12 ways to add fans to your professional or topical Facebook page

If you’re a professional web writer, a internet journalist, or a busy blogger, you have likely already created a Facebook page to share your posts. (I have more than 10 Facebook pages, for example, in addition to my own profile page.)

How can you encourage folks to follow or “like” your Facebook page?

Here are 12 simple steps you can take to maximize exposure for your page and bump up your likelihood of gaining new fans.

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1. Be sure to “like” your own page.

This sounds like a no-brainer, but a surprising number of writers skip this step.

Here’s a bonus. If you have multiple Facebook pages (as for a variety of blogs), be sure to “like” each page by each of your other pages. Suppose you have four Facebook pages. That means each one should immediately have four “likes.”

That way, your page thumbnail links all appear on each other’s pages as well. Be advised that you may have to adjust the settings on each page, so you can click your likes AS THE PAGE in each case. Then you can reset to post as yourself again.

2. Create a cool page logo/graphic, and share it on social media.

Ideally, your thumbnail image (or avatar) for your Facebook page will be a colorful graphic that includes the name of your page in distinct, easy-to-read lettering. Use any simple design program to make this image.

3. Send invitations directly to friends and colleagues

As soon as your Facebook page goes live, go ahead and invite existing Facebook friends that you seriously believe may find it of interest.

Avoid inviting the same person more than once, if possible. This is tricky, as Facebook does not yet allow such sorting. You pretty much have to remember on your own.

4. Share insightful quotes.

https://www.facebook.com/FrugaluptuousFoodsAndFun

Facebookers love sharing popular quotations. Pithy sayings, telling statements, and poignant comments make the rounds quickly. Any time your page’s post is shared, that page receives added circulation. Who knows how many individuals will “like” your page after seeing its content shared?

5. Put up jokes or surprising items.

Riddles, quips, and sarcastic statements are crowd-pleasing Facebook page fodder. Like key quotations, these tend to be shared readily.

6. Post interesting photos or graphics.

Scenic pictures, adorable animal or children pictures, and appealing illustrations are also successful Facebook shares. If these start on your page, you can reap the benefits of these pass-alongs.

Sharing content from others’ Facebook pages (using the handy button, which preserves the link and credits the original page) adds to your own page’s value, while introducing your page to those whose material you have shared.

7. Add charts, graphs, or thought-provoking statistics.

Newsy or informative tables, data slides, checklists, and fact boxes make super sharables on Facebook pages as well. Just be sure to respect copyrights and credit any sources.

8. Include artwork, cartoons or sketches.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Practically-at-Home/452445621498965

Original or public domain art adds plenty to a Facebook page. Drawings, line art, and comic strips are frequent favorites. Make your own, related to your page’s theme, or ask other sources for permission to share.

9. Publish your own insights.

Do you have any quick comments to share? Maybe you feel like responding to a hot issue that pertains to your page subject. If your idea warrants an article or blog post, go for it. If it’s briefer, put it up as a status.

Keep your Facebook page active and engaging, and you’ll keep fans checking in.

10. Post links – but not just to your own stuff.

Facebook pages are ideal for posting links to stories, columns, articles, and other online content. That’s why we writers make such pages in the first place. However, to foster community and to make a page much more interesting, many a writer will share links to content from multiple sources.

Facebook and other social networking sites encourage variety of sourcing. Constant linking from a single source or site smacks of spam, which is a four-letter word of the worst sort to a web writer.

11. Invite others to post on your page.

This is a fun way to bring new folks into the fold. Do you belong to a Facebook group? Why not invite fellow members to post their own links on your page? You might even start a topical discussion thread on your page and invite links on a specific topic or question.

12. Avoid link trades.

Hosts of Facebook page administrators offer to “like” your pages, if you will “like” theirs in return. Sure, this may raise your “likes” number, but will these reciprocating users actually read what’s on your page? This is sort of like link-buying communities, which brings us back to that dreaded “S” word again (that rhymes with “ham”). It’s just not worth it.

Let’s face it. The more fans you have for your Facebook page, the more visibility your own posts and your own site will receive. Go get ‘em!

Add fans to your Facebook page to promote your own online writing or blog site.

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