How do you get more “likes” on Facebook?

It’s a question that people ask me virtually every day: How do I get more ‘likes’ on Facebook?

To be brutally honest, it’s the wrong question to ask. The right question, the question that every business owner on Facebook should be asking is: How do I attract the right people to ‘like’ my page?

The reason this question is more important is because the right people are more likely to become your customers/clients. Attracting anyone will result in less engagement, and fewer paying clients – not what any business owner wants!

I’ve never really worried about how many people ‘like’ my business pages, never really participated in “liking ladders/parties/buses and trains” on Facebook (except maybe once to see what all the fuss was about) to boost my numbers or done anything as desperate as buying fans (not something I recommend).

Yet, my businesses are chugging along nicely. So why is that?

The key to better performance on Facebook is NOT ‘likes’. If you want to really know what drives people to your business, read on.

How to drive the right people to your fan page and your business

If you want to drive more fans, more leads and more clients to your business, you need to stop focusing on ‘likes’ and start focusing on relationships.

Building relationships on Facebook is easy, once you get started, but it won’t result in overnight success. Social media marketing is a long-term strategy and one of about 10 elements that work together to ensure your marketing gets results.

Shameless plug: I share these 10 elements (and much more) in the Turn Around Your Micro Business Bootcamp (coming up April 22 to May 6).

So what can you do to ensure your Facebook page results in more business for you?

Here are three big tips!

1. If you have a new page and know your target market, run a brief Facebook Ad campaign

The trick with Facebook ads is to drill down to a very specific target audience. For instance, I recently ran a campaign for my local social enterprise Mumatopia, as we have a Mums’ Retreat coming up in May.

When I defined my target audience, I selected women, living in Brisbane and Ipswich, who were mums of children aged 4 to 17, who liked organic food, who have said at some stage: “I need a holiday” or “I need a massage”. The result was a highly targeted campaign aimed at about 1,200 women.

That’s how powerful a tool Facebook ads can be for attracting the right people to your business.

2. Look for Facebook groups that relate to your business

Once you find groups and join them, you can start participating in them and getting to know people. The more you answer people’s questions, the more insight you can gain on how they are thinking and what they are struggling with. You can then take these issues/questions to your fan pages and use creative ways to get conversation going on your business page.

3. Start interacting on other business pages

When I say interact, I don’t mean jump on someone’s page and say “Hi, look at me, look at me, visit my page.” No way! I don’t recommend that at all as it’s just like walking into someone else’s shop and saying, “Well, this place sucks, come over to my shop!”

What I mean by ‘interact’ is, comment, ‘like’, respond, be helpful, add your two cents worth and show you care on pages which relate to your business but which are not in direct competition with you.

People will naturally be drawn to you, if you can solve their problems and show empathy towards them. And other businesses won’t mind you interacting on their pages in this way as it is not about stealing attention away from them, it’s about contributing.

So, the real trick with Facebook marketing is to focus on building real, genuine relationships – and forget the ‘like’ count. Quality fans are way more important to nurture than large numbers of fans. If you’re wasting time constantly trying to get new fans, perhaps it’s time to shift focus and concentrate on getting to know the ones you’ve got.