I decided to jump into Facebook in full force and increase my follower count. And guess what: my most successful online store grew to 54,000 Facebook followers. On top of the assurance that my team and I were nailing it – not to mention the huge ego boost – all those likes served another powerful purpose. They allowed us to build an engaged community of people who loved our niche and, more importantly, our products. Which fueled the beautiful cycle that led to more sales. But enough about me. How can you make this happen for your own store? I’m going to break down the tried and true tactics that have helped me, master, how to get followers on Facebook, and how to increase Facebook likes.
How to Get Facebook Followers
From Facebook ads for beginners to influencer marketing, there are a number of ways to get Facebook followers for your business. Here are 18 ways that I found useful:
1. Run Facebook Ads
If you’re trying to figure out how to get Facebook followers, the most obvious solution is Facebook ads. You can run “Engagement” ads, which help you increase the visibility of your brand on Facebook. Although, to be frank, any ad you create will likely bring an increase in followers, even “Conversion” ads.
If Facebook users like the ad content, they’ll likely engage with the post and potentially like or follow your Facebook page. So, if your main goal is to get store sales, you can run a conversion ad and still increase Facebook likes to your page. To learn more about Facebook advertising, check out this Facebook ads questions video.
2. Invite People to Like Your Page
The easiest way to increase Facebook followers is by inviting people to like your page. The lowest-hanging fruit here is to invite your friends and family Once you start running ads for your store, Facebook will occasionally send you notifications asking you to invite people to like your page.
I found that typically if I ran engagement ads, I’d get a higher number of people that I could invite to like the page. However, even though I manually invited people, I eventually got temporarily blocked by Facebook. So you need to pace the number of people you invite at a time. Also, if you do get temporarily blocked, Facebook might still send notifications telling you to invite people. But you still won’t be able to invite anyone. Wait a day or two before trying to invite more people. You can also invite friends and family to like your page. However, keep in mind that it’s better to have a small, targeted audience than to have a big, broad one, as it could limit the effectiveness of your future ads.
3. Host a Giveaway
Giveaways are a great way to increase Facebook likes. You can host a giveaway on your website using a tool like Rafflecopter. Share your giveaway to niche Facebook groups or forums, giveaway websites, and of course on your Facebook page. By making one of the ways to enter “visit Facebook page”, you’ll be more likely to increase the number of Facebook followers you have.
Below is an example of a giveaway that CatLadyBox shared on their Facebook page. They used emojis to draw emphasis on the giveaway keyword. Since they shared it on their own page, it’s likely their Facebook followers will see it. They may share the giveaway post with their friends, which can also help increase Facebook followers. Once you have it all set up, don’t limit yourself to Facebook. Share this baby on every social and marketing channel you have
4. Create Viral Content
On my most popular store’s Facebook page, I’d share memes, funny videos, and relatable quotes. People would tag their friends in the post, which usually helps increase social media engagement but also helped increase social reach. Chubbies is another online retailer who creates viral-type content. They regularly create funny content using their products. In this video, they promote their shorts with a silly video about the problems that pants give people.
Since the scenarios are pretty dramatized, it results in funny content which helps boost social shares. About 290 liked the video and 128 people shared it. If you don’t have the artistic chops to create your own viral content, you can always share viral niche content with your audience. But be sure to always give credit to the creator.
5. Add a Facebook Likes Pop-Up
Some online stores ask for emails upon exit intent. However, if your main objective is to increase Facebook likes instead of subscribers, you can create a Facebook like pop-up instead. OptinMonster is a popular pop-up tool that allows you to gain new leads, and can be repurposed to fuel Facebook likes, as well.
You can also choose to set a timer so that after a person has been on your website for a certain number of seconds, the pop-up appears. Avoid adding too many pop-ups to your website, as they can be overwhelming on mobile devices and cause people to exit faster. So if you add a Facebook like pop-up to your website, make sure it’s the only one.
6. Post Attention Grabbing Content
If you’re trying to determine how to get Facebook likes, you might want to make sure your content stands out in feeds. Now, you’ll need to have an audience following you already for this to work. But let’s take a quick look at Taco Bell’s gif post which got 2.5k Facebook likes in two hours and has had 549 shares in that same period.
The gif changes the background color of the post in a diagonal shape to capture your attention switching back and forth every couple of seconds. While scrolling through the feed, your eyes catch it which makes you more likely to notice it and engage. Posting such content helps you get Facebook followers because of its uniqueness and appeal.
7. Try Out Facebook Live
Some of the most viral videos have been Facebook Live videos. If you’re building a niche store, your Facebook Live might be more about general niche tips. However, if you’ve just added new items to your store and have ordered samples, you can offer a first look at the products on Facebook Live.
You can increase Facebook followers by telling your customers and followers that you do a livestream every Tuesday, for example. All Facebook Live videos get shown on the Facebook Live Map, so the more viewers on your livestream the higher you’ll show up on the feed. Boom. More Facebook likes.
8. Get Tagged by Other Facebook Pages
Getting organic shoutouts from bigger Facebook pages can help you get more Facebook followers. To get a shout out, look for brands who regularly feature their customers or other non-competing businesses on social media sites.
Then pick the brands that have a similar audience to you or one that’s at least somewhat related. For instance, if you sell watches, you might post a picture with your watch with another brand’s sunglasses, tagging the brand in the picture. This could coax them into sharing your post with their audience. Here’s an example of Samsung sharing a picture taken on their phone that a customer posted on their Facebook page.
9. Partner with an Influencer
If you want to know how to get Facebook followers, the secret sometimes lies in influencer partnerships. The best influencers I’ve ever partnered with weren’t really influencers at all. In fact, most of them were niche fan pages. You know, those pages for a niche that just share cool products or cool articles about a niche. They’re all over Facebook. And they usually amass really big audiences. And they’re usually cheaper than an influencer.
That strategy works well if you’re on a super tight budget. But if you want to partner with an actual influencer, you can find influencers in your niche as well. The easiest way to do that is to look up “[niche] blogger” in Google. You might look up fashion bloggers, for example. Then you look through their fan pages and reach out to them to find out their rates. If potential influencers are up for collaborating, you’ll send them a sample product to model. When they share the post on Facebook, ask them to tag your Facebook page in the post. That way, people who are interested in your product will be more likely to follow you
10. Add a Facebook Like Widget
If you want to increase Facebook likes, the easiest way to do that on your ecommerce website is to add a Facebook Like Widget by Widgetic. The free Shopify app adds a like icon to certain pages of your store, such as product pages.
It can also show shoppers who else likes your page to give you a bit of social proof to get more Facebook followers. If you’re just starting to figure out how to increase followers on Facebook, this free tool keeps growing a Facebook following simple for you.