Written by Since the emergence of social networks more than a decade ago, they have become an additional marketing channel for all businesses. In addition, an effective Social Media strategy can help catapult your e-commerce to success as we analyzed in this case study.
Among all the social networks, Facebook, with more than 2,000 million users, remains the cornerstone of the networks. Today, we will show you several ways to gain more followers on Facebook and take advantage of it to increase your sales.
Having a Strategy to Gain Visibility and Followers on Facebook: is It Worth It?
We will start by analyzing the current situation of the largest social network in the world, as well as its possibilities.
The scandals regarding filtering and selling data, accompanied by the movement of younger profiles to other social networks, have led many people to want to condemn the social platform Facebook.
But, what is true in all this? This graph corresponds to daily active users. This information is taken from the official information given by Facebook to its investors.
And this percentage of active users has been like this for at least two years. Facebook is therefore far from losing momentum…
There is data that shows that Facebook is doing rather well, such as the percentage of revenues and profits that have only increased since the creation of the network.
Other social networks such as Instagram are indeed taking more and more market share, especially among young people, but just like Instagram, Facebook remains a key player.
In addition, the creation of advertising campaigns for each of the two is done from the same platform, which makes the work much easier.
The Algorithm Change Penalizes Poor-quality follower Pages.
In early 2018, Facebook updated Edge Rank, the algorithm that decides which posts will be shown first.
In order to increase paid campaigns, Facebook limited fan pages. That is, from now on, when a brand publishes, fewer users can see it.
The default reach has been reduced, that’s true, but let’s see what’s behind this:
What was reduced was the reach of publications that did not generate interactions, rewarding those that, on the contrary, generated them.
To better understand, when from your brand page you publish content, the reach that this publication will have will begin to be defined directly from the first impressions.
If the first people who see the publication, comment on it or like it, Facebook will give it more visibility.
On the other hand, if Facebook shows the publication on the followers’ timeline and no one reacts, this publication will be doomed to failure, invisible. In the end, it is a market that lives off the content generated by followers, and it is logical and natural that publications that please are more highlighted.
This change has harmed brands with a lot of followers but with little interaction and has rewarded those with a lot of engagement.
The new goal for brands is now to gain followers but from a content base that generates interactions. This is how it will turn into sales.
This is why we insist on quality rather than quantity.
The Benefits of Building Followers
It is by analyzing reality and being aware of the challenges of creating content that we will see the benefits.
1. Social Essay
As an online buyer, we are reassured to know that we are not alone.
Seeing that the brand has the support of many people in the form of likes, transmits trust and increases the conversion rate of your e-commerce.
It is a bit like the symptom of an empty restaurant, your users are looking for people and atmosphere:
- A great community.
- Updated publications.
- Reviews.
- Comments and conversations in posts.
So it is important to animate a page with real followers. If you succeed, you will be more relaxed.
2. Segmentation
When you have a larger fan base, you have the option to create segments to personalize and better target your Facebook Ads campaigns.
This is applicable for larger sites and allows you to filter users who already know us. Ads Manager, the Facebook campaign manager, allows you to link specific campaigns to people who are already followers.
3. Fields of Application
Having more Facebook followers gives you more chances to grow and connect with others. It’s really important to talk and interact with your followers to build a strong connection.
Some people think buying followers is not a good idea, but it can actually help. Buying followers, when done the right way, can make your profile look more popular and help you get real followers faster.
Strategy to Increase Followers on Facebook
1. Add a “like” Button to Your Site
The ability to become a fan of your site’s Facebook page without having to leave the page is a quick and effective way to build visitor loyalty.
This is to make the process easier for the user and save them the time they would have to spend opening Facebook, searching for your page and finally clicking that same “Like” button.
It is imperative these days to highlight this “Like” button as well as a box to subscribe to the newsletter. If you want to increase your number of followers on Facebook, create your button here.
It is very simple and you just have to enter your URL and copy/paste the generated code into your site. We have already talked about it in other articles but it is very important to pay attention to the location of the buttons for social networks.
Your site must be a place of arrival, not an exit. Allow them to follow your page but do not make an outgoing link to your social networks too accessible. These are visits that will leave and not come back.
2. Implement a Social Locker
This WordPress plugin is a great way to gain a large number of followers on Facebook and increase the distribution of your publications.
Social Locker hides a “special” file, whether it is the best part of a post, a video or a link to download a file.
This part will only be unlocked in exchange for social action, in this case, a “like”. We recommend that you use it sparingly.
