Growth is an important objective for a company to have, and not just regarding the team or business plan. Social media should be an essential part of your marketing strategy because of the benefits it can bring to your brand.
Growing your audience sounds easier than it is, but it isn’t as difficult as it seems. Without Facebook advertising, organic growth can be a tricky task to accomplish. However, there are some ways to create the best strategy for getting Facebook likes:
What does growing your audience do?
Facebook Advertising is one of the best platforms to advertise and grow your audience. Growing your audience builds awareness of your brand. Furthermore, people who like your page are more likely to engage with your page organically and share your posts to their friends and family (a.k.a. more potential customers).
Also, having a large amount of Facebook followers makes your business look more legitimate and trustworthy. It shows that people support your business and what you do, which speaks positively about your brand to others.
Do not buy your followers
One of the top things you should avoid doing when growing your followers, however tempting, is buying likes from an external site. The point of followers is to get engagement and interactions on your posts, resulting in further reach and possible sales. Buying likes means you’ll end up with a lot of bots and fake accounts, thus subverting the actual benefits of having followers. These profiles aren’t real, so cannot interact or like your content like a real person would. This renders bought followers useless and a serious waste of money.
Have a plan in place
If you want something to succeed, you’re going to have to plan it and plan it well. Build a strategy aimed towards growth with goals that’ll help you achieve your objective. Define your target audience and who you want to follow your page. For example, if you’re a ballet school in Brixton, you’ll want to aim all your content towards young people or parents based in London. Analyse your competition and see what they’re doing on social media too, especially if they have the audience that you want to attract.
Have interesting and inspiring content
Make sure all your content is intriguing and interesting, so your current followers are likely to share it to their friends and family. This could result in more followers for your page. For example, if you’re a wedding cake designer, you could share blog articles about weddings (e.g. top ten tips for the perfect wedding day), or post photos of kooky and strange wedding cake designs you’ve made.
You could make quotes and graphics that people will find relatable and share too. Alternatively, videos are a great way to get engagement, and if interesting enough, are likely to be shared to a wider audience. The more personal and original, the better.
Use eye-catching images
Whether you’re using stock images or your own photography, make sure all the imagery you use is eye-catching and of high quality. People will ignore blurry and bad quality images, simply because there are so many brands using good photography, that anything less just looks untrustworthy and lazy.
Ensure both your profile photo and cover photo are relevant and of high quality too. Your profile tells the story of your brand, so make it a good one.
Be authentic
Make sure your brand’s personality shines through in everything you post. Be real and make sure your social presence is as personal and original as possible. Users are much more likely to respond to a business page that sounds human, than a page that’s churning out the same posts with clunky URL links.
Be authentic in your interactions with potential customers and other brands and communities too. Make sure that all your shared content (and posts into Facebook Groups) aren’t too sales orientated. Mix up post types whenever you can, trying polls, slideshows, photo carousels, milestones and videos and seeing what works best.
Always include a call to action (CTA)
In each post, make sure you’re asking your audience to do something. Whether that be follow your page or like and share your content. You can include buttons on posts, or simply make a request in the copy.
Be relevant
Always stay on top of what’s happening in your industry and what similar businesses are doing on social media. It’s important to stay relevant and not get left behind in the ever-evolving digital world. Ensure your brand stays consistent too – keep with the same tone, the same message and the same values.
Post content that speaks to your audience and leaves a resonating feeling. Think about quick tips or live streamed Q&As – ideas that will cost you very little in time but be very rewarding in the long run.
Stay educational, but entertaining
All your content should offer your audience something new and interesting to read or learn. Your posts should educate and entertain Facebook users, especially if you want them to turn into followers.
Links on your website
Make sure your website or blog includes links to your Facebook page. You could even embed a post onto your site, so people can get a glimpse of what to expect.
Similarly, you could share your Facebook page to your other social media platforms, like Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to generate more interest. This is particularly useful if your other social profiles have a bigger following. Make sure to include an interesting post, so your followers know it’s worth their time to click through.
Invite those who have liked your posts
Luckily, Facebook have added a tool to their platform which allows businesses to invite users who have liked a post to like their company page. It’s particularly useful if you’ve promoted a post as new people would have liked the content. All you have to do is click the ‘Invite’ button next to a user’s name. Then, users just have to accept the invitation and you have a new like!
