My most successful online store grew to 54,000 Facebook followers. Having as many Facebook likes allowed us to create an engaged community of people who loved our niche and, more importantly, our products. And the high order volume of products we sold due to our Facebook popularity wasn’t too shabby either. If you’re just starting out and want to know how to get followers on Facebook or how to increase Facebook likes, I’ll break down the tried and true tactics that have worked for me.
How to Get Facebook Followers
Here are 15 ways to increase Facebook likes and Facebook followers:
#1. Run Facebook Ads
If you’re trying to figure out how to get Facebook followers, the most obvious solution is Facebook ads. You can run “Engagement” ads, which help you increase the visibility of your brand on Facebook. Although, to be frank, any ad you create on Facebook will likely also create an increase in followers, even “Conversion” ads. If Facebook users like the ad content, they’ll likely engage with the post and potentially like or follow your Facebook page. So, if your main goal is to get store sales, you can run a conversion ad and still increase Facebook likes to your page.
#2. Invite People to Like Your Page
The easiest way to increase Facebook followers is by inviting people to like your page. Once you start creating ads for your store, Facebook will occasionally send you notifications asking you to invite people to like your page. I found that typically if I ran engagement ads, I’d get a higher number of people that I could invite to like the page. However, even though I manually invited people, I eventually got temporarily blocked by Facebook. So you need to pace the number of people you invite at a time. Also, if you do get temporarily blocked, Facebook might still send notifications telling you to invite people. But you still won’t be able to invite anyone. Wait a day or two before trying to invite more people. You can also invite friends and family to like your page. However, keep in mind that it’s better to have a small, targeted audience than to have a big, broad one, as it could limit the effectiveness of your future ads.
#3. Create Viral Content
On my most popular store’s Facebook page, we’d share memes, funny videos, and relatable quotes. People would tag their friends in the post, which usually helped increase social media engagementbut also helped increase social reach. Chubbies is another online retailer who creates viral-type content. They regularly create funny content using their products. In this post, they promote their shorts with a silly video about the problems that pants give people. Since the scenarios are pretty dramatized, it results in funny content which helps boost social shares. About 250 liked the video and 98 people shared it. If you don’t have the artistic chops to create your own viral content, you can always share viral niche content with your audience. But be sure to always give credit to the creator.
#4. Host a Giveaway
Giveaways are a great way to increase Facebook likes. You can host a giveaway on your website using a tool like Rafflecopter. You can share your giveaway to niche Facebook groups or forums, giveaway websites, and of course on your Facebook page. By making one of the ways to enter “visit Facebook page” you’ll be more likely to increase the number of Facebook followers you have. Below is an example of a giveaway that CatLadyBox shared on their Facebook page. They used emojis to draw emphasis on the giveaway keyword. Since they shared it on their own page, it’s likely their Facebook followers will see it. They may share the giveaway post with their friends which can also help increase Facebook followers. So be sure to promote the giveaway on all social channels.
#5. Add a Facebook Likes Pop-Up
Some online stores ask for emails upon exit intent. However, if your main objective is to increase Facebook likes instead of emails, you can create a Facebook like pop-up instead. OptinMonster is a popular pop-up tool that allows you to gain new leads, and can be repurposed to fuel Facebook likes, as well. You can also choose to set a timer so that after a person has been on your website for a certain number of seconds, the pop-up appears. Avoid adding too many pop-ups to your website, as they can be overwhelming on mobile devices and cause people to exit faster. So if you add this pop-up to your website, make sure it’s the only one.
#6. Try Out Facebook Live
Some of the most viral videos have been Facebook Live videos. If you’re building a niche store, your Facebook Live might be more about general niche tips. However, if you’ve just added new items to your store and have ordered samples, you can showcase a first look at the products on Facebook Live. You can increase Facebook followers by telling your customers and followers that you do a livestream every Tuesday, for example. All Facebook Live videos get shown on the Facebook Live Map, so the more viewers on your livestream the higher you’ll show up on the feed. Thus, potentially increasing Facebook likes.
#7. Partner with an Influencer
The best influencers I’ve ever partnered with weren’t really influencers at all. In fact, most of them were niche fan pages. You know, those pages for a niche that just share cool products or cool articles about a niche. They’re all over Facebook. They usually amass really big audiences. And they’re usually cheaper than an influencer. That strategy works well if you’re on a super tight budget. But if you want to partner with an actual influencer, you can find influencers in your niche as well. The easiest way to do that is to look up “[niche] blogger” in Google. You might look up fashion bloggers, for example. Then you look through their fan pages and reach out to them to find out their rates. If they’re up for collaborating, you’ll send them a sample product for them to model. When they share the post on Facebook, ask them to tag your Facebook page in the post. That way people who are interested in your product will be more likely to follow you.
