You’ve heard it before: Facebook Page Likes don’t matter.
There are a lot of articles out there on the subject. In fact, I myself have written some pretty harsh posts about how counting your Facebook Fans is just a vanity metric that’s not indicative of your actual success.
However, I am now going to do something which is extremely uncharacteristic of me as a stubborn know-it-all – I am going to get off my high horse and eat my words.
After doing a bit more research on the topic, I have decided to backtrack. Having dug a little deeper and analysed some of my own results, I now believe that there are instances in which Facebook Page Likes ARE important and can bring true value for businesses and even for bloggers.
Below I’m going to detail 3 reasons why Facebook Page Likes DO matter and give you some of my tips for boosting them.
Why Facebook Page Likes DO Matter – 3 Reasons
1. Potential To Convert
Convince and Convert argue that when someone Likes a Facebook page, their motivation is similar to when subscribing to an email or an RSS feed. They’re interested in you and have potential to convert. In marketing terms, this person is a lead that can be easily qualified if your social content strategy is good enough.
It should be noted that new fans are most valuable when they are acquired organically, rather than ‘bought’ with Facebook ads. Organic fans are making a more informed choice and are likely to have scrolled through your content before hitting the Like button.
2. More Fans = Increased Reach
If you run your own Facebook page you’ll know that organic reach on Facebook is shit, with around 3% of fans (at best) even seeing your posts. The chart below demonstrates the decline of organic reach since Facebook introduced its Edgerank algorithm.
That said, however, if you have good quality, engaging content, you can still maintain a high reach. And, theoretically, if you have a large following that is targeted, relevant and came to your page organically, you will have a larger audience of people who will share your content and increase that reach even further.
3. Facebook Ad Custom Audiences
From a financially practical standpoint, there is one main benefit to having a large fanbase on Facebook. Within Facebook ads, you can create custom audiences comprised of your existing Facebook fans or target people who are friends with fans of your page.
From my experience, the click through and conversion rates on ads targeted to both groups is always significantly higher than on ads delivered to non-fans. This is because, having liked your page, they have an existing awareness or relationship with your brand.
So if you’re selling a product/service or want to drive traffic to your website, it pays to create Facebook Ad sales funnel using these audiences. (If you need help with this, you can hire me #justsayin).
How To Increase Your Facebook Fans – 3 Tips
When it comes to increasing your Facebook fans, you need to be strategic. It’s not about increasing numbers for the sake of increasing numbers. It’s not about having more fans than your business competitor or having a larger audience than other bloggers out there. In other words – don’t think about your own ego.
Yes, you want to attract a lot of people to your page but they have to be the right people – people who will engage with your content, share, comment and like your posts. If you attract a bunch of people to your page who don’t give interaction, Facebook will notice and your organic reach levels will suffer further as a result.
1. Stop Paying For Fans
As mentioned above, Facebook fans are most valuable to you when they have been acquired organically.
There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, organically acquired fans are more likely to actually be interested in your content. Secondly, if you have ever run any Facebook Page Like ads, you will know that the cost per acquisition is ridiculously high – often more than £1 per new like.
Not only is it incredibly difficult to accurately measure the lifetime value of each new fan but you also can’t determine the quality of each new like. You don’t know whether they’ve liked your page because of the ad, or because they are genuinely interested in your brand. So if you’re currently spending money on page likes, stop wasting yo dollas.
2. Viral, Shareable Content
Viral content is the key to increasing your page likes without paying a penny. I have a lot of experience with this. In the past, I have increased page likes from 9,000 to 200,000 completely organically, simply by posting viral content.
The thing is, you must ensure that the viral content you post is in some way related to your brand.
For example on the Uni Baggage Facebook page, we post a lot of viral content but it is always specifically to do with student life. It’s stuff that only students will relate to. That way, we ensure that only students interact with the content and subsequently like our page.
I know ‘go viral’ is a bit of a vague tip, as it’s not the easiest task on the planet. So I suppose what I’m trying to say here is that you should always be focusing on engagement. Try to engage the fan base that you have and they will be much more likely to share your content with others.
3. A Sneaky But Amazing Hidden Tip
My colleague Katy (here is the link to her fab blog) informed me of this absolutely incredible Facebook tip which has LEGIT changed my life. I’ve tried it out on a couple of occasions and each time, my Facebook Page Likes have increased significantly.
So basically, when you have a post that has has a lot of engagement, you can click on the people who interacted with it and invite them to like your page. (see video here) I had no idea you could do this and it has completely elevated my Facebook marketing strategy.
So dems my two cents on Facebook Page Likes – why they DO actually matter and how you can increase them. I hope it gave you a little something to ponder over and fingers crossed these tips work for you.
If you think someone you know might benefit from this post, share it with others using the buttons below and if you have any questions, holla at me on Twitter or Facebook.
Source: http://itsherselfie.com/
