Top 10 Most Effective Ways To Get Facebook Fan Page Likes

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INTRODUCTION: “You don’t need a website, you need an audience…”

NOTE: – while Facebook still has the potential to send massive traffic, it should not be over-relied upon as a traffic source. This is because Facebook has been using various strategies of late to exert greater control over which content gets visibility – such as deplatforming and shadow banning; often without warning, explanation or means of recourse.

If you have a big Facebook fan page with an engaged, active audience, you truly have the opportunity to send big traffic and make money at the touch of a button. Not only that, but you can do it several times a day. From an internet marketing point of view, that’s pretty sweet, and if you don’t already know it, there is amazing revenue potential in Facebook pages. Note that this is not as powerful as it was 5 years ago as Facebook has dialed back the “reach” of fan pages, and they have tightened up their regulations on fake news and acceptable content – but it can still generate good traffic.

If you are just starting out, and planning on growing big Facebook pages to use for making money, I would suggest to create a few pages, rather than pin all your hopes on just one. This is because some ideas just “catch fire” with popularity, whereas others just don’t – and you maximize your chances of success with several pages. You’re better off experimenting with creating a few different FB pages and then just rolling with the winners when it becomes evident which ones have the “secret sauce”. Facebook places no limit on the number of Fan Pages you can own (of course, because they are hoping you will spend money to advertise and grow them!) The name is very important and people will often like a page by virtue of it having a great name – so create a pool of ideas and try to create a really good name. If you don’t already have a brand that you are trying to promote, short phrases lifted from famous quotations are a great place to start – and the name should both have that vital “spark” and encompass the concept of the page.

One potential downside of Facebook fan pages is that they are a content-hungry beast and need to be fed daily. I have found 12 posts per day to be optimum on one of my big pages – but there are other very successful FB pages that post every hour. Just be sure that you aren’t running so many pages that you can’t keep up with the need to post fresh, engaging content to them daily.

Your posts have to be engaging (getting likes, shares and comments) otherwise you will gradually lose your audience due to Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm, a mathematical formula that prioritizes the display of content from people that you have interacted with recently. It is critical to get this point. If you post any old thing, your audience will ignore it and your page will gradually get “buried”, with your posts only appearing rarely in their “stream”. Once the Edgerank is gone it is hard to get it back, so the golden rule is that you absolutely have to post content that people engage with. Over time, you will lose some of your old audience to this effect, for sure, but so long as you are pulling in new likes faster than the old ones are “going stale”, you will be ok.

I have made great money from Facebook fan pages, built up over 5 million fans in total and I have done a lot of research into getting likes. Here are my top “tried and tested” methods:

TOP 10 (in no particular order) STRATEGIES For Facebook Likes

1) Buy Facebook Ads. I put this first because it is one of the best methods to start with. If your page only has a handful of likes, the things you post simply won’t be seen by many people and so will not get many shares / attract more likes, no matter how good they are. The first 0-10,000 likes is kind of a “hurdle” to get over before the page can really start to grow by itself via the ‘snowball effect’. So it’s good to give the thing a shove to get it moving – and buying some FB ads is considered the best way to go. My initial spend in “buying likes” has paid for itself many times over but you will need some viral content if this is going to be the case for you. I would recommend never spending more than 10 cents per like and aiming for 5c. If you are spending more than that, you need to optimize your ads. You should target “top tier” countries also as these generally create the best paying traffic.

2) Share on your FB page the best viral stuff from other pages. For example the most popular images, entertainment, quotes… whatever got the most shares already. You can easily build a page full of winning content just by sharing all the stuff that got the mega shares from a diverse range of other popular pages. Also consider content which has proven super successful (likes, shares etc) on other sites such as Youtube, Pinterest. As people share this stuff around, some of the new viewers will like your page in the process. Post consistently (i.e. a few times per day) to your FB page – and use the Facebook scheduler to set up posts in advance if you know you are not going to be there.

3) Pay / persuade people to share your most successful FB posts on their big FB page. This will involve contacting other FB page owners in your niche. To start with, you may need to offer some cash for them to post your content, or find some other way to offer something in return. Some page owners however are seeking an easy way to post engaging content (especially if they are running out of ideas / time / enthusiasm) and may be interested to post your best stuff with your link for free.