#8. Use Automation Tools to Boost Your Activity
Marketing automation can help you gain new Facebook followers. How? Well, you’re not going to increase Facebook likes if you never post on Facebook. And running a store can get busy. So sometimes things like posting on Facebook fall by the wayside. Only have 20 minutes a week total to market on social media to market on social media? Use an automation tool to set up a series of posts over the next several days in advance. You can add product pictures to your post with a link to the page, a piece of content you’ve written, or even a funny video or picture you find online (with proper credit, of course). If you know that every Friday at 5pm you need to schedule posts for the following week, it allows you to spend the following week working on higher impact projects. The more you post on Facebook, the more chances you’ll have of getting more Facebook followers.
#9. Add a Facebook Like Widget
If you want to increase Facebook likes, the easiest way to do that on your website is to add a Facebook Like Widget by Widgetic. The free Shopify app adds a like icon to certain pages of your store, such as product pages. It can also show shoppers who else likes your page to give you a bit of social proof to get more Facebook followers. If you’re just starting to figure out how to increase followers on Facebook, this free tool keeps growing a Facebook following simple for you.
#10. Add Your Social Media Links to Your Website
You’d be surprised by how many new store owners forget to add their social media links to their website. Depending on your theme, your social icons might be in the header, footer, or in a sidebar menu. If you want to emphasize their placement, you can contact a Shopify Expert or use Hey Carsonto get some minor development work done.
#11. Email Your List
Some ecommerce brands choose to focus on email marketing instead of social media. If you’re one of those brands, you can either choose to include social media icons (including Facebook) in all of your emails, or you can directly email your list to tell them to join other Facebook followers by liking your page. If you haven’t been building an email list but have customers who’ve agreed to receive email marketing, you can email those people to increase Facebook likes. You’ll find that email list in your Shopify dashboard under Customers > Email Subscribers.
#12. Create More Video Content
Video content on Facebook usually gets higher levels of engagement than pictures or text-based posts. As a result, more people will view your content. The more viewers and likes you get, the higher the chance that your content will get found by potential new followers. The secret to getting new followers isn’t always about building an audience but also about building your brand. And creating great content regularly in a popular format can help you build a stronger Facebook following. So if you want to increase Facebook likes, you’re going to need to step up your video content strategy.
#13. Engage with Your Community
Some of the biggest ecommerce brands don’t engage with their customers. That gives even the smallest retailer a huge competitive advantage. Engaging with your community isn’t only about customer service like responding to questions about delivery times. It’s also about building relationships. And there’s no better way to do that than to be a bit playful or respond in a way where the customer feels like they’re chatting with their buddies. Netflix is a great example of a brand on Facebook that regularly engages with customers. Their comments are almost always hilarious which makes you want to engage with the brand. By engaging with your followers, their friends might end up following you as a result.
#14. Hashtag It Up
While “hashtag” makes most people think about Twitter or Instagram, you can also increase your followers on Facebook by using hashtags in your Facebook posts. When it comes to hashtags, there are two key approaches. You can either use a literal hashtag like #fashion for a fashion post, or you can use an audience-focused hashtag like Sephora does. This Sephora post isn’t about #fitspo (fitness inspiration) at all. But they likely used the hashtag to attract users who are interested in fitness inspiration to their brand. In this case, the hashtag helps Sephora reach a new audience with their post – an audience that could potentially become Facebook followers.
#15. Offer a Coupon for Liking Your Facebook Page
The whole point of getting Facebook followers is to get sales. With the Facebook Likes Popup app, you can offer customers a coupon if they like your page. So not only do you get a potential new audience member, but the customer can redeem the coupon to get a discount on their purchase. This exit intent app is perfect for those who are looking to gain social proof on their Facebook page and maybe score a couple sales too.
Conclusion
In this article, we broke down how to increase followers on Facebook. There have been a lot of big changes happening at Facebook over the past few months, but that doesn’t make Facebook any less of a powerhouse. They’re still the most popular social platform. And their 2.2 billion monthly active users is no joke. Hopefully, some of these tips help you increase the number of Facebook followers you have.
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