I want to promote my new app/TV show/toy on Facebook and get a million likes. How can I do this?

To own a Facebook page is to understand what your potential followers want, or why they would want to follow you in the first place. And it’s particularly challenging for those of us in the kids industries because you’ll need to appeal to over-13s due to COPPA policies. You must ask yourself: why would a parent like your app on Facebook if they haven’t heard about it or downloaded it for their kids yet? Would a parent follow your toy just because their kid likes it? Would my Facebook page offer any type of value of my fans?

Research shows people generally click the thumbs up on a Facebook branded page because they’re either looking for a deal or they’re incredibly loyal to your company. A recent study published by eMarketer showed that for the first time ever, loyalty outweighed discounts for reasons to like a brand.  

This means you should not be using your Facebook page to create fans – they’re there because they’re already fans. Facebook needs to be part of a larger outreach strategy to promote your brand to turn people into fans, such as an SEO optimized website, PR outreach or even piggybacking on your partner’s more established Facebook pages. You don’t catch new fans with Facebook: you maintain their loyalty.

Let’s say you launch your page and you’re getting likes (outside of family and colleagues) – it’s now your job to reward fan loyalty with exclusives, such as a heads-up on an upcoming app update, engaging with comments (good and bad!) or providing an exclusive clip from an upcoming episode. Your posts should provide opportunities for real interaction, such as fan comments or further likes, which will up your “are talking about this” number and get your brand on some more Facebook walls, promoting it to potential new users. Your Facebook page should provide a service, or it’s just noise.

For insight on posting as a brand, I strongly recommend you follow this tongue-in-cheek Facebook Page: “Condecsending Corporate Brand Page” to learn everything you shouldn’t do with your page. It’s painfully hilarious at showing all the tricks some corporations do to try to engage with people on social media.

As for wanting a million likes – even a hundred likes – the number of likes on a Facebook page shouldn’t be the goal. You could lure in a bunch of likes with a contest or even buying fans, but really – do you want a bunch of insincere likes? Keep in mind if Facebook figures most of your likes aren’t communicating with your page, it’ll deem it unworthy for optimization and few will see your updates at all.

If you need help creating a personalized social media strategy, be sure visit foryourreadingpleasure.com to get my contact details. And don’t forget to check out my LinkedIn page or follow me on Twitter @liannestewart.

Photo courtesy of the Condescending Corporate Facebook Page