Increasing Facebook likes is a proven way of elevating and increasing your website's traffic through social media. It is also a great way to build an engaged community of like-minded people who are willing to work with you to discuss, criticize, help improve and spread the word about what you do. If you want to learn how to increase Facebook likes, we've got 15 simple steps.
Increasing your Facebook following isn’t an easy task. It takes time, patience and a lot of effort. But if you pull it off and attract a loyal following, you have a potential audience of a couple of billion people who can buy what you’re selling or spread the word about what you do.
Whether you’re building a wider social media marketing campaign or are concentrating just on Facebook for now, this article has 15 proven ways to attract more Facebook likes.
1. Make a plan
Social media marketing, even for a small business, will not be very effective unless you have a plan. Competition is plentiful enough that you have to direct your every effort into achieving the maximum outcome.
That’s what a Facebook marketing plan will help you achieve.
Your Facebook marketing plan should include:
- Audience analysis
- Competition analysis
- Your goals
That might sound a little complicated but it really isn’t.
Audience analysis
Audience analysis is a key part of any marketing campaign. For you to be able to speak to your audience and engage them you need to know who they are. That means thinking about their average age, the most common social and economic demographic, social status, education level, nationality and so on.
The language you use, the type of content you produce and the specific ways you engage your audience will all be influenced by this analysis. This is why we do this first.
The analysis doesn’t have to be too in-depth. Just consider the average age of the people you want to attract or who would buy the product or service you sell. Consider the type of website they would visit, the type of books or magazines they might read and what type of content they might like the most.
Competition analysis
Competition analysis is another marketing staple. This typically means identifying key competitors and following what they do on their Facebook pages and elsewhere online. You can use some of what you find as inspiration. You can also identify areas where the competition falls short and use that to your own advantage.
Don’t just copy what your competitors do on their own Facebook pages otherwise you will get lost in the noise, but do look at their Facebook page. You will also be competing directly with their Facebook pages, which isn’t the most effective move for the early stages.
Take what your competitors do well and put your own unique spin on things. Make everything you do original and true to your own ideals and you won’t go far wrong. You should also take ideas from the Facebook page of brands that are doing great things.
Your goals
Goal setting is crucial. Are you just after Facebook Likes or do you want more from your audience? We sure hope you do.
To be honest, just acquiring likes won’t get you anywhere. We all did the numbers game when Facebook first launched. We held competitions to see who could acquire the highest number of Facebook friends. Where did it get us? Nowhere. The numbers game is largely pointless so don’t waste your time.
What you want from Facebook is likes from engaged people. Those with an active interest in what you do or what you sell. It is these that will convert into loyal followers and hopefully, customers.
Always remember that as soon as you get engagement from somebody who is not a follower, Invite to Like your page, through Facebook's built-in Invite function. This is the definitive method that you need to use on each of the below strategies to boost Facebook likes.
You would be better off setting a goal of 500 Facebook likes from engaged Facebook followers rather than 50,000 disengaged ones!
Sample goals include:
- Gaining 100 Facebook followers every day for 3 months.
- Gaining 500 Facebook followers every day for 3 months.
- Delivering 5 pieces of content that get at least 5/10/15 Facebook likes each week.
- Invite every user to Like your page within 24 hours of engagement with the Facebook page.
You get the idea. Start small but always push the boundaries. You can scale up your goals as you grow. Push yourself but make sure the goals you set are realistic and achievable.
2. Put together a content schedule
Now you have an idea of who you’re talking to, what competitors you’re trying to get the better of and what you want your content to achieve, we need to set up a content schedule.
Again, it’s a formal term for a fairly straightforward process.
It just means deciding how often you’re going to be able to post genuinely useful content onto Facebook to help attract those Facebook likes. It should also direct the type of content you post.
Try to produce content on a schedule and stick to that schedule. People are creatures of habit. Once they get used to seeing your Facebook posts on a particular day, they will expect it on that day.
Keep them happy and they will keep coming back and engaging with you. If you use common themes such as Freaky Friday's, or Throwback Thursdays, or whatever else you want to name your themes so much the better because people will start looking forward and expecting your themed content.
Explore optimum post times to your content schedule. Believe it or not, there are specific times that create the best engagement on Facebook. Currently, that is supposed to be 12–3 p.m. on weekdays and 12–1 p.m. on weekends. Different social networks and industries vary slightly, and your audience might respond better at certain times, so this is well worth exploring.
The ideal would be a balance of written content along with images and videos. You should also add Facebook Live events, whenever anything relevant happens that you can create a good story out of.
To begin with, we would suggest posting what you’re most comfortable posting.
You can build up to other content types as you go. If you’re comfortable taking pictures and they work for your audience, use images. If you’re a good videographer and video would engage your target audience, use that. Facebook Live is always a great way too, even short Facebook stories.
