Some of my advisor clients are incredibly successful on Facebook, and for some it’s a waste of time. What’s the difference? Demographics. Facebook marketing is not for everyone. In fact, my own Facebook business page is not a core focus of my marketing efforts because most of my target prospects are more active on LinkedIn.
But for advisors with retired, predominantly female, or younger target audiences, Facebook can be the most cost-effective way to get in front of new prospects (often less than $1 per click). If your clients are under 50 or are mostly women, you should get serious about your Facebook strategy and focus on getting more likes for your business page. One first step is to invite relevant personal friends to like your page.
Should You Invite Personal Friends to Like Your Page?
There are a few key benefits of inviting personal Facebook friends to like your business page. First and foremost, people who like your page will see your updates and the content you share, so they’ll be more aware of what you do and how you can help. This could spell more referrals from them in the future.
Secondly, once someone has liked your page, Facebook will automatically recommend your page to their friends. This means that if a client likes your page, their friends will see that they have liked your page and be able to like it themselves.
Facebook also shows your posts to people who are demographically similar to those who have liked your page. This means that if 50 of your clients have liked your page, Facebook will use its magic to clone those clients and show your posts to people just like them, presumably your ideal future clients.
Finally, Facebook automatically creates an advertising audience for you comprising “people who like your page, and their friends.” You can use this audience to grow your network with paid ads in the future.
For these reasons, you’ll want to invite some of your personal Facebook friends to like your page. Which ones? Only people who represent your target demographic or who can refer you business.
Why You Shouldn’t Invite Everyone to Like Your Page
Don’t invite everyone you know to like your page. Why not? It will confuse the algorithm and dilute your demographic data.
Here’s what I mean. Say you live in Chicago but you went to school in Florida and have a lot of friends from college that live down South. Should you invite them? Not if they don’t represent your ideal client and they’re unlikely to refer you business.
This is because the Facebook algorithm heavily depends on showing your page to people similar to those who have liked it, so we don’t want to dilute your audience with people who don’t fit your target demographic.
Additionally, your content is likely to get low engagement from that audience, which can hurt your content in the long run. The more relevant your page audience is, the more valuable your content will be to your audience and the more engagement it will get.
How to Invite Your Facebook Friends to Like Your Business Page
Now that you understand why you should invite people to like your page and exactly who you should invite, here are the steps to invite your friends to like your business page.
About Claire
Claire Akin runs Indigo Marketing Agency, a full-service marketing firm serving financial advisors. It’s her mission to help independent financial advisors help more people through their incredibly important work. Claire is a former Investment Advisor Representative who holds her MBA in Marketing from the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego as well as a BA in Economics from UC Davis.