Okay guys, I admit, I had to read a LOT, to reach the conclusion that ghosts are NOT the best audience for Facebook. Sorry for saying but neither are zombies or witches, who are now becoming quite fashionable again.
What’s this all about? It’s that honestly I don’t get why so many people are still insisting on buying and selling “fans” or “likes”. I’d like to think it’s the ingenuity of that entrepreneurial rookie that craves to see his/her page grow so badly, that they look for anyway to get more likes on Facebook and then do anything to get them. Obviously, they forget that ghosts and zombies and witches, don’t do any of the following:
1- They don’t generate engagement:
Have you ever heard of a ghost who can “like” or comment on a post?
(I’ve never seen a winning selfie of a ghost, but … who says it couldn’t happen?). Even less can they be advocates of a brand or identify with the voice of an organization or company. Neither can they use #hashtags to participate in a conversations , etc., etc., etc…
What we’re sayin is: you get NOTHING IN RETURN, there’s no communication, there’s nothing real behind a “pack” of 10,000 fake fans.
You guys might say: “Oh, I know that, but it’s so hard to get your Facebook to grow these days, it’s so hard to get fans and get your posts to have “likes”, comments, and shares. Buying fans is just a push to get the page going and later we’ll work on keeping the momentum going!”
And I’d respond:
Nowadays, the 3 key elements to get more likes on Facebook are:
1 – Content (and everything related to it)
2 – Knowing your fans (who they are, what moves them, what times they’re connected, how they like being talked to, etc.)
3 – Understanding the nature of this social media channel.
So … how can you get more likes on Facebook?
Well , it’d be easier to just give you the typical “practical” advice that you might find on other blogs like “share images, make sure your posts are short, upload content when your fans are online, be consistent and publish at least 2 times per day, use hashtags, use an authentic voice, make your brand more human, do promotions, ” etc., etc., etc. .
But do you really know WHICH images your fans or potential fans actually like? Do you know what to say, how to talk to them, or even what they really want? Do you understand what kind of relationship you need to build with your fans on this platform or how to get them to help you get more fans? Do you know what people are looking for on Facebook and what you need to do in order to get in touch with their needs, satisfy them, and then find the opportunity to connect deeply with them, and obviously take advantage?
“Ummmm, noo? …. “
Understand the nature of Facebook to get more likes on Facebook
If you want to work seriously on building up your community, it’s essential that you understand this part.
First, Why do people use Facebook?
Whether they be teenagers, people in their 30s, 40s, or even older; everyone is looking to connect with friends and loved ones. Why? Because Facebook is a space for communicating, where we can express ourselves with confidence, where we bring together our “friends”, and let them see our private lives. It’s a place where we can say and share a certain intimacy and depth of our feelings, thoughts, tastes, values , etc. . . .
This chart explains it quite well:
- 47% of users believe that the main reason for using the site is to see photos and videos of their friends.
- 46% consider using this platform because it allows them to share with a lot of people simoltaneously.
Okay, so we know that we gotta work hard to be our fans’ best friend.
Look how this brand shows interest and talks just like another “friend” of its fans:
1 – The need to belong
2 – The need for “self-presentation“. That is, saying who we are, what we do, and what we think and feel.
So: if the need is to belong to something, don’t hesitate to build a community. This means companionship, helping, sharing, celebrating. This is exactly what you should do with your fan page. Remember that people look for ways to create an image that represents them too. So, you should use content that your fans can reutilize as a resource, content that represents them and that they can identify with and that allows them to show their image.
Good. The first step is already done. Now you know how and why you need to use this social media channel: in order to become your fans’ best friend and create a consistent community for your brand.
2- Know your fans
Your fans are the second key element and getting to know them is extremely important if you want to know how to speak their language, or what kind of posts get their attention, or that they find useful, and what’s more if they’ll want to like it and/or share it.
The more information you get from your fans, the faster and more accurate you’ll be able to make decisions related to your fan page and then design a strategy that gets more likes and broadens the base of your community.
So … To get to know your fans, you got a long road and a short road:
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- The long road will take more time and more effort, but it’ll also take you further. In a previous article, we developed the importance of defining and designing what’s called the Buyer Persona,
“Besides knowing how to “tell” the brand in respect to the characteristics and nature of each social network, or perhaps knowing what size a picture, a video, a cover should have, or even the time of publication, it’s really important to know if WHAT we’re offering as a solution, selling, or communicating, and if HOW we’re doing it FITS the needs, the desires, and the ideals of the people who we’d like to have as customers.”
- The buyer persona is merely a “model” of our ideal customer profile. To create it, you need a deep analysis of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of your current customers and fans. Based on this detailed info, you’ll be able to define the message of the brand and product, as well as the voice and the tone of the company, and obviously, it’ll help you with your marketing and content strategies.
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In the Buyer Persona blog post, we offer a very simple spreadsheet with more than 75 questions. They are aimed to help you get to know the personal and emotional profile and other quality aspects that can deepen your knowledge about your fans. I’ll put it here in case you’re interested —-> “click here, I’m the spreadsheet 🙂 ”
- The short road to getting to know your fans involves using the same resources Facebook offers. If you use the Insights tool, obviously, you won’t get a super deep understanding of our fans, but it’s still a BIG help to get this step out of the way, and plus, it’s FREE. Just go to Insights? tab “People”? “Your fans”. Take a look at how they organize the info:
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Here’s what you’ll find under each tab on the Insights feature:
– If you wanna know what other information you can get regarding your audience, make sure to check out this link from the Facebook help center: here
– If you’re new to the world of Insights, I suggest you review this link first, which is a short introduction: here
3- Develop content that fits with your audience
3.1 – Post pictures and videos! – (And all kinds of good content)
We already got a headstart on this topic in our post on “Social Media Trends: the latest data, infographics and statistics.” We confirmed, along with other fieldwork that’s been done on this topic, that images are the format most consumed, and at the same time: viewing, sharing and uploading photos, videos, are what people spend most of their FB time doing.
