FAQ: Should you invest in Facebook 'likes' i.e. followers before other campaign objectives on Facebook?
I had this question come up recently during one of my lead generation workshops recently and it's a beauty! It's actually something I cover in my during social media for small business workshop and I thought it would be something great to address here on the blog.
Me yammering on at my workshops ^
The short answer is no.
"But I have 47 followers and half of them are my cousins".
Yeah I hear you, but no.
Reason being, organic reach is droppppiinnngg. Like crazy fast. If you're a page that is just starting out, chances are you're not getting much traction right now. I know that that's like, I've built a number of pages from scratch.
But don't despair there is a way!
Facebook is more likely to show your content to people that have engaged with it previously. So, instead of running page likes ads which will likely result in a crappy organic reach, instead, invest in 'boosting' your best content and showing it to your target audience. This works best when it's something visual.
A great image (watch the amount of text as you'll be penalised by Facebook) or bonus points for a video and catchy copy is key. Avoid adding any links and also avoid hashtags as this will reduce the effectiveness. Also, avoid being 'salesy' - make it something informative or entertaining that your target customer will find useful or enjoyable. Bonus points if it's something that will encourage people to tag their friends in (competitions are great for this).
Once you've created this great piece of content, post it and send it to your friends and family to 'like'. Once they've done so, boost it for 3 days to your target audience. The reason I got you to get your friends and family to like it is that when you see a post from a page you don't currently like, you don't want to be the person to 'like' the post first - it's just kind of awkward.
Once the 'likes' start rolling in on the post from strangers (i.e. your target audience), then go ahead and invite them to like your page.
Quick video below on this in action:
What you'll find is that because these people have already engaged with a piece of your content and then liked your page is that your organic reach will be higher then if you'd like run some page likes ads.
Simple hack but a handy one! ;)