I "liked" you..now what?

A question I hear often from business owners, “how do I get more people to like me?” (on Facebook, that is!).

I then turn around and ask them, “Why do you want them to like you?”

Because…

• you’ve been told there are over 500 million people on Facebook and that your customers and potentials are probably hanging out there
• you were told it’s a great way to connect with people, engage, share
• you can build your online presence
• you can get people to buy your products and services

Ok, those are good reasons..but what happens after someone likes you? Moreover, why should they like you?

Sure, people are spending lots of time on Facebook but does that necessarily mean they want to “like” your design/yoga/fitness/shop page.

You have to give them a reason to like you

People will gravitate towards big brands because they are popular and well known but if you are a smaller, lesser known brand you are probably looking at building an engaged community who subscribe to your ideas. And to whom you are not just broadcasting your ideas but rather connecting and sharing with.

Amongst the pages I visit regularly and interact with, I see a common thread. The ones that are run by small business owners or solopreneurs really focus on building a community. They are not just looking for “likes” and members for numbers sake but really to have people participate and join in discussions.

How do they do that?

• They strike up conversations
• They share what they are doing-projects, goals, challenges, achievements
• They find interesting content to share such as videos, blogs, news articles, even jokes!  (and not only their own content)
• They promote members in their community
• They relate to people

Essentially, the pages with high-levels of engagement feel like you are really dealing with a human. They are not just broadcasting and pitching products but rather engaging on a human level, building trust and providing value. Such that when eventually it does come time to sell a product it doesn’t sound forced but a natural extension of the relationship.

The real effort comes after

Putting up a Facebook page is almost effortless-the real works comes after. And like I’ve told people when they frustratingly say-“I’ve invited 200 of my friends to like my page and only 5 responded”, that chances are your friends aren’t the ones you are targeting (as much as they like you) and not everyone wants to be your facebook fan and that is ok.

If it’s not obvious yet…getting fans/likes/followers is no different from building relationships and making friends in “real” life.

Like mom always said, “Be nice and share”. And, interesting, maybe a little funny too 😉