Facebook Fan Bases on a Limited Budget

We all know that effective Facebook marketing requires a continually growing fan base for our business page. One way to do that is to buy lots of Facebook ads. Unfortunately, not everyone has deep enough pockets to shell out the kind of money necessary for an effective ad campaign. If that describes you, the following 3 ideas can help you grow your fan base.

Cross-promote with other pages

An obvious prerequisite to getting new fans of your business page is to attract new visitors to it. And a great way to attract new visitors is to have someone recommend your page. Cross-promoting is a great way to do that.

Cross-promotion is a marketing tactic where customers of one product or service are targeted with promotion of a related product. In the context of growing your Facebook fan base, it’s promoting your business page to the fans of a business that’s complementary to yours. For example, let’s say your company sells swimwear. A good cross-promotion partner might be a company that provides swimming pool maintenance services.

To make this work well, search Facebook for 30 or more pages for products or services that are complementary to yours, and have roughly the same number of fans as yours. Create a simple spreadsheet to list and track them. Once you have a large enough list, reach out to each business with a brief Facebook message. Tell them a little about your business, how many fans and page likes you have, etc. Then offer to mention their Facebook page to your fans in exchange for them mentioning your page to their fans. Once you reach agreement on the details, simply share your cross-promotional posts and track the results.

Share curated content with other pages

Curation is a great way to come up with content for your own business page, but have you ever considered sharing that content with others? The idea is simple. Again, do a search for some successful business pages of companies that sell products or services that are complementary – five or so will do. Then send each one a Facebook message similar to the one described above. This time you’ll offer to curate content for them once per week in exchange for credit, including a link to your business page, at the end of each post you curated for them.

Remember, in both preceding ideas, only reach out to businesses that are complementary, not competitive. No direct competitor will allow you to use their Facebook page to promote yourself, and you wouldn’t want to help promote them either.

Host interactive events on Facebook

We’ve all heard of webinars and other interactive online events. But these usually require special software and hosting tools that cost money. While services like GoToMeeting are terrific, not everyone has the $24 to $49 per month to use them. But, since Facebook introduced the ‘Reply’ (to comments) option, interactive events became accessible to anyone who has a Facebook page.

To put on, say, a webinar type event, start by creating a Facebook event. Events are easier to promote because it’s more natural for Facebook users to share and invite friends to an event they find interesting. In addition, Facebook events also have their own page, which is the medium you’ll use to actually host your webinar.

Here’s how to conduct your webinar:

At the scheduled start of the actual event, post a pre-produced video presentation of the information you wish to share. This could be an on-camera presentation given by someone in your company or a guest expert on the topic being covered. Another option is a video slide show with a voice-over. When you upload the video, include a comment instructing ‘attendees’ to watch the video, then wait for you to open it up for questions (they may have to refresh their screen to see your status update opening it up for questions). A minute or so after the scheduled start time, run the video yourself so you’ll know when it’s time to open it up for questions.

Hosting events on Facebook is a great way to generate interest in your page and, in turn, increase your fan base.

An important element of success in these and other tactics you might employ to increase your fan base is ‘patience’. In other words, don’t expect these ideas to bear fruit overnight. But by consistently applying these tactics, your fan base will grow.

We encourage you to check back with our blog often for more ideas on marketing your business online. For help with your website design, marketing, SEO, or ecommerce needs, contact us online, or call 855-374-2855.