Increasing Facebook Fan Base Easily?

Red pens are fun.

There is an overwhelming amount of information floating out there in cyberspace regarding how to grow your Facebook page.  A lot of this information is extremely repetitive and mostly common sense.  Of course you want to promote your Facebook page via print material displayed at your location and in your printed ads.  Obviously, you are going to update your email signature to include the link to your Facebook page.  Everyone knows that they are going to send out an email to their email and Ezine subscribers, informing them that you are now on Facebook.  Are there any ideas out there that haven’t been mentioned by every marketing company on the planet?

Sure there are, but they require work, which is why they are not commonly mentioned…   Let’s look at a couple of the previously listed ideas first, and then we’ll begin to discuss the heavy lifting.

You can post on Twitter one hundred times a day, “Follow me on Facebook!!!” for a month straight and you aren’t going to gain any followers.  Email every customer you’ve ever collected, and inform them of your new status, and you may pick up a follower or two.  These commonly listed approaches to “Increase Your Facebook Fan base” typically show small results.  Why?  Because they go against the principles of “Social”.

Stop thinking that if you tell people to do something, or check out something, they are going to do it or check it.  Do you know how much money has gone into television marketing where a little lizard tells you that fifteen minutes can save you 15 percent?  According to SwiftEconomics, $800 million was spent just last year.  According to Geico they have 10 million policy holders.  That means I have pretty good odds if I bet you haven’t called yet.  Just being told what to do does not create action.

Forget your business page for a moment, and think about your personal Facebook account.  What was the last comment you made to another person?  It was probably congratulatory, consolatory, or humorous. I would assume there was no call to action or offer for savings.  I doubt anyone posted “I’m having car trouble.  First one to comment with a solution gets a free $5.00 gift certificate to Dunkin Donuts!” Or, in response to a “I’m having car troubles” posting by a friend, said “Go to Thisdealer.com right now to schedule your maintenance today!”

The point is, it’s a lot of work to treat your business like it is a person, and there are no easy solutions. You can't just “Add a link on your personal profile.”

 Want to increase your fans?  What types of pages would YOUR business be a fan of?  Go, and follow those sites.  Comment on their postings.  Do not advertise, simply add to the discussions.  If your Facebook page starts showing up on other Facebook pages, and is adding meaningful, interesting information, people will start to check you out.  That is how you build a following of people.  Although it is a lot more work, the concept is easy.  Listen to others, then speak, then respond again.  Eventually, people will start to talk to you, and follow you.  It takes a lot of work to start the avalanche, but once it’s going, it can snowball, as long as you stay involved.