Image courtesy of Mister GC at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Here’s a question about Facebook ‘page likes’ that I have been asked about that actually is a common question.
‘I’ve set up a Facebook Page for my business and I ran an ad which resulted in 37 new page likes which I was really pleased about given that it was my first try. I then messaged them directly to see if they would be interested in finding out more about me and my business, but I’m assuming because I’m not friends with them they’re not getting my messages as I’ve had no replies. What should I do?’
Getting ‘page likes’ seems like a good idea to get new customers and generate sales, so in my article I’m going to talk about the best practice way of turning a ‘page like’ into a customer.
Let’s get back to basics.
Imagine you’re walking down a street full of shops. Something in a shop window catches your eye and you walk over to have a proper look. You’ve hardly had time to look properly at the thing that initially caught you eye and the shop keeper jumps out at you as if from nowhere and starts telling you about the features and benefits and pressurising you to come into the shop and see what else he has.
How do you feel?
Do you feel warm to their direct approach?
Or do you feel defensive and want to run away as quickly as possible – ‘stuff what it was in the window that caught you eye…. I was only curious and not ready to be accosted by the shop keeper!’
My guess is most people would default to the second answer.
Piqued interest doesn’t mean a sale (yet)
Getting a Facebook ‘page like’ is much the same. Something about your post or ad piqued their interest. Much like the something interesting that caught your eye in the shop window, so you walk over to get a closer look. In Facebook, ‘liking’ a page is the equivalent.
The new ‘page liker’ is interested in seeing more from you, but they’re not necessarily ready to have a conversation or respond to direct contact or be ‘sold’ to. Let them browse around your shop and get a feel for what you have on offer. They’re still looking through the window on the pavement side of your shop.
In Facebook world, this means posting stuff that’s useful, interesting and related so they get a feel for who you are and what you stand for. So don’t fill your news feed with sales type posts. That’s just like walking down a street where you get accosted by shop keepers trying to get you into their shops when all you wanted to do was have a stroll down the street. Horrible, isn’t it? You need a good balance of useful, interesting and related posts with a smattering of sales type posts.
Know, like and trust
So you can see, getting a ‘page like’ is the start of the getting to know like and trust you in the whole sales process. Social media is just that. Social. It’s about initiating dialogue that builds know, like and trust that you can then take off social media and build further so that when they are ready for your products and services, they think of you.
Getting a Facebook Page ‘like’ is the start of that process. Social media is just one component needed to turn ‘likes’ into customers. Your aim is to use social media as a channel to feed into your funnel (or mailing list – a topic of its own!) where you have control over what they see online and it ‘s not left up to complicated algorithms that are programmed to not be in your favour.
Such a great article Vee, makes perfect sense and it’s exactly the mistake I made after my 1st Facebook advert! Never again! Thank you..