Getting more fans on Facebook
-
Does anyone have any tips or experience on how they increased their Facebook fan base? I work in the oil/fuel industry and getting people to like your Facebook page is quite difficult because our customers are mostly middle-aged men, who if statistics are to be believed aren't the most active on social media anyway.
I've been doing regular posts for the past couple of weeks, liking other pages and joining conversations but don't seem to be getting any increase in followers.
Does anyone have any advice, ideas or examples of what you did that worked?
Thanks
-
I think this is exactly the point - no matter now boring you perceive it, now matter how niche the problem your business solves, then there is someone out there who needs that information.
Now, whether they will share it or not is another matter but if you answer those questions, they will certainly find you and then you can look at other ways of converting a percentage of those visitors in leads or prospects down the road.
-
Some industries just aren't suited to Facebook or Twitter, because people aren't interested in thinking about that niche in their free time, or because your target audience isn't active on social media. You should still have a presence there and occasionally participate, but don't expect amazing results.
Have you already captured your low-hanging fruit -- inviting your most faithful repeat customers to connect with you on social media? Every employee should have a link to your Facebook page in their e-mail signature. Then social media becomes a brand loyalty tool.
-
A thought for a content idea -- FAQs for someone who is new to oil heating. This comes from my own situation right now, as I sit in front of a wood-burning fireplace and I'm afraid to turn on our oil-burning furnace. We moved into this house a couple of months ago, and the neighbors told us that all of the walls were repainted because of the oil stains, and we're seeing stains by one vent near the carpet. We're using space heaters and the fireplace until we can get a gas line to the house and a gas furnace installed. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has relocated and found myself in this situation. It may not cause me to be a forever fan on your facebook page, but it might turn me into a heating oil customer if I were convinced there was a good way to get heat.
-
Hey Brian, if the only reason you are doing this is for an SEO benefit you would be better concentrating on the content, adding some social sharing buttons (like, tweet, +1, recommend) and then directing your efforts in other directions.
This is a good read:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/do-improved-social-signals-cause-improved-rankings
-
One of my businesses is B2B and I have found that engaging people on LinkedIN is a good way to get people back to my FB page.
I join in a variety of groups on there and just talk to anybody in my market
-
The main reason we do social media is for SEO. I believe that the social triggers have an impact on SEO and that's why we want to be there.
At the moment, I'm putting up relevant news stories and because we supply oil, this time of year is when we sell a lot of home heating oil - so I'm trying to push that. I have come up with a few ideas like 10 ways to save on your heating bill but I don't want to put a lot of effort into something that won't work.
Contests are not really suitable for us because the vast majority of our business is from B2B sales. Unless someone has a good idea, I don't see the relevance.
I was thinking of giving away company stationery for likes, but I think the problem is directing people to the page in the first place.
There is an energy saving week coming up in just over a week, but it's a bit late for us to organise something and promote it properly.
-
The main reason we do social media is for SEO. I believe that the social triggers have an impact on SEO and that's why we want to be there.
At the moment, I'm putting up relevant news stories and because we supply oil, this time of year is when we sell a lot of home heating oil - so I'm trying to push that. I have come up with a few ideas like 10 ways to save on your heating bill but I don't want to put a lot of effort into something that won't work.
Contests are not really suitable for us because the vast majority of our business is from B2B sales. Unless someone has a good idea, I don't see the relevance.
I was thinking of giving away company stationery for likes, but I think the problem is directing people to the page in the first place.
There is an energy saving week coming up in just over a week, but it's a bit late for us to organise something and promote it properly.
-
Well, some niches just aren't meant for social activity.
However, you can still succeed with the right content. What exactly are you posting to your page? Try going with some creative content ideas or throwing some contests. If your business is a local company, partner up with some local businesses to give away gift cards and other prizes in exchange for likes. And then promote that contest through each site.
Try running community events and just stuff that will get people engaged. I know one company that runs a FB fantasy football league.
-
I guess the big question is whether facebook is a relevant platform for marketing this business. If your customers and prospects are not there, and the business has little to share in terms of interesting, shareable content, then... maybe you are barking up the wrong tree?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Facebook.com / referral - What is it?