4) Put social share buttons on your blog + prominent call to action for people to like your FB page. Some of your site’s visitors will like you on Facebook after discovering your site – but not if you don’t link to it prominently and encourage them! I also start all my blog posts with a “call to action” welcoming people to the blog and saying that if they are a first time visitor, please like us on Facebook for more of our quality tips etc.

5) Post your images from your blog / website onto Pinterest. Some will follow the link back to your site and then like your FB page using the social share buttons there.

6) Build super high quality “viral” blog posts with image (either “top 10 list” or “how to ___” tutorial are formats that work well), then share them on your FB page. Put the headline in the image in large text as well as in the description, together with your link and call to action. Be on the up and up with your image use – either use public domain images (i.e. pixabay) or license the content. Never steal images – you risk getting banned that way.

7) When your page is getting big, offer co-promote “share for share” with other quality pages. In order to snag bigger pages, you may need to offer them two-for-one etc, i.e. you post two of theirs, they post one of yours. But this is a tried and tested technique and if you get busy with it, you can get some really great results.

8) Super free giveaways. Create a really great free giveaway with encouragement to please share, an attractive image (with headline in it!) for Facebook, and prominent social share buttons on the page. Check FB’s ToS on giveaways as these have been known to change.

9) Use one page to give another page a helping hand (use with care). If you have one big page, you can often grow another one by posting content on the smaller page and then sharing it onto your big page while “using facebook as” the big page. You will find that when you do this, you get a burst of new likes on the smaller page, especially if the content you shared gets a lot more shares. The bigger your network, the bigger your overall “reach”.

10) Scale up your activities. There is only one of you, and you can only do so much. Hire a Virtual Assistant using onlinejobs.ph , odesk.com or one of the other outsource websites and have them help you do the detail work. This is one of the absolute keys to online success. You will be killing yourself if you try to do it all yourself. Find yourself good workers and get your business some leverage. You will be able to get more Facebook pages going, and also free up your energy to think about strategies, rather than doing every single thing yourself.

THINGS NOT TO DO:

1) Don’t buy likes from anywhere except Facebook! Just trust me on this one. Facebook don’t like it and might react, plus also a lot of these likes are totally ‘fake” – using bots or fake profiles, and this will only harm your page at the end of the day and make it look like crap, potentially resulting in the loss of the page. Just don’t do it.

2) Don’t spam your links onto other people’s comment threads. This is a good way to get blocked from commenting (or worse!) and that’s a real hindrance. If you are going to post a link to someone’s page, ask permission first. Having said that, you may be able to post a link in a discussion / comment thread if it pertains directly to the subjects being discussed. Just be sure to be relevant and helpful to the conversation that is happening.

3) Don’t “reinvent the wheel”. It’s so much easier to do what has already been seen to work on Facebook, than to do something completely new. Something that works on one page will very often work on another. I’m not suggesting rip people off and replicate their images / posts (although many do it, I cannot recommend it here for obvious legal reasons!) I’m suggesting that you can learn what kinds of images, headlines and content get the best reaction, and make your own versions. For example, if you see a page called “top 10 things to do with_______” that was really successful, you can always write your own post, then add some more, and call it “Top 12 things to do with______”. The most important point is that it is good to observe what works best on Facebook and learn from it. All your market research has already been done for you.

4) Don’t put lame comments on people’s posts “commenting as your page” just so that you can self promote. It’s obvious, spammy and people hate it.

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The Biggest Mistake People Make In Business

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The biggest mistake in business (and also in any other form of relationship), put simply… is selfishness.

Now this sounds completely paradoxical at first. After all, isn’t business about making money for YOU?

Actually, no it isn’t. Not at all. Think about it: How can you expect to make money if all you think about is you?

There you are, all absorbed in your bright dreams, your business, your fantasy, your product, your mission, your this, your that.

But have you stopped to identify your clients and figure out what their needs are?

