Facebook is one of the hardest social networks to grow a brand following due to the separation of normal users and pages. Facebook limits a brand’s ability to go out into the network and seek ‘Likes’ to avoid normal users being spammed to death with requests from brands and businesses. The onus is on the user to find and like the page before any interaction between brand and consumer can take place.
To help with this, we’ve put together a set of 5 simple ways to grow your Facebook page.
1. Make use of the cover image
In 2012, as part of their Timeline update, Facebook introduced the brand page cover image.
This image spans the top of the page and gives brands plenty of real estate to get themselves noticed. The cover image on a Facebook page is 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall providing lots of room for designers to utilise with recognisable branding. As humans, we’re naturally drawn to faces so consider including one in your image if possible.
More recently, in July 2013, Facebook ditched their ‘20 Percent Rule’ for cover images giving brands extra freedom to display the messages they want.
2. Use a Like Gate for quality content
This is a tried and tested method for growing your page. Applying a Like Gate forces users to Like a page before displaying tabbed content.
If you produce quality content that people really want to read they will be happy to like your page for the chance to see it. Try using teasers and excerpts to tempt potential visitors with the promise of more to follow.
Be careful not to disappoint as users will be quick to find the ‘unlike’ button if they don’t enjoy what’s behind the curtain.
3. Cross platform promotion
If you’ve already built a social following on another network then take advantage of this. Twitter is notoriously easier to grow a social presence so make sure you are tempting users to also Like your Facebook Page.
Easy ways to do this include posting direct links on other networks to your Facebook posts. Use what Facebook is good at to give users an extra benefit for visiting your Page – photo albums are good for this. You can also use this method in conjunction with a Like Gate
A ‘platform’ which is often overlooked is the offline world. Promoting your Facebook Page in-store can often be one of the best ways to generate likes. Give customers a reason to visit with Facebook only promotions or discounts.
4. Social Icons in a easy to find place on your website
One of the most frustrating things we see are social media icons hidden at the bottom of a page where no one is going to find them. We understand that having brightly coloured buttons may not match your website design so don’t be lazy and have some branded icons designed!
The best place to place your social media icons on your website is in the header, so they appear on every page in your site. However, if this isn’t possible, consider placing them on the contact page rather than just down in the footer.
5. Facebook Hashtags
In June 2013, Facebook released their hashtag feature. You’d think that hashtags boost the performance of posts by helping you reach a bigger audience, right? Apparently not says research by EdgeRank.
Nevertheless, even if hashtags don’t improve the exposure of your posts they can help you find people to start a conversation with. Search relevant hashtags and see who’s using them – you may be pleasantly surprised to find media-savvy, interested individuals for you to engage with.
There are obviously hundreds of ways to grow your Facebook brand page and we’ve only described a handful in this post. Social media, but especially Facebook, is built on communication so never forget the value of starting a conversation. Got any helpful tips for users who’ve just started a page?
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