Please like and follow our Facebook Page

Just having a Facebook page is not enough. You need to drive traffic to it. And this can be the most difficult part of social media! Here are 11 tips on how to promote your Facebook page:  

1. Shorten your URL

Your URL is the link that leads to your page. When you first set up your page, Facebook automatically assigns you a URL with your page name and some numbers behind it. Not only does such a long URL look unprofessional, it is also difficult to share verbally or on printed materials.

Learn how to customize your page’s username here. NOTE: you can only change your username once, so make sure it’s a name that you’re really happy with.  

2. Invite your friends

Go through your personal friend list on Facebook. Is there anyone you thing may be interested in your page? Well, go ahead and invite them. Learn how to invite your Facebook friends here.

NOTE: You can also use the ‘Build audience’ link to invite your email contacts to ‘Like’ your page.

IMPORTANT: Don't go overboard and invite everyone on your friend list. This could lead to:

1. An unengaged audience - if they aren't genuinely interested in your brand, they aren't going to engage with it.

2. Negative feedback - friends may accept your invitation, then realize that they aren’t interested in your page and ‘unlike’ it. Both of the above will have negative consequences for your page.  

3. Put it in your signature

Add your Facebook page as part of your email signature. Your ‘signature’ appears at the bottom of every email you send. Learn how to add a signature in some common email providers: Google, Yahoo, Hotmail. Here’s what my email signature looks like:

TIP: You can also add your signature manually below comments that you leave in various forums, teams or groups.  

4. Add a link

Make sure you add a link to your Facebook page in all the other sites you use:

1. Learn how to add your Facebook page to your Etsy shop page.

2. Add a link to your business page under ‘Work and Education’ in the ‘About’ section of your personal profile. Everyone who visits your perusal profile will now see the link to your page right on top. Learn how to update your work information on Facebook here (make sure this information is marked ‘public’ so everyone can see it).

3. Add your link on all the other social networks you use (Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube etc.) as well as on your blog and website. TIP: You can also put the Facebook widget (‘Like’ button) on your blog or website.

5. Be social

1. Comment on other’s Facebook pages: don’t spam them by posting your products, but try to engage in a relevant conversation. Make sure you are signed in as your business when doing this so others can click back to your page. Here’s how to ‘use Facebook as’ your personal profile:

2. When applicable, tag people and pages in your page posts. They will be notified about this and are likely to check out your page. Learn how to tag on Facebook here.

6. Be active in Facebook Groups

Join Facebook groups where you think your target market may be and post there regularly. Make sure you adhere to team rules and don’t spam.

NOTE: You can only use groups as your personal profile, so don’t forget to tag your page by putting the @ symbol before it. This creates a direct link to your page making it easy for people to find it. e.g. Free Facebook stores for Etsyians by @Socioh

7. Promote offline

Make sure you include the link to your Facebook page on your business cards, thank you notes to buyers, posters in fairs, flyers or any other type of promotional material you print.

8. ‘Like’ your Page

Don’t forget to ‘Like’ your own page and posts from your personal profile. This will show up in your friends’ new feeds and increase your Facebook page’s reach.

9. Cross promote

You could try tying up with other Etsy shop which have a similar target market and promote each other’s shops on your respective pages. Or you could just promote other Etsy shops/products you like on your page and tag the page (or send them a personal message letting them know that you featured their shop). Many will share this promotion on their own pages which will show up in the news feed of their fans. Many of these fans may check out your page too.

Plus it’s a nice thing to do and may get you some good karma!    

10. Create Engaging Content

Eventually, content is king. Make sure that you post content that encourages engagement (‘likes’ and shares) as this is the best way to increase organic (non-paid) reach. Don’t just share your products, make sure that you add content that is informative and entertaining.

Here are some ideas on how to create engaging content for your Facebook business page.  

11. Advertise your page on Facebook

Some sellers have seen a huge boost in fans and engagement by using paid promotions for their page/posts. Promote Page: Do this if your aim is to increase the number of ‘Likes’ on your page. Promote Post: Do this if your aim is to increase engagement on your page.

TIP: If you choose to promote your post, make sure you target your audience as narrowly as possible for best results, even if this is more expensive. Learn how to effectively target your promoted posts here.

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