Getting Paid Versus “I Wanna”

Embed this principle of wealth firmly in your mind. I would go so far as to say that it is a fundamental axiom of wealth:

The degree to which you can get past “I wanna” is the degree to which you will get paid.

An employer or customer does NOT care about what you wanna do or wanna be.

They only care about the value you provide to them. And providing value means to step out of thinking only about what you want, and start considering what will be the best thing that you can possibly provide for them.

Providing value is the only real reason why you get paid.

Would Steve Jobs have gotten paid if he had thought “I wanna stay in bed today”? Or even if he had thought “I wanna make something that makes ME happy.”

No. He was able to fix his focus firmly on what other people want and deliver it better than anyone else in the world.

Parasitical Or Symbiotic?

BEING USEFUL – rather than being a parasite – is a good way to ensure that you dont get killed off….

whether you are:

• a species (pay attention, humanoids!)
• a business
• an individual looking for work
• a survivalist

– strive to make yourself indispensable! Example: Doctors are heavily relied upon. They are useful, indispensable.

Shift your focus. Start thinking about solving problems.

The most successful businesses focus on solutions. The ones that are struggling focus on products.

Of course, if you are solution – oriented, you are still selling products; it’s just that these products are entirely focused on meeting the needs of the customer, rather than just your need to sell a product. Nobody cares!

The interesting thing is, when you shift your focus to solutions, it is not necessarily any more work than focusing on products. You still have to make stuff, or do whatever it is you do. But the thing is, you are all of a sudden serving a need: and then your own needs will get met in the process. But you have to “get out of your own way”…

Get To Know Your Clients

Q: So, if you can get rich by serving people’s needs, how is it that you can provide what people need?

A: First, you need to learn what they need.

There are several tactics you might use to get on track here.

1) What problems do you have (that others also have)? What would you absolutely love to have, that does not exist? What problems can you see in the world that are without a solution? What are the biggest challenges the world faces? What is making everyone unhappy / annoyed / frustrated / suffer? What would bring the most joy or alleviate the most suffering in the world?

Can you create a product that addresses these needs? The more urgent the need, and the more effective the product… the more money you can make.

Money Is Not Evil

Everyone (apart from a few monks and ascetics) wants to make money.

There is nothing wrong with this.

The PROBLEM is at the moment, there is a huge trend towards people trying to make money without providing anything of real value in return.

The trend in business these days is to do “whatever makes a buck”.

This is the path of pushing things up hill. It is difficult, dangerous, has a habit of making enemies and of backfiring.

The trouble is, it is difficult when in survival mode to think about anything other than your immediate needs.

I am not suggesting that you let go of your needs.

I am suggesting that you strategize in solving them.

Fact is, if you concentrate on providing solutions and thinking what can I actually do best for this person / situation, you will make a lot more money!!

Money is a simple value equation: Just identify, create and provide value. Get paid. Repeat.

Anyone else who has no money, it is almost certainly because they are not providing the value to others that others most want and usually because they are only thinking about themselves.

You are going into business because it seems easier / more fun / aligned with your interests / your hobby? Aww, how cute. Nobody cares. Your customers don’t care.

If you want investment to grow your business, the principle is just the same. You have to provide value for the investor. If you provide sufficient value, they will gladly provide as much money as you need. There truly is no shortage.

So now you must ask yourself: How to provide the true value and service that your investors, your clients and your customers require.

This one question should be THE foremost question of any business owner, indeed of any professional. This IS business, period.

Keep this one question at the forefront of your mind at all times, take ACTION and you WILL succeed?

People define success as getting what you want. It is not.

The definition of success is when you provided value to someone else.

How do I provide the true value and service that my investors, clients and customers require?
How do I meet my clients needs better than the competition?
How do I best solve my clients problems?
How do I make my clients happy?
How do I improve my reliability, trustworthiness, ability to get the job done, track record, efficiency, politeness, communication skills, professionalism?

What is value?

That is defined by your clients, customers and investors, not by you! You must identify what they see as value, and figure out how to provide the most of it you possibly can!

