Thinking about trying your chops out by owning your own business? Or maybe you already have an established business and are looking for some social traction. Or maybe you’re an agency, running social marketing for a plethora of local business clients. Regardless of your situation, one thing is for sure in this day and age: it is IMPERATIVE that companies have a Facebook Page! And that page needs to get Facebook likes, of course.

Now the question is, how do you engage the audience and get them to like a company's interesting and entertaining content? How do you increase traffic and gain the attention of the millions of humans?!

How to Get Facebook Likes

Everyone cruises their Facebook, all the time, every day (AHEM…of course never while at work...), but there are also many other innovative ways to encourage people to like a page. Let us look at all of the possibilities!

Invite Family and Friends

Family and friends are supposed to support us in our endeavors, right? Well they can start with liking the business Facebook page you are building/promoting. From there, the network starts to grow with them sharing it with their friends and their families, and so on and so on and so on. Picture your network as a circle in the middle of a page, and each of your personal contacts as another circle around you. Some overlap and fold into each other, like a venn diagram, but what is most exciting is the part of the circle that doesn’t overlap with your circle. By them taking the simple action to like or engage on the Facebook page, people you had no ability to reach before now have the potential to organically see action on the page.

Stretching these networks can have a huge ripple effect. According to Teddy Goff, Digital Director for President Obama’s reelection campaign, nearly 34 million Facebook users who “like” President Obama on the social networking site are friends with 98% of the U.S. Facebook population (epolitics). That means that when their campaign made a post on Facebook, it had the potential to reach almost everyone in the US (everyone who is on Facebook, anyway). Although you may not be able to garner that type of traction, inviting friends and family to like a company Facebook page is a quick and easy win to spread the message of a brand.

If you’re like me, until they like the page, they know they will never hear the end of it! Sometimes in regards to family and friends, persistence is key for perseverance. 😉

Encourage Likes Through Email Signatures

Today’s society is all about email. Besides cell phones and texting, email is one of the standard forms of communication. And really, when was the last time someone asked if they could send you a fax or vice versa? If they did, what would your response be? Admit it, you laughed a little bit. On a day-to-day basis, how many emails do you send? If you have a large number of employees or employees that send a lot of emails, that is free advertising! This is a massive opportunity to passively drive likes or social cues to your domain. This can all be dones with one tiny add-on at the bottom of an email. Of course, skip the arrow.

Let’s be honest, who doesn’t get a case of the curious cat and then want to click on a company’s Facebook link to see what else they might offer?  Who knows what hidden delights you might find!

Get Involved in a Cause

Getting people to like your page is much easier when the company is being associated with doing something “good” for the community, or getting involved in a movement or cause that the person liking your page agrees with.

This is a major reason why charities are a big deal on Facebook. People feel that by “liking” the page, they are indirectly helping charities reach a goal or at least raise some brand and cause awareness. Of course, companies are often more about making money than helping people (though of course,most do both). There is a local spin studio here in Saskatoon that was offering $10 spin classes (half their normal rate) at certain times with all proceeds going to an expensive surgery needed by a local boy. Not only did the studio raise a ton of money for the family in crisis, but people in the community now recognize the brand as generous. And perhaps more importantly, just recognize the brand.

Companies can run similar campaigns and set the cause as “helping (insert company here) to be the #1 liked (insert product here).” For established businesses, customers can feel very passionately about making them the #1 business.  For example:

Offer Something Visitors Want

Who are we kidding, we all want free stuff! This is probably the quickest way to get Facebook page likes to a company page. Don’t deny it, we all know those bright shiny discount sale signs makes us wonder what hidden gem we might find, and all for simply clicking the like button! Whether you are offering free items or discounts, this is a sure fire way to get likes on a page.

Use Facebook To Recruit

If a company is in a position to hire employees, offering jobs and allowing people to apply through the Facebook page is a magnificent way to get people sharing the page through social media. This encourages a business’s followers to share it with friends or family that might be looking for jobs. It also encourages return visits to keep up to date on any job possibilities that might have become available.

Use Business Cards To Your Advantage

You hand them out on a constant basis, why not use them as advertising? This is another easy way to get a few more likes from the people that you interact with. Most business people always carry business cards anyway, so adding social information or share incentives is a quick growth hack. You never know when the opportunity will arise to hand them out, and this is a passive way to increase page likes and social cues to a company’s social domains.

In Person Events

Certain businesses lend themselves better to this, but having an event and promoting it through social media is a great way to let attendees know that they can follow business activities on Facebook. If you provide a reason for the attendees to check out the Facebook page, this can end up with more likes. Consider taking photos or a short video recap at the event—people often look at these photos after the event and tag themselves, along with anyone else that they know.

Word of Mouth

We all have friends, family or other people in our lives saying: “Hey, you really need to go check this place out, it’s AMAZING!” Usually, your reaction is one of excitement and curiosity—well I’m totally gonna have to go check this out. Word of mouth is probably one of the most powerful, influential tools at your fingertips. Get friends and family, and whomever else you might know, to start sharing the greatness of that Facebook page with the world.

Keep Your Page Worth Visiting

Keeping your page relevant, current and entertaining is so important. I cannot stress this enough! Obviously you want to be giving relevant information regarding the business and keeping things up to date on current happenings, but there is room for other knowledge as well. You can use information that is related to the business to help followers stay engaged. For example, say you own a BBQ shop, keeping your followers up to date on sales or business information is great, but what about an interesting BBQ recipe to go along with that BBQ you just sold? Or how about BBQing party ideas? Of course keeping the information relevant to the company is essential.

Humor

Who doesn’t enjoy a good joke? Depending on the type of business and the mere fact that this is a company Facebook page, keep it G rated. Incorporating humor can make a person’s day all that much brighter. It can also keep them coming back to see what else you might have posted; humor can catch their attention. Beyond that, it’s up to you to keep them engaged with your amazingly insightful social media posts.

And the #1 way to get likes on a Facebook page? Well it is simple really. Always, always remind family, friends and fans to like and share.