8 Tips to Build a Large Facebook Following

With 1.06 billion active monthly users as of December 2012, facebook is an important marketing outpost for most organizations to build community and engage people in your mission, services, and activities. However, you want to have  a sufficient sized audience who “like” your facebook page to make your time spent using facebook worthwhile.

It is also critical to clearly articulate your goals for being on facebook so you and your team know what you are trying to achieve. Plan how you will provide compelling, fun content that will engage your customers, prospects, members, or clients which I discussed in this previous blog post.

Here are eight tips to attract people to “like” your facebook page so you build a good sized community:

• Make sure your web site features a facebook social sharing icon link and that all your printed materials promote liking you on facebook.
• Include a teaser promoting your facebook page in all staff members’ email signature blocks.
• Share excerpts from your most recent facebook postings anywhere possible such as your email newsletter, with a teaser to like your facebook page so they can get more news like this.
• Encourage people to share your postings with their facebook friends, periodically explicitly asking people to “pass the word on to your friends about the great news/photos we have so they can see it as soon as it’s posted, too!” (Or whatever other content you want to mention that you think is high value.) 
• Mention liking your facebook page at meetings and events whenever appropriate. Consider having a laptop available for people to log onto facebook on the spot and “like” your page.
• If you have a physical location put posters up at each door and by cash registers or other prominent areas promoting liking your facebook page. Hand out a postcard to each person along with their purchase that promotes your facebook presence, upcoming events, and other important things you want to highlight. 
• For online purchases show a teaser at the last page of the checkout process thanking them for their purchase and encouraging them to stay in touch by liking your facebook page.
• Seek out opportunities to share highlights of the kinds of content they’ll get if they like your page to make it seem enticing, for example videos, special offers, case studies, how to’s and tips, solutions to problems your customers have, etc.