Social Media Marketing: 7 Creative Tips on How to Increase Followers on Facebook

It’s rather difficult if not impossible for an eCommerce company to survive without Facebook marketing in 2020. 87% of eCommerce shoppers have stated social media helps them make a shopping decision.

That being said, competition for Facebook timeline exposure is fierce, especially among emerging businesses. We’ve compiled a list of creative marketing strategies for you to get ahead of the social media game and take your online store to the next level. That level being an organic increase of Facebook followers and likes for your page, which sequentially will translate into more sales for products or services you offer.

You can’t trick the Facebook algorithm or disregard it, but you can use it to your benefit. Since it isn’t based on chronology at all anymore, you, as a page owner, need to figure out a way for Facebook to recognize your efforts and put you higher above other posts out there. If your goal is to reach more people throughout the Facebook universe and with that—get more followers and likes for your page, pay close attention! Because this is how you do it.

Why do people become Facebook page followers?

These are the things that drive users to engage on Facebook, and it’s important to keep them in mind, regardless of your strategy:

• Great content;
• Products they like and/or need;
• Attractive brand;
• Friends follow this;
• Relevant and relatable stuff;
• Special offers;
• Personal preferences and reasons, however:

it all boils down to delivering the right content at the right time in the right way.

Next, you’ll find 7 concrete tips and examples that will help you improve your Facebook activity strategies to reach more possible page followers and, in turn, customers.

1. Engage with current followers

Not to be dramatic, but if you won’t engage with your followers, your page will die. We all know how impersonal and cold some eCommerce businesses may seem if they haven’t tried to build a connection with their followers. Meaningful interactions are the basis of successful Facebook marketing today.

It’s been proven that reactions under your posts serve as the main indicator of how well your posts are performing amongst the following that you already have. The better they are – the higher you’ll rank and the more new people will see your content.

User experience on your social media page is a top priority, especially at the very beginning of building your Facebook following. Sharing is caring. Indeed, even Facebook sharing. But shares are not the main thing you need to strive for on your business page. You don’t even need to get shared (although it will come naturally and is not something to be ignored) – the engagement of your fans will do the sharing by letting the Facebook algorithm know that your post is interesting and hence lead to higher ranking on timelines. The bigger the engagement you get on posts now, the more likely it is that the future posts will get more reach.

This means you should focus primarily on posts with some kind of value for users, not self-promotion and making sales. Create posts that benefit your fans—inspiring, entertaining or informative and helpful content, somewhat related to your brand, but mainly to communicate with your core audience. No call of action or links to your webpage, but rather discussions, relationship building in the comment section and genuine communication. Something people will recognize and will be eager to respond to.

This way you will build yourself a group of loyal fans who feel close to your company and involved in everything you do. They will essentially become your kickstarters and want to participate in the future and help you grow a bigger following. And only then—post promotional content, continuing to engage.

How to do it right

Creators of mobile app ASICS Runkeeper show a perfect example on how to use inspiring to-the-point quotes that are not obnoxious, start a conversation and also allow them to individually respond to their current followers.

TIP #1 summary

By engaging with your current followers in the form of valuable content individually for them and not pushing hardcore self-promotion, you create a group of fans that later become the ones who continue to react and send your posts more out there. Widely commented posts also create an inviting atmosphere, which makes outsiders coming to your page want to follow and participate.

2. Understand your target audience

This tip goes hand in hand with the previous one. To be a successful Facebook communicator, you need to make sure you know what works best for your followers and deliver exactly that. It is not just about creating content that has value, but knowing what will be valuable specifically for your fans.

You can easily access this information by navigating to the Insights section of your Facebook page. There you will find all the data on your post performance and what your audience responds best to in comparison to less popular posts.

Analyze the data and think of factors that might influence it, such as time of day or day of week, post length, type of content, topic, etc. When you understand what the followers like, you will be able to deliver more posts that perform well, and therefore increase engagement and Facebook reach.

Don’t overlook the difference of you posting when your fans are online as opposed to being offline and maybe not even seeing the post. FB Insights allows you to keep track of that too, go to the “Posts” section->“When Your Fans are Online”, and you’ll see when they are the most active. Use that information to your advantage when creating the next post!

As the following is growing, because it sure will, check how the posts are performing once in a while and if you need to change something in your posting strategy to please this bigger crowd. And always respond to users that don’t follow you yet, but have some questions. Be friendly and polite, and make them feel welcomed.

If possible, don’t send them automatic responses and engage with every newcomer individually, this will significantly increase the chance of them actually following.

How to do it right

Domino’s Pizza has figured out their best approach to reach potential customers so they are sticking to it, and their audience keeps clicking away!

