Getting more fans on Facebook

[AAttias]

Does anyone have any tips or experience on how they increased their Facebook fan base? I work in the oil/fuel industry and getting people to like your Facebook page is quite difficult because our customers are mostly middle-aged men, who if statistics are to be believed aren't the most active on social media anyway.

I've been doing regular posts for the past couple of weeks, liking other pages and joining conversations but don't seem to be getting any increase in followers.

Does anyone have any advice, ideas or examples of what you did that worked?

Thanks

[Marcus_Miller]

I guess the big question is whether facebook is a relevant platform for marketing this business. If your customers and prospects are not there, and the business has little to share in terms of interesting, shareable content, then... maybe you are barking up the wrong tree?

[webfeatseo]

Well, some niches just aren't meant for social activity.

However, you can still succeed with the right content. What exactly are you posting to your page? Try going with some creative content ideas or throwing some contests. If your business is a local company, partner up with some local businesses to  give away gift cards and other prizes in exchange for likes. And then promote that contest through each site.

Try running community events and just stuff that will get people engaged. I know one company that runs a FB fantasy football league.

[AAttias]

The main reason we do social media is for SEO. I believe that the social triggers have an impact on SEO and that's why we want to be there.

At the moment, I'm putting up relevant news stories and because we supply oil, this time of year is when we sell a lot of home heating oil - so I'm trying to push that. I have come up with a few ideas like 10 ways to save on your heating bill but I don't want to put a lot of effort into something that won't work.

Contests are not really suitable for us because the vast majority of our business is from B2B sales. Unless someone has a good idea, I don't see the relevance.

I was thinking of giving away company stationery for likes, but I think the problem is directing people to the page in the first place.

There is an energy saving week coming up in just over a week, but it's a bit late for us to organise something and promote it properly.

[AAttias]

The main reason we do social media is for SEO. I believe that the social triggers have an impact on SEO and that's why we want to be there.

At the moment, I'm putting up relevant news stories and because we supply oil, this time of year is when we sell a lot of home heating oil - so I'm trying to push that. I have come up with a few ideas like 10 ways to save on your heating bill but I don't want to put a lot of effort into something that won't work.

Contests are not really suitable for us because the vast majority of our business is from B2B sales. Unless someone has a good idea, I don't see the relevance.

I was thinking of giving away company stationery for likes, but I think the problem is directing people to the page in the first place.

There is an energy saving week coming up in just over a week, but it's a bit late for us to organise something and promote it properly.

[webfeatseo]

One of my businesses is B2B and I have found that engaging people on LinkedIN is a good way to get people back to my FB page.

I join in a variety of groups on there and just talk to anybody in my market

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey Brian, if the only reason you are doing this is for an SEO benefit you would be better concentrating on the content, adding some social sharing buttons (like, tweet, +1, recommend) and then directing your efforts in other directions.

This is a good read:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/do-improved-social-signals-cause-improved-rankings

[KeriMorgret]

A thought for a content idea -- FAQs for someone who is new to oil heating. This comes from my own situation right now, as I sit in front of a wood-burning fireplace and I'm afraid to turn on our oil-burning furnace. We moved into this house a couple of months ago, and the neighbors told us that all of the walls were repainted because of the oil stains, and we're seeing stains by one vent near the carpet. We're using space heaters and the fireplace until we can get a gas line to the house and a gas furnace installed. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has relocated and found myself in this situation. It may not cause me to be a forever fan on your facebook page, but it might turn me into a heating oil customer if I were convinced there was a good way to get heat.

[CMC-SD]

Some industries just aren't suited to Facebook or Twitter, because people aren't interested in thinking about that niche in their free time, or because your target audience isn't active on social media. You should still have a presence there and occasionally participate, but don't expect amazing results.

Have you already captured your low-hanging fruit -- inviting your most faithful repeat customers to connect with you on social media? Every employee should have a link to your Facebook page in their e-mail signature. Then social media becomes a brand loyalty tool.

[Marcus_Miller]

I think this is exactly the point - no matter now boring you perceive it, now matter how niche the problem your business solves, then there is someone out there who needs that information.

Now, whether they will share it or not is another matter but if you answer those questions, they will certainly find you and then you can look at other ways of converting a percentage of those visitors in leads or prospects down the road.