Tips to Promote Your Facebook Page
Facebook is probably the biggest enigma in social media. While everyone is on it and familiar with the basics of usage, leveraging it to build a brand is what stumps everyone. With changes to how Facebook operates over the past year, it has gotten harder and harder to build an audience on facebook.
The most important message to take away from this post is interaction. In the age of social media, "fans", "followers" and "friends" expect some sort of personal interaction. That connection doesn't have to be big, but even a small "thanks" on a post will keep folks coming back.
Before you can interact with fans, there have to be fans. This goes back to the subtitle, "Tips to Promote Your Facebook". This seems to be the area where even social media experts struggle. Here are some tips, but keep in mind that it takes a combination of this and more to keep growing your Facebook page.
1. Put your Facebook URL in your email signature and on your business cards.
This is a simple start. It may not garner you hundreds of followers, but it is a first step. If your email contacts all see your Facebook URL in your email signature it speaks to them that this may be an effective way of communicating. They may not even know you have a Facebook page.
Years ago I put my twitter handle in my signature. It has led a lot of people to follow me who otherwise it wouldn't have occurred to.
Remember, make this one of the primary focuses of your signature. If your signature is 15 lines long, it will get lost. Try simplifying your signature to just your name, phone number and Facebook URL. Make the URL an actual link if possible. This is a good time to note that your Facebook URL should be personalized if it isn't already. (I tried to find a link to show you how to do this, but none of them were current. That'll be a future blog post)
Obviously, this all applies if you put the URL on your business cards as well. The effect isn't quite as strong because there isn't a handy link taking them right there. One way around that is to put a QR Code on your business card that does that. It also makes you appear very tech-savvy which is great if you're a tech-oriented business.
2. Tag other popular pages and people in your posts.
Obviously, don't do this just for the sake of it. When another person or page is relevant to your post, always tag them rather than just mention them.
To tag, you type the @ symbol followed by the name in your post.
This helps leverage that person's or page's fans and friends. All their fans will then see your post and as a result see your page. The effect is pretty obvious; more people see your page.
3. Put on all your print ads.
To me, this is a no-brainer. I always reiterate this to my clients, but still stuff goes out without a "Follow Me on Facebook" mention. When I say "all your print ads", I mean every piece of paper that leaves your office. After all, isn't your letterhead just another version of your business card?
Think about what all leaves your office. Do you have pamphlets? As a politician, I'm sure you're sending out various mail pieces and other literature.
What about traditional media? Newspaper? TV? Radio Interviews? How hard is it to drop a little line in a radio interview? Never miss the opportunity, ever.
4. Make it quality.
If the quality of your posts aren't quality, people will stop interacting or even unlike your page. If your quality is top-tier they will come back OR better yet, share the posts. That is the holy grail. If you get shares, the friends of your fans will see it and potentially become a new like.
The power of the market is in full force on Facebook. The cream rises to the top. The top quality gets increased demand, the crappy stuff fades away.
________________________________
And...it all goes back to interaction! The more all those Facebook people interact with your page, the more your page will show up in their newsfeed. It's a vicious cycle we all love so much. The great thing is it doesn't rely so much on quantity as quality. That is NOT permission to be lazy, but well-timed high-performance posts will pay off much more than 700 pictures of yesterday's lunch.
In the end, isn't that the goal anyway? The reason we want all these followers is to have an audience to talk to. Let's just not forget the listening part when they talk back.
Facebook is probably the biggest enigma in social media. While everyone is on it and familiar with the basics of usage, leveraging it to build a brand is what stumps everyone. With changes to how Facebook operates over the past year, it has gotten harder and harder to build an audience on facebook.
The most important message to take away from this post is interaction. In the age of social media, "fans", "followers" and "friends" expect some sort of personal interaction. That connection doesn't have to be big, but even a small "thanks" on a post will keep folks coming back.
Before you can interact with fans, there have to be fans. This goes back to the subtitle, "Tips to Promote Your Facebook". This seems to be the area where even social media experts struggle. Here are some tips, but keep in mind that it takes a combination of this and more to keep growing your Facebook page.
1. Put your Facebook URL in your email signature and on your business cards.
This is a simple start. It may not garner you hundreds of followers, but it is a first step. If your email contacts all see your Facebook URL in your email signature it speaks to them that this may be an effective way of communicating. They may not even know you have a Facebook page.
Years ago I put my twitter handle in my signature. It has led a lot of people to follow me who otherwise it wouldn't have occurred to.
Remember, make this one of the primary focuses of your signature. If your signature is 15 lines long, it will get lost. Try simplifying your signature to just your name, phone number and Facebook URL. Make the URL an actual link if possible. This is a good time to note that your Facebook URL should be personalized if it isn't already. (I tried to find a link to show you how to do this, but none of them were current. That'll be a future blog post)
Obviously, this all applies if you put the URL on your business cards as well. The effect isn't quite as strong because there isn't a handy link taking them right there. One way around that is to put a QR Code on your business card that does that. It also makes you appear very tech-savvy which is great if you're a tech-oriented business.
2. Tag other popular pages and people in your posts.
Obviously, don't do this just for the sake of it. When another person or page is relevant to your post, always tag them rather than just mention them.
To tag, you type the @ symbol followed by the name in your post.
This helps leverage that person's or page's fans and friends. All their fans will then see your post and as a result see your page. The effect is pretty obvious; more people see your page.
3. Put on all your print ads.
To me, this is a no-brainer. I always reiterate this to my clients, but still stuff goes out without a "Follow Me on Facebook" mention. When I say "all your print ads", I mean every piece of paper that leaves your office. After all, isn't your letterhead just another version of your business card?
Think about what all leaves your office. Do you have pamphlets? As a politician, I'm sure you're sending out various mail pieces and other literature.
What about traditional media? Newspaper? TV? Radio Interviews? How hard is it to drop a little line in a radio interview? Never miss the opportunity, ever.
4. Make it quality.
If the quality of your posts aren't quality, people will stop interacting or even unlike your page. If your quality is top-tier they will come back OR better yet, share the posts. That is the holy grail. If you get shares, the friends of your fans will see it and potentially become a new like.
The power of the market is in full force on Facebook. The cream rises to the top. The top quality gets increased demand, the crappy stuff fades away.
________________________________
And...it all goes back to interaction! The more all those Facebook people interact with your page, the more your page will show up in their newsfeed. It's a vicious cycle we all love so much. The great thing is it doesn't rely so much on quantity as quality. That is NOT permission to be lazy, but well-timed high-performance posts will pay off much more than 700 pictures of yesterday's lunch.
In the end, isn't that the goal anyway? The reason we want all these followers is to have an audience to talk to. Let's just not forget the listening part when they talk back.
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