Do you want to grow your Facebook audience?
If you want to reach a portion of the billions of users around the world on Facebook, one of the first steps is to encourage them to like your Facebook page.
There is some debate about the value of Facebook audiences.
According to research by We Are Social, pages with fewer than 10,000 fans can expect up to 0.29% engagement with their page posts. Larger pages with more than 100,000 fans can expect up to 0.05% engagement.
The number of fans you have can affect a consumer’s perception of your business.
For example, what if your business has just over 100 fans and a competitor has just over 1,000 fans. A consumer comparing your companies may assume your competitor is more popular and thus, better.
In this article, you will find a specific way to drive more fans to your Facebook page without paying for Facebook Ads.
Facebook’s Invite To Follow Feature
As with most features, you may find this option on your Facebook page based on your page’s category and current audience size.
To see if this feature is available to your Facebook page, visit your page while logged in your personal profile.
Click on the three dots under your page’s cover photo and then click on the Invite to follow link.
Screenshot by Author, December 2021On some pages, you may also see a blue Invite Friends button under the heading to Build Your Page Audience.
When you click on the Invite Friends button or Invite to follow link, select friends that you think would be interested in your page. There is a limit to the number of invitations you can send per day. Facebook states:
“To protect against spam, we limit the number of invites you can send daily. Invite up to 200 friends now, then come back tomorrow to send more.”
Once you’ve hit your limit, Facebook will tell you as much. Check back in a day or two to see if you can start inviting more people who have engaged with your posts.
You can also find the Invite option in the Facebook app. Go to your page while signed in to your personal account. Tap on the three dots and choose the Invite to Follow option.
Limitations Of The New Button
As mentioned, there is a limit to the number of invitations you can send per day.
If you hit your daily limit, Facebook will notify you. You will then have to wait a day or two before you can start sending out new invitations.
The Results?
The results of this approach depend on the people you are connected with on your personal Facebook account.
Will your friends be interested in your page just because of its content and like it? Or will they like it simply because you are acquaintances on Facebook?
In either circumstance, you are more likely to get a like from a friend via this method compared to inviting a complete stranger unfamiliar with you or your business.
The idea behind the button is to allow Facebook users to connect with pages they like using a word-of-mouth invitation option.
The alternative is to invest in a Facebook Ads campaign in an effort to build your Facebook audience by promoting your page’s content.
More Tips To Increase Facebook Likes
In addition to using the Invite button, here are additional ways you can grow your Facebook Page likes.
Ask And Answer Questions
People come to social media to engage with others. A great way to engage with your audience is to ask questions.
You can find inspiration for the best questions to ask on sites like Answer the Public and Quora.
In addition to asking your audience questions, search for questions asked on Facebook. Start by joining groups in your industry as your Facebook Page.
On your desktop browser, go to Facebook and switch accounts to use your Page.
Screenshot by Author, December 2021Once you are signed in as your Page, go to Groups and search for groups in your industry. It will show the groups you can join with your Page in the results.
After you join some groups, look at their engagement potential. If there are lots of posts with comments, monitor new posts for questions you can answer as your Page.
Create A Group
In October 2020, Facebook shared data that showed 1.8 billion people use Facebook Groups. To capitalize on this, create a Group using your Page.
Once you are signed in as your Facebook Page, go to Groups and create a group. It should show your Page as the admin and first member as opposed to your personal profile.
After you have configured your Group settings, you can invite users who have liked your Page to your Group.
Be sure to have a few engagement-ready posts published in the group to help get new members talking and eventually invite their friends to join (based on your group settings).
That’s where you can get your new Page likes!
Screenshot by Author, December 2021Use Video
As shown in a slide from the We Are Social research mentioned earlier, the engagement rate on Facebook Page video posts is 0.09%, which is higher than the overall engagement rate of posts.
Hence, you should look for ways to incorporate video into your Facebook marketing.
The more people you reach with your videos, the more new likes you have the potential to gain.
Popular videos on the Facebook app’s video tab have a Follow link next to the name of the Page that posted it.
Screenshot by Author, November 2021Share Humanizing Content
If you really want to connect with audiences, start sharing content that focuses on the people your business touches.
Don’t just post about products and services if you want people to share your Facebook posts with their connections.
Screenshot by Author, November 2021The more shares you receive for your content, the more potential new followers you will reach and likes you will gain for your Page.
Report Industry News
Become the source people can trust for the latest industry news. If you can be the first to report on breaking news, people will be more likely to share your Page posts with their networks.
This increases your Page’s reach and ability to get likes.
Is It Worth It To Buy Facebook Likes?
Although this article focuses on free methods of attracting Facebook likes, we wanted to address one of the top questions asked about growing a social media presence.
In short, it’s not always a good idea to buy likes.
Here’s why.
When you buy followers and likes for your Page, you’re not going to have fans that are genuinely interested in your business. They will provide little to no engagement with your content.
Facebook may interpret this as a Page that doesn’t create content that sparks the interest of its large volume of fans. Hence, it won’t have the reach of a post that has generated likes, comments, and shares.
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