1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

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1000 FANS
N E I S S S U DAYS! B 0 3 IN
The first 1,000 fans are usually the hardest to get. This 30-day (6 week) plan will help get your page off to a good start and help you build the right audience to help your organization, business or nonprofit to achieve their marketing goals through social media.

Social Catalysts

Content/sweepstakes Contest promotion Quarterly photo contest Guest posting from community partners Facebook advertising Tag yourself in photos ASK for the like (or share, or whatever) Make your fans famous (fan of the day/week/month) Highlight and celebrate fan milestones (with photobadges) Host a Facebook Chat

Fan Boosters

Daily Organic

Daily engaging content about community involvement Post 2012 MarketingSavant Photos richer media = richer engagement Daily drive-to

1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

www.marketingsavant.com

1000 FANS
N E I S S S U DAYS! B 0 3 N I
The first 1,000 fans are usually the hardest to get. This 30-day (6 week) plan will help get your page off to a good start and help you build the right audience to help your organization, business or nonprofit to achieve their marketing goals through social media.

Social Catalysts

Content/sweepstakes Contest promotion Quarterly photo contest Guest posting from community partners Facebook advertising Tag yourself in photos ASK for the like (or share, or whatever) Make your fans famous (fan of the day/week/month) Highlight and celebrate fan milestones (with photobadges) Host a Facebook Chat

Fan Boosters

Daily Organic

Daily engaging content Post about community involvement Photos richer media = richer engagement Daily drive-to Post on weekends

1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

Week 1
Day 1
Create Facebook ads to drive potential fans to the page. Test
a series of ads (copy and images). While youre at it, create a succinct value proposition to share across channels that will quickly explain the value of the page and entice new fans to Like you. C  ontest related ads Promote current weekly (or monthly, or quarterly) promotion, encouraging viewers to visit the page and enter. P  romote Page Posts with a perpetual ad that simply promotes the most recent post on the page and uses it as Facebook ad content Specialty ads (ads reflecting the various products and services offered within your company)

Day 2

Get employees and friends involved. While this may seem a bit

too personal, its one of the tactics behind many successful Facebook fan pages. The next thing you want to do to grow your fan page is utilize close friends on Facebook. I am not talking about online acquaintances, I am talking about people you probably have met or have interacted with on Facebook quite a few times. Create a script and encourage your employees (the best brand ambassadors you have) to invite friends and family. Is this the most targeted group? No, its really not, so if this step doesnt appeal to you, I get that, but in the interest of fan growth, this is one tactic that many pages have used to get a quick early boost.

Day 3

Send to your email list. One of the best ways to drive fans to your page is to invite them from
where they already are, whether thats on your email or mailing list or from your service counter.

Day 4

Point to Facebook at every touchpoint. Map out all of your

customer touchpoints (the check-out counter, offices, invoices, on-hold voicemail messages and so forth) and ensure that your Facebook page (along with the accompanying value proposition) is mentioned.

Day 5

Embed a link to your Facebook page into your email signature. Many of your customers, clients, vendors and distributors may not

know you have a Facebook page. Encourage all employees to embed a link to your Facebook page in their email signature so everyone who receives an email has a direct link and call to action to like your page.

1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

Week 2
Day 6
Reach out to local partners and team up with other relevant Facebook pages.
Its one thing to share other pages Facebook posts, but if you can get other pages to share your content, youre really on your way to increasing your fan base. Reach out to a couple of complimentary businesses or organizations and propose an agreement whereby you share each others content on a fairly regular basis.

Day 7

Use the @ mention feature to tag other Facebook pages. Facebook allows you to tag

other pages in your status updates as a means of recognizing and interacting with that page and their fans. By typing the @ symbol in front of the page name, you create a link to that page. If that company likes your page, your post will show up on their wall and in the news feeds of their fans as well as your own. Tag pages of local businesses around you, nonprofits that you support or organizations that youre a member of. Reciprocal tagging helps to grow your base of fans slowly but consistently. Tag at least 1 page/week and follow the pages, as a brand, of those local orgs that you support.

Day 8

Start writing compelling Facebook notes. The Facebook note feature allows you to write

about whatever you want without being confined to the limited space available within a normal status update. You can also tag other pages in your note to help ensure that your note gets noticed. Notes can then be shared by fans, so make sure that your note includes some type of call to action. The best notes are those that have some type of personal or emotional element woven in. Write thoughtful notes that people can relate to and will be excited about sharing.

Day 9

like the fan page box (like many sites have in the sidebar) that you can embed in your blog or website. Anyone who missed your announcement post about the fan page can still see that you have a community rolling on one of the hottest social media platforms.

Start cross-promoting on your other social platforms and on your website. Facebook makes a series of great tools

Day 10

Leverage followers on other social networks. Chances are you have a different group of

followers on Twitter than you have on Facebook, or LinkedIn or Pinterest. Encourage your followers on other social networks to Like your Facebook page, and be sure to guarantee a Facebook experience that is unique from all the other networks.

