Awesome band coming to town? Let people know - be on top if it and other people will want to follow you to make sure they hear the details!
Those should get you started. If you have any questions on any of them please feel free to ask me and I'll be glad to help. If you don't have a Facebook fan page yet - let me know I can give you a quote on creating one for you AND helping you get your first 50 fans.
About the Author: Aryn Nichols does Virtual Assistance for Time Savers Virtual Assistance and is also a consultant with Just Jewelry.
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