If your users are more readers than watchers, stick to written content.
3. Plan to spend at least 20-30 minutes per day on Facebook
We said at the beginning that attracting Facebook followers is about engagement. That engagement is a two-way street. If you want people to engage, you have to make time to engage with them directly from your Facebook page.
That means putting aside time every day when you can to chat, answer questions, discuss, question and generally chat with your audience. It may only take a few minutes to begin with but you should plan to eventually need longer to engage with everyone you can.
Reply to comments wherever appropriate, answer questions, offer help and advice and engage as much as possible with those who follow you.
4. Remember this is business
Facebook has two distinct sides. One side is the public side where you watch and post cat videos and engage in banter. The other is the business side. You have to always bear in mind that you are in business and act accordingly.
That means not engaging in flame wars or feeding the many trolls you will come across. It means always being the professional and taking the moral high ground. Don’t engage with haters, don’t fight back and don’t do anything to bring your brand into disrepute.
To be honest, this is probably the most difficult thing we are going to ask you to do, but also one of the most important. People will not engage with business owners who don’t act professionally or with authority.
5. Make sure your Facebook Page is complete
Before you begin creating great content and try to get more likes, first make sure your Facebook page is as good as it can be.
Ensure all parts of the Facebook page profile are completed, your business hours are there, your privacy page is linked, your phone number and website URL have been completed and that followers have access to all the information they need.
Also, think about the About part of the Facebook page. Build a picture of your business. Add a short story, complete the description, add the correct categories, service area, products, and every relevant entry.
Now the core of your Facebook page marketing effort is in place, let’s get on to some of the other tips that can generate Facebook likes.
"Photos get 53% more likes, 104% more comments and 84% more click-throughs on links than text-based Facebook posts." KissMetrics
6. Create great content
This is the most important rule of any marketing campaign not only if you want to get more likes. It may sound obvious, but unless you get this right your Facebook likes will be few and far between!
Every piece of content you produce should satisfy a need, whether it's a need to read the news, be entertained, fix a problem or whatever else. Unless you are providing genuine value, it is unlikely that users will come back or want to follow your Facebook page.
It doesn’t matter what type of content you are producing, it should always have this at its heart. Know who your audience is, design content to appeal, address their needs and deliver on value. It’s a winning combination!
Once you’re confident, produce a range of content across all mediums, written, video, Facebook Like and images. The more variety and originality you can offer, the better.
7. Create a prominent Facebook Like box
Create a Facebook Like box on your website as early as you can. That way you can leverage your blog or web traffic to create more Facebook followers and get more likes.
Creating a Facebook like box is fairly straightforward.
Whatever CMS, whether it's Joomla, WordPress or another platform which you are using, it is easy to create one for your Facebook page. Most CMS will have plugins that can make this as simple as possible. Select a popular plugin, add it to your site, add your Facebook Page details and publish it.
Or you could visit this page on Facebook and create one that way. Customize the parameters to suit your Facebook page, press the "Get Code" button, and then embed the code into your preferred space on your website.
Ensure that the placement of the Facebook Like box is not hidden at the bottom of the page. You want it to be prominent but not get in the way. Remind people they can Like your page but not nag them into doing it. This is a delicate balance but it can be done.
8. Create a Facebook Like popup on your website
People either love or hate popups. Before you add one to your site, consider the target audience. If they are likely to be okay with popups, use them. If you think they will likely dislike them, don’t use them.
If you do use them, you can promote your Facebook page by embedding a Facebook Like popup. You can usually configure it to appear a few seconds after your user first does something on your website or immediately as they land on it.
If you use a CMS like WordPress or Joomla, there are lots of plugins that help you create popups. If you are a WordPress user we've got you covered with our WordPress Facebook Like Box Popup Plugin.
Read More: How to Add Facebook Pixel to WordPress
9. Drive your mailing list users towards your Facebook Page
If you are serious about increasing website traffic, you know you should be also building a mailing list. The mailing list can be a very powerful marketing tool and can also be leveraged to create Facebook Likes as well as targeted interest in your products or services.
Use the mailing list with care though. Don’t spam subscribers every week with an email telling them to visit your Facebook page. Target specific evergreen content or particular content you think offers something genuinely valuable.
If people join your mailing list, they are already interested in what you do. Asking them to engage further isn’t too much of an ask, especially if you do it sparingly. It’s a quick way to gain more targeted Facebook followers with a degree of pre-existing engagement.
10. Encourage current Facebook fans to share and engage
Leveraging the followers you already have makes perfect sense.
However, you have to be as measured here as when using your mailing list. Asking too many people too often smacks of desperation and will put off your followers. Encourage, don’t ask and only do it occasionally.
If every single Facebook fan gets a new fan, then that will double the number of your fans. Encourage them often to invite more users, or share the Facebook page to their pages.
