Facebook marketing is becoming a more and more vital component of any marketing plan. People go to Facebook to find out more about a business before they get involved. Unfortunately, it’s also become more and more difficult to get traction on Facebook without paid advertising. So knowing how to approach Facebook Marketing effectively is crucial, and the key is how to get more likes and social proof.

Why Likes and social proof? Likes are part of social proof, and when people look you up on Facebook, you won’t be taken seriously unless you have a significant number of likes. But how do you get them? There are 3 key steps:

Facebook marketing starts with great content

Before people will like your business page, you have to give them reason to like it. And that means that you have to have an engaging page, with informative, interesting and likable posts. No Like campaign is going to do much good when people arrive on your page, only to see one promotion after the other, or, worse, nothing at all.

Even if you can get them to like you at first, your visitors may end up “unliking” you once they see there’s not much there. You definitely don’t want that to happen!

How often should you publish posts? At LEAST once a day, but preferably more often. And only about a quarter of them should be in any way self-promotional.

So what else should you publish? It is essential that you know your intended audience very well and post information and other more light-hearted or inspirational posts that will appeal to them. They should either find them helpful, interesting, or, well, likable. The posts should also inspire them to take action, whether that’s liking your post, clicking through to your site, or leaving a comment and engaging in a conversation.

To make that happen, you will probably need to place some ads to attract viewers to your page. However, since it’s most effective to get people to interact with your page who like it already, let’s move on to the second step: the “Like” campaign.

How to get more Likes

Some people will like your page just because they, well, like it. But if you want to get a truly respectable number of “likes,” you need to run paid ads. Fortunately, Facebook has provided a special type of ads that is perfect to get you likes. You just have to know how to use them to be successful.

It is important to understand that “Like” ads are targeted to your preferred target audience and NOT to people who already are part of your community. Their sole function is to expand the number of people who are aware of you and like your page.

Usually, it takes a while to get those “like” campaigns going. The first few “likes” are slow to come in. But once you get a good number, you can figure out which versions of your ads work better. Facebook Then eliminate those that don’t work well and replace them with ads that you hope will work better.

After a while, they will gain momentum and your Likes will increase. Eventually though, as soon as after a few days, the ads become less effective, and you have to start over with new ads.

How to build more social proof

Once you have a good number of Likes, you can start with the next step: boosting your posts. Publish posts that will inspire some comments and reaction from your audience and then boost them, targeting people who already Like your page. Oh, and their friends! And those friends can increase your audience exponentially. Then again, those who like you already will be the most likely to respond well to your ads and get involved.

That’s why it’s so important to accumulate a good number of Likes because that will increase the audience for your ads. And as you keep boosting your posts and accumulate more post likes and comments, your social proof continues to grow. At that point, you’ll find that your fans will be more and more receptive to invitations to visit your blog, sign up for your mailing list, respond to offers and become your customers.

And that’s what’s ultimately your goal. You want to build an audience that knows, likes, and trusts you, and will do business with you.

So how do you get started? You can do it yourself if you have the time and patience, or…

I’ve recently added Facebook Marketing to my services, on a limited basis, and am looking to work with a few select clients to help them build up their Facebook page and their fan base.

If you’re interested, please CLICK HERE and send me an email with the subject line “Facebook Marketing” – preferably with your phone number – and I’ll get back to you shortly.

I’ll provide a free 20-minute consultation to discuss next steps, or a paid 60-minute consultation where we can discuss the details of what you might need to generate an effective campaign.

I look forward to speaking with you soon!