Avoid including it in all your content because your followers may perceive you as someone only interested in increasing their visibility at all costs.
3. Organize Contests and Sweepstakes
This is probably the best technique to gain followers on Facebook. Organizing these contests from time to time will allow you to gain a large number of likes and shares for a small price, in addition to being perceived as a friendly brand that rewards its fans.
Even if the probability of winning is low, many of your fans will participate. As well as some people who are just discovering your page! After all, who doesn’t like free stuff? See the article: Organize a contest on Facebook.
4. Focus on Engagement
You already know that without work behind it, your posts will go unnoticed.
The important thing is not really the number of followers on Facebook but rather the amount of “people talking about it”.
This data highlights your real reach because these are the followers who interact with your content.
A follower who doesn’t communicate with you through comments, likes or shares will rarely become a customer.
So forget about the number of followers and think instead about generating engagement.
In order to achieve this desired engagement, you can launch surveys, ask questions or dedicate one day per week to a thematic section.
Take the time to reply to comments without hesitation. Publishing a post-seeking interaction and leaving your users without a response is very poorly perceived. They will tend to no longer comment on your posts.
5. Create Facebook Groups
Coming back to engagement, you should also create a Facebook group open to your followers.
Even though your participation will be from your account and not directly from your page, creating a Facebook group will give you many benefits:
- Strengthen your online reputation.
- Improve your visibility.
This makes members much more active, interacting with each other and with you.
Instead of just having followers, you will have a community.
Another positive aspect of groups is that, unlike fan pages, organic reach increases.
But what to post in the group? Content consumed within the group, we will suggest some ideas.
6. Create Unique Content for Facebook
Facebook loves internal content, that is, posts that keep users on the platform (for as long as possible).
Its business is based on advertising, and the longer users stay, the more content Facebook can show them.
With its current algorithm, Facebook prioritizes content that does not lead the user to branch off to other websites (links to blog posts or other pages, for example).
Posts that encourage visitors to visit another website are devalued compared to those that keep users on the network longer.
One type of content that stands out is live video. Since its launch in 2016, Facebook Live has doubled its volume every year and already has more than two billion annual broadcasts.
Another good strategy is to generate content solely for one social network.
To save time, most brands recycle Instagram content on Facebook, which is not positive for the user or for the social network itself.
You can use the same content in general, but be sure to change at least the image or the words used. The audience will appreciate it and want to read you on the different networks!
7. Find Out the Best Time to Post
Unfortunately, at the moment, there is no magic formula. It is up to you to do some testing and identify when your posts generate the most engagement.
Depending on your activity, your followers may be more during the day (in which case you would post mid-morning), or your followers may be more active on social media at night in which case it would be better to post your content around dinner time.
Not only the time but also the choice of day is important. For example, if you have a blog and you publish a new post every week, you will be able to see the remarkable difference in visits by posting on a Thursday or a Saturday.
You can keep an eye on your competitors and see what works best for them.
8. Send Visits to Your Fan Page
It is possible that you carry out an online networking strategy based on the comments of blogs and pages of your sector.
In these comments, forums and other communities, you usually have a space to leave a URL. Once your fan page is worked, updated and in motion, it is a good idea to leave this URL in place of your website.
It will be a good first contact that will generate new followers, who with time and work will be able to know you and become prospects first, then customers.
9. Bonus: Invite Your Followers to Click “See First”
If you want to get an extra boost in the audience of your posts, you should try this.
Your followers, unfortunately, do not follow you exclusively, but also follow many other brands.
And this means that your posts compete with those of all the other brands that your followers also follow. When you visit a Facebook page, there is an option to set the priority with which you want to see the published content and notifications from that brand.
Invite your followers to select “See First” or even invite them to turn on notifications to receive a notification when you post something new.
Most followers won’t, but the few who do will see your content before they see other brands.
If they’ve redefined it as a priority.
They’ll be more likely to engage, which will ultimately make Facebook’s algorithm more visible and have a longer trajectory in the competitive struggle for consumer attention.
Conquer Facebook!
Getting organic visibility and reach requires effort and perseverance to create a real community that engages with your posts and content.
If you get it, you can generate traffic to your e-commerce, impact with offers and promotions more easily; and convert, little by little, those followers into buyers.
These are the best tips to take to get more followers on Facebook and, as you have seen, most of them do not require more than an investment of time.
Once you have developed your number of active followers, the next step will be to convert those same followers into customers on your e-commerce. Remember that we have already talked about selling on social networks in this article.