Hi Moz community! Coming to you today to ask a two fold question about a mysterious source/medium combination and also social medium data in general. First question relates to the attached image named 'Facebook Referral.' We've made sure to apply correct tags to all of our campaigns, both organic and paid, and are having a difficult time figuring out where this source/medium comes from which is a bit troubling as it actually has pulled in some revenue over the past couple of months The second question is around general Facebook data. Our Facebook business manager is vastly over reporting clicks to landing pages. For instance, we saw about 1,700 clicks to site as reported by Facebook business manager, whereas Google Analytics only registered about 950. I know data between the two channels rarely lines up perfectly, but this seems like a rather wide variance. Can someone help me to understand this, and let me know if there is anyway to reduce the occurrence of one or both of the issues we're facing. Thanks! referral.PNG
Social Media | | amichaels0 -
Facebook Outreach Tips - what to say
Hi, I've been shown how to do facebook outreach in my home town. I am a weight loss hypnotist. I was shown how to do outreach to possible home town clients using the facebook search feature. I go to the search and type in "Friends who like weight loss" And I get a couple of friends who have liked a major weight loss site After I've done that search, I look to the right in facebook. It has a bunch of dropdowns. I choose the same search parameters except I change it to "Live in Boise" (my town) and "Not my Friend". I get dozens of facebook users who live in Boise and are not my friends and are interested in weight loss. I can message these people (less than 30 a day) Here's the problem: I don't want to spam them. How do I get these people interested in my weight loss hypnosis program (I could really help them) by sparking up a conversation and not spamming. Everything I can think of saying seems manipulative. I don't know how to start a conversation and invite people to come in for a free sample session. My free sample session is 30 minutes and is free just to see if the client and I are a good fit. My website is bobweikel.com if that helps. How do I do this with the utmost integrity? Thank you.
Social Media | | BobGW0 -
Facebook have moved my page likes to another page
Hi Hope someone can help or offer advice about an issue that has arisen today i had a facebook page with approx 20,000 likes and a competitor had a page with approx 500 likes. Today the competitor has over 20,000 like (my likes have been transferred to them without informing me) I have spent quite a lot of time and money in facebook advertising building up the page and this came as a total shock today. The page (was) www.facebook.com/wildatlanticway It is very difficult to contact facebook. has this happened to anyone else Regards Brian
Social Media | | briandee0 -
Facebook Page not in Search
My Facebook page does not show up within the first 50 results of a search for my brand. I have over 3,000 fans and am relatively active so it should be there. On the second page of SERPs for my brand there is a Facebook page of a spammy looking affiliate with 15 fans. On the third page my Facebook test page appears. Any ideas about what happened with my page? Is it possible Google penalized my Facebook page - and if so, how do I fix that? I checked the admin again and the page is open to the public and when I do a search for "brand facebook" it appears. Thanks for your help!
Social Media | | theLotter0 -
If we maintain multiple facebook account for a partcular website will it be penalized??
I want to maintain multiple facebook accounts to promote my servicess. Will it be penalized for keeping multiple accounts?
Social Media | | Dillipg0 -
How would you determine the value of a Facebook fan? Not just a Facebook referral, but an actual fan of your business or website. Is there a set of best metrics or a particular model that you suggest?
This question is about best practices for determining the value of your Facebook fan base.
Social Media | | AnotherDave0 -
Facebook Comments | Massive Overall Increase in Rankings! Anybody else experience this?
Last week I implemented Facebook Comments and Addthis to my site. Rankings went up for nearly all my keywords. I have people from Africa, Europe and USA asking questions. Every time someone comments, it is shared on their Facebook Wall. I want to know if anybody has experienced this besides me? Here's my site if you want to see it in action.
Social Media | | Francisco_Meza0 -
Facebook Page vs. regular website
Thought experiment... All other things being equal (content, inbound links, etc), which will rank better: a Facebook Page or a regular website? Why?
Social Media | | fideaux640