How many times have you posted something exciting on your Facebook page, hoping to get a discussion going with all these people you've worked hard to attract, only to check back a day later and find...ZILCH. Nothing. No discussion, no likes...
It's like you have tumbleweed blowing through your FB page...
And yet other people seem to be hosting virtual cocktail parties on theirs! They've got people liking, LOL-ing and sharing with their friends. What's a girl to do?
Well, come closer. I'm a bit of a dab hand with FB pages and I'm going to share some of my secrets. Shhhhhh!
These days I always get likes on all my posts, and I usually get a bunch of comments and shares too among my 16,000 fans. I've worked out some key ingredients that are pretty much guaranteed to put a spark into your Facebook page and get people talking.
I've made them easy to remember too, because they are the 3 Qs.
Questions
Quandaries
Quotes
You can remember those, can't you? Easy peasy. OK let me explain further.
Questions
If I ever want to get some Pzazz on my page I ask questions. Sometimes I turn those questions into an introduction thread (GREAT for bringing people out of the woodwork because they want to talk about themselves) so I'll say 'Hi, I'm Claire from The Girls Mean Business; I'm based in the UK. Who are you, what's your business and where in the world are you?' I get a ton of responses every time to that one, and so can you.
Other questions I use are 'how did you come up with your business name?', 'what's the weather like where you are?' (yes, really) and 'what would you be doing if you weren't running your business'.
These are all easy, non-threatening questions that your fans can't get 'wrong' so they are much more likely to join in.
Quandaries
Everyone likes to help and they love nothing more than a good dilemma or situation where they can share what they know. I take questions that I've been asked on my page or that clients have asked me 'in real life' and I ask them on my FB page.
So I might say 'Help, please! Jane has been let down by her cake supplier and she needs a cake for her launch party in Leicester by tomorrow!!! Eeek. Can you help?'
Or 'Suzie has been offered the chance to buy a franchise but the franchisor has put some really strict terms in place about territories and Suzie's worried that she's being short-changed. Anyone been in this position and what would you advise' (these are fictitious)
You will get people rushing to help with advice and suggestions, they'll tag friends who might be able to help and they'll go out of their way to help Jane and Suzie find a resolution. This is human nature, it's lovely and it means you can help others on your FB page while getting a discussion going at the same time.
Quotes
This one is so easy, it's laughable. All you do is go to Brainyquote.com or one of the other quote sites and find quotes that you love and that will resonate with your fans. Then just post them, making sure that you attribute them to the person who said them (no posting quotes and taking credit for them when they're not yours). People love them and they will like and share them, pretty much every time.
Find which ones get the most likes and shares and then post more of the same!
So now you know HOW - let's look at WHY this is important. You need to work your social media to help you build your business. Step one of that process is to get people ENGAGED with you, in other words responding, liking, sharing, commenting and all those other things we just mentioned.
This is how you build a reputation as an expert and how you build relationships with your fans. Marketing is all about relationships and it's relationships that make people buy from you, because they know, like and trust you.
The next step is to get them on your list of hot leads or your database, but that's another blog for another day.
In the meantime, get working your 3 Qs and report back with your successes, please!