Far too many businesses let the potential of Facebook go to waste. Even if you have invested in a custom Facebook page, what’s the use if almost nobody is interacting with it? Perhaps you sign into your Facebook business page every few days, post a comment to your wall every now and then, but aren’t getting the amount of “Likes” and positive interaction you had envisioned. Most likely your business does not have the kind of national household name brand identity, where you can expect a great deal of people to seek you out because it so frequently occurs to them how much they like your product. Small businesses have to put in some work to get their first 50, 100, or 200 “Likes”. So if you have a Facebook business page, and you’re already putting some time into it, I have several suggestions to make the most of your efforts and generate interaction that will lead to “Likes”.

1. Take some time to create an editorial calendar for your future status updates. What are the goals and objectives for your business in the near future? Months down the road? A year from now? Write down a number of potential status updates which you can post in the future at certain times, so that your updates are aligned with your goals rather than always being random acts of marketing. The majority of status updates should keep in mind two goals. The first is to provide good content which strengthens your brand. The second being to generate interactivity in the form of positive feedback, “Likes” and follow-through of your calls to action.
2. Include photos in your status updates whenever is clever. People like to click interesting photos. It makes them bigger. By attaching a photo to your update, your update has also multiplied it’s real-estate on the “Timeline” or Facebook “Wall”. People like photos, and therefore people like to “Like” photos. Why not have a photo of the week? You could ask people to “Like if you wish you were here right now”. Every time somebody likes a photo, this activity shows up on the Newsfeed of all their friends. Not only is this free exposure, but it encourages people to interact with your update more than if you had only used text. How about a caption contest?
3. Create a new photo gallery and ask people to “Like” their favorite or have a caption contest for a random prize drawing. This will encourage a lot more people to “Like” or respond to your content, which in turn increases your reach through the activity on their Timeline and Newsfeed.
4. If you have a popular event, why not take a photo containing a large group of people, post this to Facebook and ask your fans to tag themselves and their friends in it? This activity will be posted to their friends’ Timelines as well as the Newsfeeds, introducing more people to your business (and showing them how many other people really do like your business at the same time).
5. Use polls. Create a poll, asking your fans the kind of fun and easy question that lets them express their opinion about something involving your business. Keep it positive. What’s their favorite nearby attraction? What is their favorite product in your line? Then ask them why to encourage discussion below the poll. Note that when making a poll, you will want to tag your business name (by typing @ followed by your business name) by including it in the brief description of your poll that you will write in the area for text above it. That way when your poll gets passed around, it will still be linked to your business.
6. If your business has a lot of local customers, use the “Recommend this Place” feature. When people have recommended your page, these recommendations show up on their nearby friends’ Facebook. Typically only people within 12 miles of your listed address will see the “Recommend” widget on the upper right corner of your page when they visit. In your page settings you can improve this function’s reach somewhat by including a few nearby cities in the “Choose Your Audience” dialogue. Once you have done this, create a status update inviting people to come to your page and “Recommend”.

Furthermore, there are a few simple ways to leverage the presence of your web site to benefit your social media marketing campaign. If you’d like any of the following changes made to your existing web site, just ask us!

1. A simple link to your Facebook page is somewhat minimal. There is not a whole lot of incentive for somebody who is already on your web site to go and visit your Facebook page. However if instead of a normal Facebook link, you use Facebook’s Like Box plugin (which gives people the opportunity to “Like” your Facebook page straight from your web site, also showing how many “Likes” you have and thumbnail photos of ten other people who already have), you give people the opportunity to sign up for your status updates quickly and easily without leaving your web site.
2. Use the compact and relatively unobtrusive Like Button widget on your web site. Place this next to interesting content, certain special items or special events. This will allow people to “Like” certain pages of content on your web site, and a link to this content will appear on their Timeline. Use this widget selectively; not every item you stock or piece of information you offer deserves its own “Like”. You don’t want this to look tacked on like an afterthought to everything on your web site.
3. Use the Facebook Comments plugin below interesting or newsworthy content on your site. Chances are you have seen this used on other sites, usually below articles or pieces of news. When people post a comment and leave the “Post to Facebook” boxed checked, your business gets a link, with comments, on their friends’ Timelines.