RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
So how the heck can I promote my business on Facebook so I can get more LIKES. I have tried to giveaway giftcards, gas cards and more.....When someone LIKES my page they then get daily updates on new products, local business coupons and deals plus giveaways, but getting LIKES is becoming harder and harder.....HELP!
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » Q&A
Facebook LIKES
[29 posts] [13 contributors]
Topic Rating:
(Total Ratings: )
Rate this topic:
Rate this topic:
-
shop4localdeals
Circleville
Login to Send PM
Posted 11 months ago # -
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
Login to Send PM
Or you could try posting advertisements of your facebook page and website on local message boards masquerading as a "please help me with xxx" post...
oh wait... naw, that never works.
Posted 11 months ago # -
bman
New Albany
Login to Send PM
Rockmastermike said:
Or you could try posting advertisements of your facebook page and website on local message boards masquerading as a "please help me with xxx" post...oh wait... naw, that never works.
If DISLIKE was an option I would have went to their page and disliked it due to the cheesy post on here.
Posted 11 months ago # -
arualpalm
Login to Send PM
Sorry, shop4localdeals, but when I went to your sites, it just seemed like a big, crazy advertising board. I had to search hard to find deals.....You want people to keep coming back (and not "like" you one time and then never visit you again). You need to advertise what your brand promises: deals, not businesses.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Mister Shifter
Lewis Center
Login to Send PM
Looks like a bunch of banner links to websites and no deals. Maybe that's why you're not getting any likes.
Posted 11 months ago # -
shop4localdeals
Circleville
Login to Send PM
what a mean bunch....seriously. So I put together a site that has local businesses with banners and some with coupons....I am putting together a whole new look that's going to be more user friendly. I have had nothing but positive feedback so far, but on here, dam you lot are mean.....No wonder this country is failing....Lift a neighbor up with encouragement and ideas and not knock backs.....You know it's sad that you have to offer coupons to get people to shop local and that's what i am doing....I have to educate local businesses to come up with coupons. I am working my butt off for nothing to promote businesses....ok I'm going to stop now as that's pissed me off........Have a wonderful evening everyone and God bless you.....
Posted 11 months ago # -
shop4localdeals
Circleville
Login to Send PM
I don't understand why everyone thinks it's all about Circleville. I arrived in this country 10 years ago from England and have worked in Columbus for 8 of them but lived here in Circleville. I love Columbus and love the city life. My website is targeting 4 cities, Columbus, Circleville, Chillicothe and Lancaster. I know people that will drive from all of these cities to Columbus and vica versa. If someone in Columbus drives past Circleville, I'd like them to know that there's a good place to eat and is locally owned, the same as someone from Circleville that drives to Columbus maybe needs to know where a good place to get a new tire.....I am in the early stages of my website but my advertisers love the idea that it's all local and no national chains. We need to keep the dollar local. As for the Pumpkin show, it is full of greasy vendors, nothing I do has anything to do with Pumpkins....I love people and I am the nicest, harmless guy you'd ever met, just hate being ripped apart and basically told that I am a spammer or a fraud. I have enjoyed every minute of living in this country until tonight where I feel that the real people are on the prowl.....God bless America.
Posted 11 months ago # -
shop4localdeals
Circleville
Login to Send PM
arualpalm said:
Sorry, shop4localdeals, but when I went to your sites, it just seemed like a big, crazy advertising board. I had to search hard to find deals.....You want people to keep coming back (and not "like" you one time and then never visit you again). You need to advertise what your brand promises: deals, not businesses.Never promised anything. Shop 4 Local Deals! I want Local Businesses to have a cheaper avenue to advertise on instead of expensive newspaper ads that don't do any good and if I can push new customers to local facebook pages or websites then my job is done. Here's the deal, a friend of mine owns a store and advertised with the local newspaper. They charged her $400 a month and designed a banner with a link to her site. Her site is an empty store. What good is that, I told her that she needs to have a proper site built and I'd help for a very reasonable price, the newspaper couldn't give a crap. I'd do that for anyone.....Do you know how hard it is to find a good domain name without paying thousands.....Don't be mad and bitter. Be Happy.........Mark
Posted 11 months ago # -
JonMyers
HCMC, Vietnam ✈
Login to Send PM
Hey shop4localdeals, I say that because you barely offered up your name, Mark. It's also why you're probably being perceived as a spammer. People communicate with personas or real names and pics on here, showing up with a logo and company name is like showing up at a party with a trench coat on, walking up to everyone, flashing them, and asking them if they wanna buy a watch.
Anyhow, I'll bite.