TIP #2 summary

Using Facebook Insights will give you important details about your followers, that will help you create content customized for them. That way you will create your own posting strategy that works best for your business, with better possibilities to connect, engage and reach new audiences.

3. Craft a great page

Writing optimized content for your current followers and engaging with them will not work on itself. As newcomers see your posts, they might be disappointed once navigating to your FB page if you will not have thought about the look of it. You probably have encountered Facebook pages where you can’t even find the description about their business, and as intriguing as the overall look of it may seem, you won’t bother digging for information that isn’t there.

As obvious as it may seem, a lot of Facebook page owners don’t bother crafting their page to inform and interest possible followers as best as they can. If you want to increase likes to your Facebook page, you need to build the credibility of your brand.

The first impression is the profile and cover photo of your page, so make sure they are in perfect condition. It’s a good idea to put your logo in the profile picture, and use your creativity for the cover photo to try and convey the essence of your brand and business. Just remember to use high-quality pictures that have a clear message—avoid confusing people!

Many Facebook users that see a new page they are interested in, immediately go their About section, so be sure to use all of the elements Facebook provides to give them as much info as possible. This will sit well with Facebook itself, making your page look more credible, and make you appear in searches more often, whenever people will look for products or services similar to yours.

How to do it right

Company Smarty Had A Party hasn’t hesitated to use every element of the About section, so if a person who is unfamiliar with them stumbles upon their Facebook page, they are well informed on what this business is all about.

The richer the content the better

We cannot stress this enough—it’s all about relatable, gripping, thoughtful content. The way you deliver and the substance of it. First and foremost you need to understand your own brand and know what you want to communicate. Study your audience, be educational and offer value, as mentioned before. Once you understand what the audience you’re aiming for wants, you’ll know the way!

Keep in mind—you should never hold back when it comes to content. Pull out all the stops to distinguish yourself by producing rich, high-quality content. Your followers and newcomers will reward you for your efforts.

And vice versa—they will be quick to notice you are just copy-pasting ideas and posting them just to daily post. If the content you put out there will be worthwhile, the current fans you have will like and share it, and that way attract new users to like the page and become followers.

TIP #3 summary

Crafting a visually appealing and informative page is essential for Facebook users to want to follow it. Lengthy, yet understandable About info will work incredibly well with potential followers. Plus, search engines are more likely to pick up on the information you provide and direct users to you. Where they will see that you take this seriously and the page is worthy of a like and your content—worthy of a look.

4. Use a variety of media

No one really loves a routine—at work, in a relationship, or scrolling through their Facebook feed. To make your timeline more diverse, think about various media types you can use. Switch up the content you put out there—images, gifs, or videos, posts with or without links, publish Facebook stories, too. Check what type of content works best for your followers.

Hosting giveaways and contests from time to time is always a good idea for fast follower increase. Make attention grabbing posts, the rules of the contest are totally up to you. Given that we live in a meme era, you can try to cleverly play on some viral trend to appeal to a larger crowd.

Circling back to engaging your core audience—be active in the comment section and on your own timeline as well. Create polls, start opinion debates, get everyone talking and interacting with one another. Basically give your fans a spotlight to talk, and do so with making the topics related to your business. This will create a facebook community focused around your business and promote your brand both directly and indirectly.

Go Live!

Facebook live broadcasts have been here for two years and their popularity continues to grow day by day. Although engagement and watchtime is much higher than other video content by default, you still have to put some thought into preparing and doing them. They need to be valuable and worth watching.

For example, if you have new items added to your store, a good idea would be to do a live video showcasing those or giving a real time sneak peek. Any new product launches will do good on Facebook Live, especially with your biggest fans. If you have a niche store, you can make a video about general tips or do a Q&A. Or you can create a webinar, do a presentation or film any event held by your company and broadcast it on Facebook Live.

All these videos appear on the Live Map, which allows any person active on Facebook at that moment to see your video and join. You just need to make sure that your base audience shows up by scheduling the live prior and posting about it. The more viewers you gather, the higher you will show on this map, and the bigger will be the chance of increasing your audience and then your follower count after that.

How to do it right

Last summer Callaway Golf Company did a great move by organizing a live tour together with a well known person in the golf community. In 45 minutes 240,000 people tuned in to watch this, and they gained a ton of new followers.

TIP #4 summary

Make your page diverse with different types of media adapted for your audience’s needs, host giveaways, play on viral trends. Try out Live videos at some point to reach your current followers in real time as well as attract more new followers from the Facebook Live Map.

5. Collaborate

Most Facebook users would probably admit they enjoy a healthy back and forth feud between rival companies. But collaboration works just as well. Plus, you might not always win the roasting battle. That is why a great way to get new likes and followers is to be social and engage positively not only with your followers, but with other brands, too.