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The Art Of Borrowing Money In A Way That Makes The Lender GLAD They Lent It To You

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Note – this article deals primarily with “private” business transactions between individuals. Many of its principles are however applicable to all aspects and types of borrowing. This is general information; not professional financial advice nor a substitute for such.

The Art Of OPM

Utilizing OPM (Other People’s Money) effectively is truly an artform. The world’s biggest, most powerful and most successful businesses borrow money all the time! Hundreds of millions! So there’s no need for any negative feelings about borrowing. It is a fundamental way to do business. However, your reasons for borrowing, your control of the situation and your execution of all details must be correct. Borrowing for the wrong reasons or with poor execution is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it, pretty soon it is all gone, and then the creditor is after you. On the other hand, OPM handled correctly is a great way to get rich, to do business and to forge strong and powerful friendships and alliances.

It is for these reasons that it is very often advised not to loan money to friends, because you will lose both the money and the friend. I would agree – it is not at all advisable to loan money to friends. The reason being, that it is no longer a business deal but is done for emotional reasons, which replace business acumen and accountability. Just don’t do it. Gift them whatever you feel like giving them, and make it clear that it is a gift, not a loan.

There Is More Money Than There Are Things To Do With It

The next concept to understand is that there is truly no shortage of money. In money circles, it is a standard joke that there is more money than there are things to do with it… which is ironic because most people think that it is the other way round. But it is a fact – there really is more money than there are things to do with it! If you have a superb business plan, great track record and can demonstrate clearly why your idea will be a success, then of course you will find backers – because who doesn’t like making money? But it is like horse racing; people simply want to bet on the winning horse. There are plenty of betters and not enough winning horses… which is why we also have the old saying that banks will give you an umbrella when the sun is shining and snatch it away when it pours.

The third thing to remember is that you’ve always got to offer the investor a slice of the action. The deal needs to be worth doing, from their point of view. As that great strategist Machiavelli once pointed out – “Appeal to their self-interest, not to their sympathy.” Money people grow to resent those who are in constant need of bailouts – yet those very same money people will always be interested in turning their money into more money. You do not want to be asking for a favor. You want to be offering a genuine opportunity. That is your principal piece of leverage, right there.

Creating and managing trust

Deals can come in all shapes, sizes and types and you can create any kind of deal you want, so long as it is legal and works for all parties.

But whatever you do, get it in writing. All too often, the reason things go wrong is because of misunderstanding or miscommunication. Getting it in writing eliminates most of that as well as creating legal accountability.

Remember that creating trust is a skill, and it is also your responsibility. It takes a little maintenance, and you as the borrower are the one who should do it.

For example if you are borrowing the money, one of the worst things you can do is act defensive if the person lending the money starts to question or doubt – because that can make them start to get fearful and freak out. Do not be offended if someone doubts you. It is not an insult. It is most likely not even about you, just about their primal fear of losing their money!

If someone has king-sized doubt in you and no faith, then you should not borrow from them in the first place, as they will hound you and worse, maybe even try to control you or force your hand. This is important to remember – and you should know about someone’s track record as an investor, just as much as they should know about your track record as an investment. If someone is a “loose cannon”, has a controlling nature or if they are highly neurotic, avoid!

During a venture, be attentive. Call the person and let them know how things are progressing. Just the very fact that you called and showed attentiveness will generate some trust, it shows the person that you actually care (otherwise, how will they know??)

And if things aren’t happening as time approaches the due date, for sure talk to them before they inquire. Do not ever wait until the due date before announcing that you don’t have it, and even worse, by the time that they are calling you asking you “Well? Where is it?” Timeliness is critical. Communication is critical.

The other super thing about building trust is that it leads to bigger deals in the future. If you have proved that you keep your agreements, trust increases. Example, I was once able to go to a trusted friend and borrow $10,000 for one of my online businesses because I have already borrowed money several times from her in the past and have a perfect track record of paying back on time. I have also always been v careful to keep her “in the loop” as to how things are progressing. I have basically proven that I will pay back. I also offered interest, a “piece of the action” and she did it without hesitation. She gave me the check the same day! You could argue that my “personal credit score” with her is really good.