1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

Week 3
Day 11
Tap into your influencer network. Every brand has fans, advocates and supporters who are
considered network hubs or sneezers who, with the click of a button, can share your message (and thusly, your fan page) with dozens, hundreds or thousands of like-minded people. Look for 10-25 influencers in your network and reach out the each one of them individually with a succinct message and a link to your page.

Day 12

Offer a Facebook Only resource, offer or download. Something exclusive only for

our Facebook fans is how you might position something like a free download, special offer, special content, product or service discount. Use a proper Facebook app from a place like ShortStack (www. shortstack.com) to like-gate the resource or discount to ensure that youre gaining fans for each download or discount.

Day 13

Facilitate conversations on your page. Posting fre-

quent Facebook updates is a great way to stay in your fans news feeds and increases the likelihood that your content will be shared. Get into the habit of posting status updates daily. Post videos, pictures and links to other websites and blog posts. Use the question feature to elicit feedback and encourage fan interaction. Bonus: Post a Question of the Day to encourage responses around an interesting, educational or fun topic. WBAY posts a question a day and receives dozens of likes, comments and shares for each question.

Day 14

Encourage user generated content. Getting your fans involved in sharing content is a great

way to grow your fan base. Ask customers to post pictures of themselves using your product or enjoying your service. Encourage fans to guest post and share their post with their personal network.

Day 15

Incentivize Facebook fan referrals. Asking your fans to refer your Facebook page to their

friends is more effective than you might think. Your fans have liked your page for a reason; they really are fans of your company and believe in what youre doing as an organization. Thats why most fans are more than happy to pass on the word to their friends and family. You could even sweeten the deal a little by installing a referral app that tracks your fans referrals and rewards them accordingly.

1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

Week 4
Day 16
Integrate Facebook into your real life events. Take opportunities like
trade shows, fairs, charity events or seminars to spread the word about your Facebook page. These events force you to come into contact with a whole crowd of people who make up your target market. Hand out business cards with the specific Facebook URL (use fb.com/YouruUserName) or offer a QR code to scan to make it easy for people to like your page.

Day 17

Incorporate Facebook into your print material. Brochures, handouts, and mailers are all

great opportunities to direct your customers to your Facebook page. Youre going to have print collateral anyway, why not take that opportunity to further promote your Facebook page and recruit a few more eager fans in the process.

Day 18

Scan the News Feed for opportunities to comment and share. Interacting with other

brands Facebook pages is a great way to increase your exposure and drive fans to your page. Each day, scan your news feed for posts that you can add valuable insight to or even share with your fans. This shows your community that youre listening and encourages others to reciprocate.

Day 19

Mind your EdgeRank to increase viral fan base growth. Now is the time to really start

paying attention to Facebook EdgeRank and your Insights data. EdgeRank is the algorithm used by Facebook to determine whether or not a post will show up in your fans news feeds. The components that factor in to a posts EdgeRank include type of content (picture, video, link, plain text) and how many times it was shared, liked, commented on or clicked. The key to organically growing your fan base is to get more people to talk about you. Start monitoring the Talking About This and Viral Reach stats in Facebook Insights and learn from those days when your posts improved those metrics. Refine your content to do more of what your audience likes, and pull back on the content that doesnt impact the aforementioned metrics.

Day 20

Improve your EdgeRank by following a few simple principles. Now that youve done a

deep dive into your engagement metrics, lets further refine our content using the following principles. U  se a personal tone By now, youre getting to know your fans. Speak to them as though they are friends and always put the needs of your audience first. A  lways use a call-to-action - If you want your users to take some action, you must ask them to! So try saying, Tell me what you think, or Like this update if you like X. E  voke emotion and inspire debate Use relevant current news and hot topics. P  ost during peak hours Maximize post visibility in these peak Facebook hours: Early Morning (7am 9am), End of Work (5pm 7pm), Late Night (11pm 1am) T  he richer the media, the richer the engagement Always use photos or videos in each post to capture the attention and imagination of your audience.

1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

Week 5
Day 21
Offer a Facebook-exclusive promotion.
Research shows that the main reason people Like a Facebook business page is to receive some type of promotion or discount. Give people a reason to like your page by periodically offering your fans a discount on your services, free merchandise or an informative e-book or white paper. Advertise these promotions on your blog and other social networks so they know what theyre missing by not being a fan.

Day 22

(Start Running) Frequent Facebook contests. Maintaining an engaging Facebook page

is one of the best ways to consistently attract new fans. Contests allow you to interact with your fans and give your fans a reason to visit your page every day. There are lots of great applications that you can use to help you get your contest up and running, Wildfire being the most popular. Come up with 4 to 40 different contest ideas that you could run each week over the course of the month.

Day 23

Use exposure in traditional media outlets to promote your page. Any newspaper col-

umns, interviews or commercials should reference your Facebook page. Traditional media outlets are a great way to reach your target audience in a different medium and direct them to your page. Doing press releases about Facebook specific events and promotions can generate additional targeted traffic as well.

