One of the questions I’m often asked by small to medium sized business owners is: How do we get people to “like” our page? After all if, you create a Facebook page and nobody visits, are you talking to anyone? There are many factors that go into the success of a Facebook page. As any marketer knows, it’s all about objectives and strategies. Creating reach to expand your audience should be an essential goal.
I’m not known as the second coming of Julia Child, but I DO know that the “secret sauce” of growing your Facebook page lies in the Facebook ads. There I’ve said it!
It makes sense. Facebook is a publicly traded company that must answer to shareholders. How do they make money? Advertising! Facebook NEEDS you to buy their advertising to grow revenues. You grow your business, they grow theirs!
But hey, what about content being king and then taking it viral for organic growth without having to invest in ads? It is critical to understand that regardless of the most compelling content, if you’re simply waiting for people to stumble upon your page, you might wanna get a soft pillow. You’ll be waiting a while for significant growth while you hope fans find you. A well run Facebook ad buy will drive new fans to your page and increase your community so that you have an audience for your killer content. Yes, content is really important, but you need to get eyeballs to see that great content. As an acquisition strategy to solicit new fans and get bang for the buck, nothing beats Facebook ads.
We all “like” our own Facebook pages and ask our employees to “like” the company page. We even get friends to “like” the page, but as witnessed by all the pages with only 200 or so likes, that limited form of attempted fan acquisition plateaus quickly.
You don’t even need to spend large sums of money. For a small investment that is geo-targeted properly, you can get those new eyes looking at your content which will help your conversion rate. Give them a reason to like your page, then keep them coming back for more great content! Keep an eye on your ads and you’ll learn as you go. Optimize them. Over time you’ll then be able to establish your cost per fan as well as conversion rates and can then settle into longer term planning. Watch those ad investments and see your exposure grow to a level you never thought possible!