Find companies that are similar and relevant to your brand, have similar size audience to yours, but isn’t your direct competition. You can start by liking or commenting on some of their posts to draw attention and possibly open an opportunity for collaboration in the future. Or just simply share their content or tag their products and they might return the favor at some point. Either way you will most definitely benefit and reach new audiences that are similar to yours, but do not follow you. Yet.

Another way to go is trying out partnership options through Influencer marketing or niche pages with a large following. To get a shoutout you need to reach out to the ones you find approachable, offer them a product sample and ask to share their thoughts publicly, tagging your Facebook page in the post. If they agree and have positive things to say about your product and business, their fans most likely will support you with a like and follow.

We recommend looking for potential followers in relevant Facebook groups also. Take part in their communication, and your page you are engaging from might get noticed. Just make sure you don’t promote your brand directly, but do it by being knowledgeable and helpful in discussions about topics related to your brand.

TIP #5 summary

Gaining more Facebook followers can be done through collaborating with influencers. Their loyal fans will migrate to your page, if an influencer says there is something good over there. Try to engage with other similar size and niche, non-competitive brands, too, depending on what type of a product you sell, and in the long term this will benefit your page.

6. Convert customers into followers

If they are not already following your page, you can address your customers directly right after they make a purchase on your website. These are the people who are already interested in the product you sell, so they are the ideal target audience for liking your Facebook page. This can be done with a Facebook Likes popup that does just that—pops up and asks the customer to like your page if they want to continue to engage in the future.

It would be wise to create a well-designed popup, that doesn’t annoy your customers and shows up only at the right time for them to react positively. Promise them a coupon or a special offer in exchange of liking your page. That way you not only gain a new follower, but also almost guarantee yourself another purchase from this person—whenever he comes back to redeem the discount.

How to do it right

Don’t do a simple “Like us on Facebook!” push. Customize and personalize the popup with clever offers or word plays, so your customers want to press that like button and become your page’s followers to see more of you.

Get tagged

After your customer receives a product, ask them to tag you in their posts, if they plan on sharing it on Facebook. After that give them a shoutout or show your appreciation some other way. This type of promoting works great, because people trust their friends opinion, and if they are satisfied with the product, others might want to check your page out and possibly follow.

Same goes with Login with Facebook option which you can choose to add to your site. Enabling people who are logged in with FB to share their experience and purchases right then and there can help you reach new audiences and increase followers.

TIP #6 summary

Your customers are already your fans with an interest in your business, so make sure they’re following your page—if not, ask them to by offering a coupon or some other incentive, and you’ll gain new Facebook page followers. The most efficient way to do this is with a Facebook Like popup. Get poppin’!

7. Run those FB Ads, too

Sponsored posts are everywhere, you know it. Not using them at all would be considered a setback amongst other companies. So, depending on how much money you have dedicated to spend on advertising your business, consider Facebook Ads. 

When setting up the ad you can choose the marketing objective for every ad. Do a Facebook Like Campaign for a simple way to increase followers, because the like button will appear on the ad itself. Posts with higher engagement are cheaper to promote, so remember about the first and most important tip—engage with everybody from the get-go.

The design of the ad and text in it are the key elements for it to be successful. Choose a captivating image that stands out, so Facebook users notice it when scrolling through their feed. Add powerful phrases or numbers to grab attention, offer some benefit, be very straightforward and clear, and keep in mind that with these you are trying to get Facebook users at least stop, look at it and preferably click on the page.

Use Facebook’s advertising tools wisely. There might be a misconception about targeting as many people as possible. But trying to please a very wide audience will probably result in you pleasing almost no one. Instead choose the Custom audiences option, use several filters and target a specific audience, filtering by interests, location, age, behavior, etc. Narrow it down and the right people who are most likely to become new followers of your page will see it.

TIP #7 summary

Facebook Ads are one of the most obvious ways to get more likes and followers for your online store’s Facebook page, but only using them wisely will get you your intended results. Target a specific audience, test the ads out before releasing them, make sure they are not obnoxious, but attention-grabbing enough to get the job done.

We’ve learned:

• How to engage on Facebook,
• How to understand your Facebook audience,
• How to make your page more user-friendly,
• How to improve Facebook content,
• How to promote your brand through influencers,
• How to convert your customers into followers,
• How to approach Facebook Ads.

Now you know how to increase your Facebook followers!

We sincerely hope you’ll try out these tips and succeed in improving your social media game. And that it will progress into you getting new followers that actually want to participate in the growth of your eCommerce business.

Did you find any of these tips useful? Maybe you need extra help Managing your Social Media Ads or you could use a general eCommerce consulting? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with Scandiweb’s marketing department at [email protected] and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

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