Day 24

Befriend and leverage local and industry bloggers. Similar to how you can leverage tra-

ditional media, industry and local bloggers (and influencers on Twitter for that matter) can be a great asset in growing your fan base. Offer them an exclusive interview, access to content or resources, or advance notice of exciting things. If youre running a promotion, figure out how you can get these bloggers involved, or have them be your personal spokespeople. Remember, the best selling is always done by third parties on your behalf.

Day 25

Start a Meme and spread it on Facebook. Take something

from pop culture and put your brands spin on it. Memes that are clever or funny have the best chances of being shared, so try to use some humor and be original. Be sure to come up with an original hashtag for your meme so that it will translate beyond Facebook when people are driving traffic back to your page.

1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

Week 6
Day 26
Start adding video to Facebook. Posting video on
Facebook is right up there with posting photos in terms of generating potentially viral activity that can grow your fan base. Now that youve built a good base of fans, its time to start capturing videos of Q&A with employees, show behind-the-scenes footage of your company, explain new technologies or offerings and capture impromptu customer testimonials.

Day 27

Start getting your fans to weigh in with their votes. An avid fan community on Facebook

can make for a great discussion group when posed the right questions and scenarios. Start using your Facebook fan audience as an impromptu focus group. Thought provoking questions not only incite a response but are also likely to be shared. Make sure to follow a few simple concepts. Be sure to ask a real question, ask questions you actually want answers to, try questions that are topical or relevant and always be clear why youre polling.

Day 28

Post during peak hours and schedule on weekends. There is a substantial amount of re-

search out there that offers suggestions about the best times of day and days of the week to post on Facebook. You could post the worlds best status update, but if you post it at 6:00pm on a Friday, you may not get the kind of response as you would have if you had posted it at 7:30am that same day. Do a little research of your own and figure out when your optimal posting times are for maximum sharing and interacting.

Day 29

Host a Facebook Chat. This is a great monthly feature, but it only works well when you have a

good audience to chime in. Once youre near your 1000 fan milestone, youll start to see the type of interaction that makes these Facebook chats work. Pick a hot topic and have an in-house resource or trusted partner as a featured guest for an hour at a peak time on Facebook (it may be in the evening or over a lunch hour). You could also offer access to a local partner or complimentary business and use the celebrity status to drive interest in the chat.

Day 30

Celebrate your 1000 fan milestone! By this point, you should be at your first 1000 fans.

Hopefully youve been celebrating the fan milestones at each round number (and maybe event rewarding those fans along the way) to generate a bit of buzz each time you get the a new level. Use your 1000 fan milestone as a great opportunity to celebrate that fan, and celebrate the fans that got you this far. Now is also a good time to start doing fan of the week recognition to gain even more followers from like-minded friends of your fans.

1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

Bonus!
Day 31+
Today is a bonus day! There are many optional ways to get new fans to your page. Direct mail your current customers. Many organizations - especially small businesses or
those who dont have great access to customer emails - find themselves with a bunch of addresses and no email. Well, why not do a clever direct mail piece to generate a few additional likes for your page and to remind those customers whove not heard from you in a while that youre still here and ready to serve them again! Use this space to include other ideas youve seen that youd like to incorporate into your fan building strategy. __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

1000 Fans in 30 Business Days

Repeating Your Success

Weekly
Businesses can increase their fan base growth by running weekly mini-contests based on themes and events that resonate with the audience. Small prizes and a simple form
for entry using a third-party app like Short Stack apps can greatly increase the number of non-fans paying attention to the brand each week, resulting in a significant boost in fans in a short amount of time.

Find inspiration on other Facebook pages. They say imitation

is the most sincere form of flattery. Research some of the most successful Facebook pages in your industry and try to implement some of the unique things they do on their page to create a page to build your own fan base.

Post shareable content. Even if you can get your point across with a

plain sentence or two, its always better to include a picture, video or link in your Facebook post. Attaching some form of media to your posts improves the likelihood that they will be shared. The more your status updates are shared, the more people are exposed to your content and feel compelled to like your page.

Monthly

Continue to feature customers and staff members of the month. Or feature any other

people your company can help to make a little bit famous through the Facebook page. Each person that you highlight has the potential to share the brand story with dozens to hundreds of potential new fans.

Write guest blog posts. Anytime you have an opportunity to shine in front of someone elses audience, take it. Reach out to a complimentary business or micro-media site and offer to write a guest blog post for them. Your post should include your bio with a link and call to action directing readers to your Facebook post. The fact that your article is being published on someone elses wall makes it more valuable than if you had simply posted it on your own, because its reaching an entirely new yet targeted audience.

Yearly

Run a large company-wide challenge contest throughout the local area. The challenge would leverage the Facebook channel as a destination for registration and news about the yearly challenge.

Create a Facebook app. There are countless unique Facebook applications available to brand

pages, but if you cant find one that suites your needs, you can always have a web developer create one. Focus on creating an application that relates to your brand, rather than a random game or promotion. An app that allows users to set up an appointment, order a product or track their purchase could be useful to your fans and save time for your staff.

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