Tag Archives: Facebook Pages

The World’s Greatest Up-Sell: Facebook Pages

Posted on by

Facebook is getting really good at making money. They do a great job up-selling their ads with Facebook pages. I want to reveal their strategy in hopes you can do the same to your business.

Step 1: Create a Facebook Page without even knowing it

They promote the ability to create a Facebook page in lots of interesting ways. My favorite one is on user profiles. Facebook asks you to enter in where you work and automatically creates it into a Facebook Business Page that other users can “Like”. This will prompt the business owner to have lots of “Likes” before their page is even started.

Works at Flying Cart - Facebook Page

Step 2: Invite all your friends so you can actually name it.

They prompt you to invite all your friends. They actually don’t let you name your page until you have received at least 25 likes. This gets you to start obsessing over the # of likes you have.

Facebook Pages - Invite Your Friends

Step 3: Sell ads to get more “Likes”

When you are on your own Facebook Page they show you what your advertisement could look like with a call-to-action button that says “Get More Likes”

Sample Ad for a Facebook Page to get you to start advertising

Step 4: Keep the “Like” obsession going with analytics

They email you weekly insights on how many fans you have and get you really worried if the numbers are going up or down. At the bottom of the email they have a convenient link to promote your Facebook page with ads.

In summary what Facebook has done is pretty brilliant. They have other users collecting “Likes” for your business before it even launches. They then get you obsessed with the number of likes you have. Then they up-sell you ads to get more likes.

This is an old strategy that works

This strategy has been around for years. My first recollection of this is Yellow Pages. They list your business in their directory for free. You either learn about their service from a client that told you they found you through Yellow Pages or you were also an end consumer yourself. Once things get rolling they ask you to “upgrade” your profile by bolding your name or placing an advertisement in their book.

Yelp follows this model as well. They list every business possible  for free and up sell ads.

Google probably takes the cake on this. They crawl the entire web. Give you Google Analytics so you know that customers are coming from Google. They then upsell you ads so you can get more people to your website through them.

In conclusion, if you run a business that has massive amounts of use, consider doing some soft upsells like Facebook.

Post Facebook Status Updates at 11p EST

Posted on by
Screen Shot of the Facebook Wall - Questions get more Engagement
Ask a question and you shall receive answers…. lots of answers

Today, I have a special treat for you. Karishma Shah teamed up with me to write this blog post about increasing engagement on your Facebook and Twitter account.

Karishma Shah is the Marketing Manager at Live Nation Entertainment and has helped grow the Ticketmaster’s Twitter account to 28k followers and their Ticketmaster Facebook page to 114k likes.

 

All data is based on engagement studies done through Mashable and Buddy Media.

How to increase engagement on brand pages:

  • Sunday is a good day to increase posting. Weekends in general are good posting days for entertainment, retail, and sports brands.
  • Fans like to see context about shortened URL links – want to know where the link will take them. A brand specific link might work better. (For example NYTimes uses http://nyti.ms) You can use Bit.ly Pro for custom branded short links.
  • Asking fans for engagement increases engagement (like asking questions)
  • Fans respond better to “softer sell” keywords with sweepstakes, contest, or promotions. (Use events, winning, win, offer – not contest or promotion)

Timing Matters:

  • Posting times are crucial to Facebook Page success
    • 3 time peaks: early morning (7am EST), after work (5pm EST), and late night (11pm EST)
      • You can use something like timely to update your status at the perfect time
      • Brands that posted outside of business hours had 20% higher engagement rates
  • Entertainment brands have most engagement on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – take advantage of the weekend
  • Retail Brands have most engagement on Sundays – target shoppers on Sunday
  • Sports Brands have most engagement on Sundays – Increase post volume on Sunday
Skittles Facebook Wall showing how less text in status updates results in more likes
Shorter Updates Get More Likes

Be Concise:

  • Posts with 80 characters or less had 27% more engagement than posts with 80+. Practice brevity
  • Full-length URLs had 3x the engagement than shortened.
    • Readers like knowing where the post will take them – they want context. Brand specific URL shortener might work best here again.
  • Asking for engagement will incite engagement – “like this post”
  • Ask questions at the end of posts
    • Avoid how, who, what, did, and why questions – they receive lower engagement
    • Use where, when, would, should
Want more?
I created a PDF on 5 Ways to Dominate Facebook Pages that goes into detail what top brands are doing to drive more likes and how you can replicate their success. Sign up for my newsletter here to get access to it.