Using Facebook Promotions To Acquire New Fans
Have you thought about running promotions to increase your fanbase on Facebook. Facebook promotions are hugely popular right now and they are a great way to acquire new fans. We outline some of the most popular techniques below.
1. Pull a name out of the hat. (Sweepstakes)
Sweepstakes is a random draw in which anybody can easily sign up and have an equal chance of winning. Typically, a user can enter the contest by providing basic information - often just an email address. The winner will then be chosen at a nearby date.
Many promotional apps are available (the most popular being Wildfire) that require a visitor to Like your Page in order to enter the contest.
To increase familiarity with your Page you can allow for people to re-enter the contest on a daily basis. For the visitor, this would increase their chances. But for your Page, it drives potential interaction because they are regularly coming back to you.
Pros
- Requires very little from the visitor
- Successful across many industries
- People have offline familiarity
- Can obtain useful information for marketing purposes
Cons
- Unreliable targeting - anybody can enter the contest to win
- People can often enter multiple times using different email addresses
- Incentivised Likes are often of low value
2. Cutest baby contest. (Contests)
A contest whereby a winner is chosen through a public or private vote. The audience must provide the best content whether that be the funniest caption to an image, a great drawing or the cutest baby. This type of content presents a challenge to your audience and if they believe they can win, they will enter it.
There does not always have to be a prize at the end as often personal gratification and public recognition is a reasonable reward. However, a reward model does encourage people to enter.
To get people to return to your Page you should regularly post entertaining entries and encourage commentary. Ask for people’s opinions and thoughts - this will create conversation and sharing.
Pros
- Creates conversation
- Very entertaining
- Makes your audience feel part of something
- Gives personality to your brand
Cons
- Requires a minimum number of fans to spark participation
- A risk if there is no conversations or interest
3. 50% off when you Like our Page! (Coupons)
Often, commercial companies will give fans exclusive offers on social media channels. 36.9% of Facebook users and 43.5% of Twitter users said they connect with brands using social media to stay in the loop on special offers.
This giveaway approach gives a monetary reason for a person to Like your brand and they will usually continue to watch your feed in order to discover new deals.
However, paying for a potential customer’s attention is not nearly as valuable as obtaining it organically. This is because people just want the deal and have no emotional attachment to your brand.
Pros
- Often creates conversation with close friends as they want to share the deal
- Can work in virtually any industry
Cons
- Low barrier to entry - anybody can enter just for the deal so may not be your target audience
- Can enter multiple email addresses
- Usually very little engagement once the deal is redeemed
General Tips
Grab attention, quickly
Make sure people can understand exactly what the promotion is and how they can participate almost instantly. People are busy and you usually only have a few seconds to grab attention. Facebook is designed to give people content immediately and in an easy to digest way. This inherently makes Facebook users less attentive to posts.
Ensure that the return is worth the entry
You will inevitably want to gain something more than just a Like out of the promotion - an email address, survey completion, higher engagement. If the return doesn’t reward the effort in participating then people will be less likely to take part. Also, make sure that the return is relevant - if its a giveaway then make sure the prize fits your audience.
At least get an email address
Although you want to gain more more fans, these promotional tactics are a great way to acquire contact information. Of course, you have the ability to market via a persons Facebook feed but an email address allows you market via another powerful medium. Attempt to get more information out of the person so that you can segment them - but ensure the return on promotion is worth the entry (see above). Remember, to comply with Facebook Promotion Guidelines, you cannot use Facebook to notify ‘winners’. This means you cannot announce winners via a message, chat or Timeline post - almost rendering an email address as vital.
Optimise for mobile
Mobile traffic to Facebook is huge, like really huge. A whopping 195.2 million people access the Facebook on the native iOS app alone.
Keep it simple
If you ask for too much then less people will enter. Try to obtain just simple bits of information - think “do we really need to know this?” Sometimes just an email address and Like is enough.
Build it and they will come
You may have just created the world’s greatest ever promotion but don’t presume that people will just enter. If nobody knows about it then it will not be a success. Use your digital channels (Twitter, Facebook (of course), website, email etc.) to try and gather attention and stimulate sharing. If you can, try and get influential bloggers and tweeters in your sector to help in the promotion. This will require coordination pre-launch of the promotion.
When developed and implemented correctly, promotions on Facebook can be an incredibly powerful tool to not only acquire new Fans but drive awareness and engagement.
We would love to hear about any promotions you have created in that past or will do in the future. Share your experiences in the comments.