Cheaper is not better. You need traffic, and more engagement to justify the business case you're making. At this point, the business case is unjustified because it clearly doesn't have the reach of your competitors. Your customers are relying on your social promotional skills, the value of which is dubious.
I had a look at your site, and I'll give you my 30 cents as someone who makes a living doing this sort of thing, design and marketing. I enjoy thinking about and sharing feedback on these things.
Your site doesn't build trust. It's unprofessional, and confusing.
There should only be ONE call to action at the top, not 5 arrows screaming at me, and confusing me.
There should be a clear, succinct message communicating what YOU do, and what you want ME to do.
There should be no flashing gifs on there period. It's the visual equivalent of screaming at the top of your lungs. The organization of information on towns (Circleville, etc..) is confusing.
You're not offering any valuable content about these towns. The content that is there has zero voice or personality. For a community site there is no sense of "community". No pictures, no story.
Have a look at a Groupon email offering. A large part of their success is copywriting. They have a voice in their copy, a flair, fun, and can make something as mundane as dry cleaning seem exciting.
Find a voice. Serve and excite these communities.
The paradigm of clipping coupons (I'm assuming people print and clip these coupons) is clunky and ill-suited for the Internet. At least if you want to scale the business to other small towns.
That said, you probably have identified a niche, and underserved market. Your execution is off.
Think of this thread as raw unfiltered feedback.... Reflect, iterate, and improve... Or get sensitive about it, and continue to think your business is perfect. Up to you.
In terms of Facebook Likes they must be earned. Think of them as a vote. Nobody is voting for you because you're not engaging them, entertaining them or providing valuable information.
Promotions can earn Facebook Likes, but they must be more strategic. Just simply giving away something for a Like isn't as effective anymore. It's not what you're giving away, it's how you're giving it away.
There is no spark, no creativity in the promotions I saw on your site(s).
A platform to host your Facebook promotions is Wildfire. http://www.wildfireapp.com - again though, it has to be more strategic. Watch what the big boys like Whole Foods is doing with promotions. They just had a brilliant contest that used instagram and Facebook.
Look to other social platforms like instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter and integrate these into your strategy if that's where you determine your prospects spend time.
One last thing once you get that site cleaned up.
Have a press room on your site.
This means having downloadable bios, fact sheets, high-res logos, and so on for members of the press. Getting press in Columbus, and especially in the towns you're targeting is dead simple. Make it easy for them to write about you, have a place you send them for info about your business.
When you have a social media promotion that is relevant and community focused, reach out in a friendly and succinct way to the press and include a link to this press room.
You can reach out by email, over Twitter (most of the press members are on there), or just by picking up the phone.
I guarantee you if you are direct (as a humble person, not as a company being perceived as spammy), if your site looks professional, and your promotion is exciting for the community you will get press, which leads to more engagement and more likes.
It's not rocket science, it just takes some work, and social intelligence. Be empathetic to the needs of everyone you're serving be it the press, your advertisers or consumers.
What excites them, what problems do they have, and how can you help?
The press wants fun, fresh, feel good stories gift wrapped for them, advertisers want loyal customers through the door, and consumers want to feel good about their community, to be entertained, and value for the money they spend in these communities.
Alright, I've rambled on too long, but you get the point.
Clean it up and make it more engaging and professional or keep it as is because it's perfect.
Again, it's up to you.
Good luck.
Posted 11 months ago # -
FoodFort
Login to Send PM
JonMyers said:
Hey shop4localdeals, I say that because you barely offered up your name, Mark. It's also why you're probably being perceived as a spammer. People communicate with personas or real names and pics on here, showing up with a logo and company name is like showing up at a party with a trench coat on, walking up to everyone, flashing them, and asking them if they wanna buy a watch.Anyhow, I'll bite.
Cheaper is not better. You need traffic, and more engagement to justify the business case you're making. At this point, the business case is unjustified because it clearly doesn't have the reach of your competitors. Your customers are relying on your social promotional skills, the value of which is dubious.
I had a look at your site, and I'll give you my 30 cents as someone who makes a living doing this sort of thing, design and marketing. I enjoy thinking about and sharing feedback on these things.
Your site doesn't build trust. It's unprofessional, and confusing.
There should only be ONE call to action at the top, not 5 arrows screaming at me, and confusing me.
There should be a clear, succinct message communicating what YOU do, and what you want ME to do.
There should be no flashing gifs on there period. It's the visual equivalent of screaming at the top of your lungs. The organization of information on towns (Circleville, etc..) is confusing.
You're not offering any valuable content about these towns. The content that is there has zero voice or personality. For a community site there is no sense of "community". No pictures, no story.
