7 Tips To Get More Likes on Facebook Always remember that success in social media marketing is all about the community.

There are over 1.65 billion users on Facebook each month. If you are trying to find your target market online, chances are they are on Facebook – waiting for your brand to make a strong impression. This is why almost half of digital marketers consider Facebook as one of their primary channels of promotion.

If this number includes you, then you are probably scratching your head over what makes the Facebook community tick. What is the formula for getting more likes and gaining maximum exposure for your brand? Below are seven of the best tips that you should consider:

1. Include Social Buttons on Your Site

First things first, if you already have an established blog or company website, make sure you include plugins that enable likes and shares on social media. You need to make your Facebook page, as well as other channels of promotion, discoverable on your website. This way, you can offer your audience a way to keep in touch and be more receptive of your promotions in the future.

There are plenty of plugins that help you incorporate social features on your site. For your main page, you can use a tool like Page Pluginfrom Facebook for Developers. For specific posts, you can use the Like Button. Both tools can help you increase facebook page likes and shares while keeping your audience on your site.

2. Include Searchable Info on Your Facebook Page

Another way to improve the discoverability of your brand is to optimize your Facebook page information. Every aspect of your page – from profile picture to description – should contribute to building your brand's identity. Also, when it comes to your page's description, be sure to include as much information as you possibly can.

Think about what an audience needs to know in case they want to contact you. Phone numbers, business address, your main website -- consider everything that will help them connect. If you are setting up your Facebook page for the first time, you should be able to find the appropriate fields where you can fill in your business details.

Keep in mind that there are both "short" and "long" descriptions available for Facebook pages. For the brief description, it is best to be straightforward. Introduce what you do, add in a CTA and then your website's full URL. For the long description, provide a clear overview of your company, a link to your website, and all the other information that describes your business.

If you do not know what to write on your Facebook description, you can refer to this post from Buffer Social.

3. Promote Facebook Offline

Promoting your Facebook online may be more convenient for you and your prospects, but you should never pass up the opportunity to promote your page offline. If your company has access to physical marketing materials such as business cards, flyers, in-store signs, and product packaging, make sure to include your Facebook page's short URL.

Make sure you modify your Facebook page URL and make it more branded. This will also make it easier for your audience to remember it. Another great strategy is to generate a custom QR barcode to your site. This enables your audience to quickly scan the code and access your Facebook page directly from their mobile device. For this, you can use a free tool such as this QR code generator from QRStuff.com.

4. Invite People You Know

Facebook users are more likely to interact with a page that already has many likes. This is a form of "social proof" that increases your credibility and trust between you and your prospects. However, if your Facebook page has zero likes, then you'll have a tough time trying to establish a social following.

As a business, you can easily solve this problem by inviting your existing community to like your Facebook page. This includes your employees, business partners, and professional networks. A simple way to do this is to broadcast an email that contains the link to your page as well as a short personal message of your appreciation.

You can also take advantage of the "Invite Friends" feature on your Facebook page. This should give your page a quick boost regarding likes. It may not be much, but even a few likes can spark a massive social following in the future.

5. Promote Engaging Content

The phrase "build it and they will come" is not applicable in Facebook marketing. You also need to the extra effort in content development that will deliver valuable information to your audience and generate more followers. Take note that this is traditionally done by creating the post from your blog and then sharing the link on Facebook. Today, you can utilize Instant Articles to offer content within Facebook itself.

There are a few things you need to consider for promoting great content. One, you should include visual content such as images, infographics, and videos in your content strategy as they are sufficient for capturing the audience's attention. Research indicates that content with relevant images can get up to 94% more views than plain text posts. If you do not have access to branded visual content, you should consider stock photos from sites like Pixabay.com and Shutterstock.com.

Additionally, be sure to promote consistently. Anywhere between once per day to three times a week is good. It depends on the availability of updates. To reap the full benefits, you should know the best time to promote your posts. You can check out Facebook Page Insights to figure out when your audience is most active.

6. Cross-Promote in Other Social Platforms

Facebook could be your primary social media channel, but a little boost from other social networks can be extremely helpful as well. Remember that online businesses should widen their scope and consider all social media platforms for promotion. Start with major sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Keep in mind that there are specific steps for linking your Facebook account to other social media websites. LinkedIn, for example, has a full-blown linking feature to social media websites. For the rest, a simple list of social links in the description would work. Just be sure to observe the best practices and cross-promote specific content often.

7. Hold a Facebook Contest

Holding a social media contest is one of the best ways to promote your Facebook page, engage your audience, and gain more likes. This is being done by companies with great success, particularly in the tech, entertainment, and music industries. However, with the right idea, businesses in other niches can successfully hold contests as well.

You can organize your contest straight from Facebook's Contest app. From there, you can lay out the details such as the contest title, introduction, and so on. You can also manage and monitor your contest from the same app as well.

To ensure the success of your contest, be sure it offers a relevant and meaningful experience to the participants. Photo contests, for example, can give your audience the opportunity to self-promote – creating user-generated content for your brand in the process.

Conclusion

In the end, remember that success in social media marketing is all about the community. To have your brand recognized, you need to offer a ton of value to your target audience -- be it through consistent updates or an all-out contest. This is what the users want, and this will let you form the connections you need to solidify your online presence.