grassrootsy

Turning Facebook Likes Into Loves

We all struggle with this. You’ve got several hundreds (or thousands) of fans on Facebook but none of them are engaging with you. What’s the point of a Facebook Page if noboby is using it? How many true blue fans do you really have? Here are some tips to make your already existing fans, fans for life.

ASK QUESTIONS
As the story goes, we as “marketers” are more prone to post something on Facebook or Twitter when we’re trying to “advertise” something.  Take a different approach by posting random comments, questions, and non-music things that will keep people engaged. Try posting pointless trivia questions or random videos…content that you might post on your personal profile.

DON’T DEACTIVATE THE WALL.
Some musicians and businesses change their settings so that they’re the only ones who can comment on their own page. BIG MISTAKE and a huge turnoff. Fans want to interact with you and the wall is the best place to do it. Unfortunately, Facebook doesn’t give us the option to comment on our fans’ walls. That would be great.  So right now, your wall is the only option you have. Make good use of it.

BE AS ACCESSIBLE AS POSSIBLE.
In my opinion, one of the biggest negatives of a Facebook Page is that fans cannot send direct, private messages to bands, like they can with a Facebook Profile. If you’re a solo artist, consider giving fans the URL for your Facebook Profile and tell them they can contact you that way. Stick that in the “info” section. You should also provide your email address. You’d be surprised by how often bands don’t do this. But I’ve found that fans prefer to send messages via Facebook instead of taking it to their email account. About 30% of my bookings come by private messages through my personal Profile’s inbox.

On another note, respond to fans’ wall comments ASAP. If people are commenting on your page, you should acknowledge them. Plain and simple. And you should respond sooner than later.

DON’T FALL OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
If I visit a page and there hasn’t been one update in 2-4 weeks, that page becomes less important to me.  Obviously its not the place to get current information because there is none.  Try to post something new on your page every day or every other day. In my opinion there’s nothing wrong with posting a few times a day – just not as frequently as you do on Twitter. If people know they will find what they need on your page, they are more likely to visit more often.

GIVE YOUR FANS SOME OWNERSHIP
Make sure your fans feel like they are a part of the page. Click “Edit Page” and change your settings. Check these  boxes:

• “Users can add photos”
• “Users can add tags to photos by Joy Ike”
• “Users can add videos”
• “Users can write or post content on the wall”

UPDATE
If you’re using various apps, make sure you’re visiting them to keep them fresh. For example, update your Calendar regularly! People will be looking at that for sure. Also, change up your Page photo every once in a while. It not mandatory. It just keeps things fresh.
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Want to gauge your effectiveness? Thanks to Facebook Insights, you can get a really great idea of how your fans are using your page.

If you have other suggestions on ways to keep your fans engaged, leave them in the comments section.
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