I would pay for Facebook ad space…for less than a dollar you can have your ad go out to 1000s of people within a specific category of your choosing…I did it and in a month I received 300+ more followers

You can also go to people’s blogs relating to your page and comment.  While remembering to add a link to your FB page as a reference within the comment, it will drive people to look at your page for more information…just make sure you aren’t spamming and you are leaving positive blog comments.

Hi Russell,  I used the facebook ad space back in December and my fanpage “likes” went from 170 to 1400 and counting.  In my ads I offered a free website analysis report or a free self-help guide. I created several tabs and drove the traffice directly from the ads to the tabs.  To be honest I don’t know why they took off as I have use facebook ads about 6 months prior without to much success.I am still reviewing the data. I am still running ads around $10-$20 per day.Good news is that I signed up for Facebook’s small business boost contest and received $175 in credits last week. so right now the ads aren’t costing me.You Can check out my facebook fanpage here: http://www.facebook.com/localbusinessco2

@russellallert @dhsllc agree with both of you, if you want real they will be coming up slowly, if you want rapid, they won’t be real (i mean related, unproductive to you). And yea patience is the key. Follow the process and take care not to spam, coz no one likes spamming. neither you, nor me, nor fb!

@ijazrafi I’ve written quite a few blog posts on this topic and you’ve been given some great advice here. It’s easy to think that the number of fans equates to success but really, numbers aren’t what counts. Engagement counts. I have three Facebook Pages, one biz page has 850+ fans and that has taken me two years to get to that point. Most of them are local and engaged with my services through integrated marketing or they have been clients and customers. One of my other biz pages has 10,100+ fans and the engagement rate is about 3% on an average day. I wish it were more but, to be honest, I’m not sure more would be all that meaningful. I’ve seen some pages with lots and lots of fans and high engagement that don’t make any money because they artificially boost their fanbase and “people talking about this” rates through tagging games (which Facebook spambots don’t like). While it may be tempting to do these activities, they aren’t productive. It’s a little different to engaging with people on a forum like this where the interests are more specialised. If you are going to network on other pages, introduce yourself and don’t self-promote. Engage with the page and become part of the community, be helpful and useful… that’s how you get genuine fans.

Good stuff @casmccullough. 

@ijazrafi at the end of the day “conversions” are the ticket. You want to focus your time, energy and money on the activities that are most likely to give you the greatest return on your investment. If I were in your shoes, I would look at what traditionally brings in the greatest results for my business.

Every business should have its goals, objectives, business model and marketing budget. Based on budget and business goals, sometimes the strategy in the early stages benefit from building relationships face to face. This model is highly dependent upon a great sales team. In this case, SM can initially be used to build your presence and could later be harnessed to also bring in sales. 

Models that rely on SM to build their presence need to focus more on what they have to offer the end user. What is in it for them? Why should they include you in their busy schedule?

Facebook ads are great! The real question is, what do you have to offer in a Facebook ad that is likely to convert a user?

All this coming from someone who does not know your line of business. Just my thoughts on your question.

Best of luck to you @ijazrafi !