Have a look at a Groupon email offering. A large part of their success is copywriting. They have a voice in their copy, a flair, fun, and can make something as mundane as dry cleaning seem exciting.
Find a voice. Serve and excite these communities.
The paradigm of clipping coupons (I'm assuming people print and clip these coupons) is clunky and ill-suited for the Internet. At least if you want to scale the business to other small towns.
That said, you probably have identified a niche, and underserved market. Your execution is off.
Think of this thread as raw unfiltered feedback.... Reflect, iterate, and improve... Or get sensitive about it, and continue to think your business is perfect. Up to you.
In terms of Facebook Likes they must be earned. Think of them as a vote. Nobody is voting for you because you're not engaging them, entertaining them or providing valuable information.
Promotions can earn Facebook Likes, but they must be more strategic. Just simply giving away something for a Like isn't as effective anymore. It's not what you're giving away, it's how you're giving it away.
There is no spark, no creativity in the promotions I saw on your site(s).
A platform to host your Facebook promotions is Wildfire. http://www.wildfireapp.com - again though, it has to be more strategic. Watch what the big boys like Whole Foods is doing with promotions. They just had a brilliant contest that used instagram and Facebook.
Look to other social platforms like instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter and integrate these into your strategy if that's where you determine your prospects spend time.
One last thing once you get that site cleaned up.
Have a press room on your site.
This means having downloadable bios, fact sheets, high-res logos, and so on for members of the press. Getting press in Columbus, and especially in the towns you're targeting is dead simple. Make it easy for them to write about you, have a place you send them for info about your business.
When you have a social media promotion that is relevant and community focused, reach out in a friendly and succinct way to the press and include a link to this press room.
You can reach out by email, over Twitter (most of the press members are on there), or just by picking up the phone.
I guarantee you if you are direct (as a humble person, not as a company being perceived as spammy), if your site looks professional, and your promotion is exciting for the community you will get press, which leads to more engagement and more likes.
It's not rocket science, it just takes some work, and social intelligence. Be empathetic to the needs of everyone you're serving be it the press, your advertisers or consumers.
What excites them, what problems do they have, and how can you help?
The press wants fun, fresh, feel good stories gift wrapped for them, advertisers want loyal customers through the door, and consumers want to feel good about their community, to be entertained, and value for the money they spend in these communities.
Alright, I've rambled on too long, but you get the point.
Clean it up and make it more engaging and professional or keep it as is because it's perfect.
Again, it's up to you.
Good luck.
Some people would pay a lot of money for the free advice.
Take a look at SBB as a model - they do a lot of buy local campaigns.
Posted 11 months ago # -
JonMyers
HCMC, Vietnam ✈
Login to Send PM
@FoodFort, yep, agreed on SBB. I'm quite familiar with SBB, and Wolf happens to be a friend of mine.
I think they do a great job, and I love how they interact with the community.
I do think the towns Mark is targeting could use some similar help.
Posted 11 months ago # -
DocMedPot
Columbus, Crosswoods area
Login to Send PM
Thanks Jon for taking time to post many of the same thoughts I had about this topic. While my comments earlier came off snarky after looking at this site, again it still seems to me as being the same type of spam I delete daily, i.e. big flashing banner ads.
Mark(shop4) while your post may have seemed innocent to you, to many it came off as unprofessional, needy and as mentioned spam-like. When you post as a business entity on social websites expect some negative comments from it's users. You want to enter discourse about your business site do so in a revelant manner not begging for Facebook likes.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Roland
Clintonville
Login to Send PM
That website is all banner ads. It's like the online version those annoying plastic bags full of junk mail that get thrown on my porch every week and go straight to the dumpster.
The advice given above is excellent. Consider it well. Don't take the criticism personally. Would you rather find out that your approach is flawed now? or months later?
I do applaud the effort to promote local businesses. You have something here. Just need to approach it differently.
Posted 11 months ago # -
shop4localdeals
Circleville
Login to Send PM
Thanks to all you crazy people....In a couple of weeks the site will look very different and I am taking a very new direction. It does look like junk mail that comes through the door but I am only using advertisers that are at the top of their game, it's just hard to get my idea into a website. But thanks to you all for calming me down. I am so laid back normally, oooops sorry. I just hate that the newspapers do the same and now putting their ads online and don't really care about the businesses, just the money they get given every week. Oh well, look out peeps for a all new improved website, i hope! Love you all ;O) Mark
Posted 11 months ago #
You must log in to post.
Launched in August 2010, TheMetropreneur.com is a local online resource devoted to small business development and entrepreneurship. Its aim is to tell the stories of Central Ohio's business community, foster regional economic development and assist entrepreneurs with its resource-heavy focus.