Take a look at this chart:
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– CONTENT –
7 Basic Functions of Popular Posts:
Consider this study, where 31,000 posts coming from 67 Facebook pages were analyzed, and the most shared posts were detected to contain one of the following functions:
1- GIVE: Offers, discounts, deals or contests that everyone can benefit from, not just one sub-group of your friends
2- ADVICE: Tips, especially about problems that everyone encounters; for example, how to get a job or how to beat the flu, etc …
3- WARN: warnings about hazards that could affect anyone.
4- ENTERTAIN: Funny pictures, animals, or quotes, as long as they’re not offensive to any group- sometimes the humor isn’t quite as strong or edgy- it has to appeal to a general audience. This doesn’t always work and you have to know the user profile really well, in order to know exactly WHAT entertains them.
5- INSPIRE: especially with phrases or quotes, but they can also be stories through pictures, videos, and articles.
6- AMAZE: amazing facts and surprising pictures.
7- UNIFY: Posts that act as flags to carry and a way to brag to others about your membership in a group that’s doing pretty darned good, thank you very much.
Remember that if you’re in charge of one or even several Facebook pages, in order to quickly share large volumes of images, you can set up a file on your computer, and by using Postcron‘s Multiupload feature, you can upload and automatically schedule in your calendar of publications, more than 200 pictures less than 5 minutes.
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– CONTENT –
Make sure you use the Insights tool to find out what kind of posts were the most popular among your fans. Go to the Posts tab, you’ll see there are three options: “All Posts”, “When Your Fans Are Online” and “Best Post Types”. In the last one, you’ll find information about which formats got the highest participation, number of comments, likes, etc. . . .
-94 % of users consider how helpful a link would be to another user before posting it.
-68 % share things as an “advertisement” for themselves, in order to give others a better sense of who they are.
-73 % say it helps them find people with common interests.
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– CONTENT –
Storytelling: This is the most important element of any content strategy. Today, it’s basically used religiously. Why? Because its power lies in the ability of persuasion which is achieved when an idea, concept, message, is combined with emotion.
It’s precisely what allows a brand to tell its story, and thus become more human.
In our article on Storytelling, we give super-practical tips on how to apply this tactic on different social networks by showing you examples of other brands. To give you a quick idea and show you that it’s not necessary to use a blockbuster film to get storytelling done, take a look at how its done on various social media channels:
This will not only strengthen your relationship with your current audience, but naturally attract new fans (friends of the friends, of the friends, of the friends of your fans.)
Obviously, the tips and information that I’ve shared with you about “content” won’t magically generate 10,000 or 20,000 fans overnight. But I still insist, if you wanna do it seriously, you gotta be patient. People need time to get used to your brand and your friendship.
Save the money you’d spend on a “pack of 5,000 ghost fans,” and use it to pay for ads on Facebook that promote your existing posts, or use it to subscribe to tools that allow you to design useful info graphics such as http://piktochart.com/, or that allow you to edit and make your own professional images: http://pixlr.com/
3.2 Write concise posts that contain a number.
Why? This is why:
In our article on how to get something to go viral, we talked about the importance of headlines for drawing attention and getting people to “like” and even more share your content. It’s the key to getting a photo, a video, an article, a story, to be clickable.
That’s why you should practice a lot; write 25 versions of the same title. At first, it’s a tedious task that no one wants to do, but hey, write at least 7 versions, and then test them out. One day publish one version, another day another version, and so on. That way you’ll be able to see which one was the most successful. Remember, no one can do magic with these things, and if you can, then someone please let me/us in on your secret NOW.
As a basic tip, keep the following in mind: keep the message short, simple, and easy to understand, while also making it something that triggers curiosity in your fanbase.
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When you use numbers like “7 Keys, 5 tips, 10 errors,” the reader gets the feeling that these posts will be practical and quick to read or understand. For example:
3.3 Post content during hours when your fans are on line.
All your efforts in producing personalized content, writing headlines, knowing your fans, mastering the nature of this channel, should NOT be put to waste. Although we all know how hard it is to increase the scope of publications and our pages, if you don’t want to waste all your hard work, you’d better take advantage of the things you can somehow control: be aware of the times when your fans have shown to be in contact with your content.
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Again, take advantage of Facebook’s own Insights tool. Research what times the main interactions occurred. Go to the “Posts ” tab and then the sub tab “When Your Fans Are Online”
4- To be continued… 🙂
In the second part of this article, I’ll develop lots of PRACTICAL advice for you to utilize and get more fans on Facebook. The tips will complement the introduction and the theory I’ve covered in this article. Some of them being:
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- Hashtags
- Fan’s publications on your wall
- Voice and tone of your brand
- Tagging Comments
- Optimizing cover photos
- Insights from your competitors
- Content formats that’ll bring the public to your fan page
- Optimizating conversations – emotional marketing
- Facebook’s built-in tools to take advantage of
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To summarize this first part:
First of all, ghosts as Facebook fans are the least cost-effective and convenient on earth. We know it’s a little hard nowadays to win the Facebook battle, but you gotta look beyond the mere number on the little “Likes” box on your fan page. If you want sustainable results, you must be patient. Put the false “American dream” aside. If you really want your business to work on this social network, you have to spend lots of time and effort getting to know your fans deeply. That way, you’ll be able to reach the friends of the friends of your fans.
