Is anybody out there? Creating a following for Facebook

A Facebook Page can be the most valuable of the tools in a small businesses arsenal for online marketing in the social media realm, but what if no one is listening?  A strong Facebook following, combined with the right types of posts, can create the sort of buzz your competitors will be jealous of.  While we would love to give you the whole pie, it's best just to start with the audience piece.  In this post you will learn the top 5 ways to increase your Facebook Fan-base.

Top 5 Fan-building strategies for Facebook:

1) INCENTIVISE - —“There is not one shred of evidence for the alleged turning away from material rewards…Anti-materialism is a myth, no matter how much it is extolled” Peter Drucker(1974).  People in general, whether it be a social or work situation look for the benefit of any interaction - adding your Facebook page to their following is no different.  Try running a give-away campaign for a month or two, people who 'like' your page during that campaign are added into the drawing for whatever incentive you decide to offer.  The most common and proven have been concert tickets, ipods, and sporting events.

2) ASK YOUR CLIENTS!  Your clients have the most to gain by following your page.  If you are posting the right types of information, they will not only get a better insight into your office's culture, but also receive valuable information and deals they will talk about with their friends.  Clients are the quality fan-base that give the real ROI for social media.

3) ADD A 'LIKE' button directly on your webpage.  A single click can be the difference between success and failure on the internet.  Make it easy for people to like you.  Adding a 'like' button directly on your website makes it easy for people to follow your Facebook campaign and will pull from a quality pool of internet users.

4) ADD A LINK to the Facebook page in your email signature.  How many people does your office email daily?  Adding a link to your Facebook page or a like button in your signature not only offers vendors and partners to learn more about your company, it provides a quality fan who probably knows others who would make more, quality fans.  Partners and vendors have common goals and interests.  By using this 'birds of a feather...' analogy you can not only increase your direct following, but also your 2nd and 3rd generation followers.

5) ASK YOUR EMPLOYEES!  Your employees are devoted to your cause.  Your success should be their success.  Their friends like to know what they are doing and will most likely check their work out if information can easily be accessed.  Having your co-workers follow your Facebook page with bridge the gap from vocational to social and create a buzz, which should be the main goal for this whole page.

~Jon Miller