A personal recommendation and seeing users liking a page will automatically attract more Facebook likes and followers. Remember a call to action to share often results in users doing that.
Simple messages like, “Please help us spread awareness of this important message by sharing this post” can encourage your existing fans to share by appealing to their generosity.
11. Add your Facebook Page to all marketing material
A quick and easy way to spread the word about your Facebook Page is to add it to all your marketing material. Add it to
- your business card,
- your email signature,
- your invoices,
- PPC Facebook ads,
- blog posts,
- forum signatures
- and anything you use in a business capacity.
It’s a very simple thing to do but can reach an audience other marketing methods cannot reach. A simple Facebook URL on your email signature offers the chance for everyone you have contact with to follow you. All done in an indirect and unobtrusive way.
12. Hold competitions
Competitions are powerful inducers of action. They appeal to people’s competitive nature, offer entertainment, engagement, the ability to learn something or show off knowledge. Competitions have a wide appeal and while not universal, it is wide enough to make them worth using.
Ideas for effective competitions include product or service naming, spotting your product in strange places, general trivia (especially if linked to your brand), photo competitions with customers holding your product, puzzles, guess the item, follow the clue and so on.
There are some rules on Facebook competitions. Make sure to follow them to avoid any negative repercussions.
13. Giveaways
Definitely one of the most effective ways to increase Facebook likes is to give something for free in return for a Like.
If you are a business, this should be something quite easy to pull off. Take one of your products, or create a voucher or a competition and to be part of the competition you simply request people to Follow the Facebook page. This will attract many Facebook Likes, Shares, and Followers.
Be careful though.
Officially, you aren’t allowed to directly ask for Facebook Likes or follows. However, lots of brands pull it off by asking indirectly or phrasing it in such a way that the Like is incidental rather than the main requirement.
The same rules that apply for competitions also apply for giveaways.
14. Partner with other brands
Facebook is all about sharing so why not lead the way by sharing other brand’s content in return for them doing the same? Make sure that the brand isn’t a direct competitor but is somehow relevant to what you do and work together to help boost each other’s followers.
For example, if you’re a web designer, you could partner with a photographer or graphic designer to promote each other, and you'll both increase your own Facebook Likes. Each is relevant to the other without being a direct competitor.
15. Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads can be extremely well targeted to the audience you’re trying to attract. They do cost money which is why we have put this last. You could use PPC Facebook ads, Boost a post or combine competitions and Facebook ads with polls or carousels. Use whatever format works best for your audience.
The Facebook advertising platform (accessed through the Business Manager or Business Page) has matured massively over the past couple of years and offers genuinely interesting advert types you can use. Facebook advertising is a huge subject and this page over at Hootsuite goes into a lot more detail on the subject.
Sponsored posts, ads or other paid actions through your Business page show that you are a legitimate business. Keep track of your spend and set your budgets and you should do great.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best type of content for Facebook?
The best type of content to get good organic reach is definitely video or Facebook Live. Facebook's algorithms tend to push video more than static content organically so give the platform what it is asking for. The more engaging, fun and/or emotional the content, the better. Find a way to tell a good story.
What type of images work best on Facebook?
In general, the types of images that work best of Facebook are those that feature human faces, because people are attracted to other people's faces, especially if they are smiling.
Can I run Like and Tag competitions?
Yes, you can run Like and Tag competitions but in general, these tend to be suppressed by the algorithm and you tend to follow Facebook's guidelines to make sure you don't fall foul of any of them.
Should I schedule the same content several times?
Yes, it is ok to schedule the same content several times, but be careful of alienating your audience. It would be best to share it a couple of times when a new piece of content is launched and then share it less often as time goes by. You could then schedule your best content in a few month's time as #throwback so that new fans get to see your best (older) content too.
How can I schedule content?
By default, Facebook allows you to schedule content, but there are many platforms out there that allow you to schedule your social media posts periodically, pulling content from your website as necessary too. Most of these are paid services, though some of them have limited trials. Buffer is a popular tool you can use that has a free plan which allows up to 10 scheduled social media or Facebook posts.
Conclusion: How to Increase Facebook Likes
As you can see, there are lots of ways you can attract Facebook followers and get those Facebook likes. As long as you plan, consider your audience and target all content you produce to that audience, you should gradually gain Facebook Likes.
The speed at which you attract them depends entirely on how much time and effort you can dedicate to doing it!
Remember, social networking is just that. Social, meaning you have to get out there and talk to people. Networking, meaning a two-way conversation with engagement in every direction. Only by engaging with your audience can you keep them and hopefully convert them into paying customers!
Please leave a useful comment with your thoughts, then share this on your Facebook group(s) who would find this useful and let's reap the benefits together. Thank you for sharing and being nice!
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