These days, most tech-savvy business owners have the Facebook logo and their company’s Facebook page on their business cards, flyers, posters, postcards and other print marketing materials. While building a strong Facebook following is important the sad truth is many business owners miss the boat when it comes to leveraging their print marketing for generating Facebook likes. Here are some tips for getting more Facebook likes with your print marketing.
Let’s face it, people today lead busy lives and they don’t have time to “like” your company’s Facebook page when the only incentive is to “like” your page. Adding an incentive to motivate customers to “like” your Facebook page is a step in the right direction. However, what’s really needed is an effective way to make liking their Facebook page desirable through print media. Unfortunately, when it comes to companies making it desirable for customers to like their Facebook page, too many business owners have the wrong goal in mind: to achieve immediate sales.
Lots of companies have flyers and postcards that ask customers to “like” their Facebook page to receive 20% off their next purchase. While an offer like this can be effective, it won’t maximize Facebook likes because it assumes the customer is ready to buy. In such a scenario, the company is using Facebook as a gateway to promotion instead of using their print marketing as a gateway to building a social fan base it can market to again and again for free as long as the company has fans.
So how does a business use print marketing to generate more Facebook likes? By launching a purpose-driven print campaign that has the only goal of getting more Facebook likes with the ultimate goal of using Facebook’s sharing tools as incentives to your company’s special offers. The best way to do this is by giving something away that has real value to your customers. If you run an automotive repair service, send a postcard that promotes a free oil change to anyone who likes your Facebook page within the next 24 hours. When the customer comes in with the postcard, you can verify if they actually like your Facebook page in the shop and you also have a way of measuring the effectiveness of the postcard’s design and copy.
Business owners need to think in terms of long-range marketing so that whenever your customers need an oil change or any other servicing, they immediately think of your automotive repair service and only yours. One way to accomplish this is by asking customers who respond to the free oil change offer to pose for a photo with their car that you’ll post on your Facebook page. If they share the photo to their wall, you’ll give them 50% off their next oil change. This not only motivates the customer to come back to you again for their next oil change, it also gives your company a third-party testimonial or word-of-mouth marketing that all their friends will see. And you can go a step further by gifting 50% off to any of their Facebook friends who like your company’s Facebook page. Keep a cycle like this going for several months, and one customer turns into hundreds of new likes and new, long-term customers.
A print marketing campaign should be thought of as a long-term customer acquisition plan. When you focus on earning likes from customers rather than landing immediate sales, you’ll have better success at generating Facebook likes that stick and attracting new customers.