So for this reason it is always good to borrow only that which is within your means to pay back. It sounds like stating the obvious but this point is so very often ignored. Don’t “max out” on either the amount or the due date, and end up with a cliff-hanger finish, because even if you are well-intentioned, investors hate that stuff and it leads to reduced willingness in the future. And you should always be looking towards the future: The relationship is the real nest egg, not the money. So don’t give them anxiety! The very best way to get a big loan from someone is to prove yourself (ideally several times already over an extended time period) with a smaller loan first time round, and have all details handled professionally, smoothly and impeccably. This will build your “personal credit score” with that person and pave the way for bigger deals in the future. You want to be in a position where they cannot wait for your next venture, and where they want to be sure to be the first in line to get their money out! Even better, when you have a solid rep, money people will start scouting for deals for you also. Money people typically have an extended network of contacts with other money people – and are coming across deals all the time.

Your biggest investors – and easiest ones to get the money from – are going to be those with whom you have already done several pieces of good business.

If The Model Is Weak, No Amount Of Investment Will Make It Fly. If The Model Is Strong, Investors Will Flock

It’s a classic mistake – probably even the all-time classic mistake – to assume that all a business may require in order to become successful is to have cash thrown at it. It might sound obvious, but so many people fall into this trap. They keep pumping money into a project hoping to “inflate” it – but to no avail. They take their money (or their investors money!) and throw it at the business, only to find that the business simply chomps all the cash and then gets hungry again really fast. They may not even be aware of what’s really going on. They just think “More money. All it needs is more money, and I will blow this thing up.”

A business should produce money, not consume it!

Enterprises do require investment in order to succeed – and a development period which must somehow be funded. That is well known. However, it is not all that they need. This is very important.

If the business model is not sound, investment will not make it so. However, if the model is sound, investment will be likely to actualize the profit.

If you find yourself thinking that all your business needs is more money, it is possible that you are in fact not facing the real obstacle(s) you need to overcome in order to become profitable. Also, bear in mind that becoming profitable first is one of the very best ways to attract financing! Who doesn’t want to bet on the horse that is already winning? Fix the model first!

This is one of the key reasons to make a business plan. You don’t just make a business plan so that you can dazzle someone and get their money. If this is what you are thinking, might be best to start again. Make the business plan in order to penetrate deep into the mystery of whether a business will actually be profitable; in order to create a really good model. Don’t create a fudged plan to impress a potential investor. Create a real one in order to model and apprehend as well as possible for yourself the reality of the business you are attempting to create. And then, when you have as good a grip on the actual dynamics as you can, and ideally some form of prototype that demonstrates that you already have profitability, you will be able to move on much more powerfully to the next step of seeking investment.

Demonstrate profitability beforehand

Many people rush out to get funding before they have made a cent, and this comes both reluctantly and at a high price. However, if you can demonstrate that you are already making money, and that you are growing, it is a much more appealing prospect. So (if possible), it is often advisable to “bootstrap” (i.e. self-fund) the first phase so that you can demonstrate some actual profit or at least some solid progress towards that point.

When you pay back, ask the investor “Well, how was that for you? Are you happy with the way it all went? Will you be interested to do further business in the future and to entertain new propositions?”

The reason why this questioning is gold is that it shows that you understand the long-term mindset, and appreciate long term relationships. You have the intention to continue to transact successfully over an extended period, and to continue to make money for your partner for a long time. This itself will lead to a further increase of trust. If you are approaching it with that mentality “It is my intention to continue to make you lots of money for a very long time”, and then you back it up time and time again, well you will have your investor. You will be an investor’s darling protege, in fact.

Another tip – offer an unexpected bonus to your “angel investor”. Be like “Ok, here is your $10k. Here is the $1k interest as promised. And here is a $500 bonus. Things went extremely well and we wanted to say thank you so much for your goodwill and your good business.”

You might think $500 is a lot to hand over “for free” but think how much that $500 is worth when you want to go back for another round. Do you think they will pick up the phone? Hell yes!!! Even though they know damn well that you are calling for money. Especially because they know you are calling for money. They might even call you!!

And that is where you want to be.

Further reading: Series A, B, C Funding: How It Works

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