Hello All,I have a client who is a locksmith and would like to give away a Medeco lock with a free installation via Facebook ($250 value!). If the winner happens to be out of state, my client will mail them the lock at no charge but obviously cannot install it. The purpose of the giveaway is strictly to grow the number of likes on their Facebook page. Could anyone please give me some ideas as to how I can persuade his current audience to share and have their friends like the page?

My client does not have an email list which he could email his clients regarding the giveaway. I have a couple ideas but definitely want some insight from the group. 

I am running into a meeting which will last most of the day, so my response to you may be a little delayed. I greatly appreciate any assistance you guys can provide me with.

Thanks!

@jamesalonso what i suggest is: First of all, design banner image advertising this free giveaway, and say”GET FREE LOCK, CLICK LIKE TO KNOW MORE” etc. etc. then use this image on facebook page and upload it under your welcome page (for fan only) idea behind this is to attract non fan visitors to like your page, they will see the add image on your fb welcome page and then upon reading a LIKE TO GET FREE LOCK message in the banner they will like the page. Also, you can include a coupon like image in the banner and ask fans to print it and email your client or bring to your client’s shop and get lock free. This is one of giveaway or promotion scheme on fb. Let me know if you wish to know further about how to do this. I will show you one live example

1. install page builder app (eg iwipa)
2. Put a big “Special Offer” icon
3. Create page with image of the special offer with “like us” make the page “fan gated”
4. Show “thanks message” i.e. Thanks you are now in the draw
5. When ready, choose a random fan
6. Message them directly to tell them they have won

If all that sounds complicated I may create an app to do it.

@vincentedwards Thanks! I understand that when someone “likes” something, “all” their friends see it. But it’s never really “all” your friends. It’s the ones that happen to see the post, so depending at what time you “like”, you may miss a ton of other friends who weren’t on facebook at the time or didn’t scroll back far enough through their feed. 

I can create a page with a beautiful banner and all the other stuff but it’s really only going to be seen by their current fans. I need an idea that makes the current fans encourage their friends to like the page. If their current fans have a good initiative to get their friends to like the page, then it with definitely go viral within their fan base.

So I think it has to be some type of contest that encourages fans to get their friends to like some type of interaction they have with the page. The fan who’s interaction has the most likes, wins the prize.

I’ve seen many photographers use this idea with baby pictures or car pictures. Something like post your picture on our page and ask your friends to like the picture. The picture with the most likes, wins. (Any person that likes the picture and doesn’t like the page is not counted.) This promotes the fans to tell their friends to like the picture and the page.

I can create a separate page which has the official rules of the contest and share on the news feed. Even “pin” the post to the top of the page but since not everyone has updated to Timeline, practices like these aren’t very effective yet.

Unfortunately, my client does not want to try Facebook ads yet. He is very old-school and is trying the “social media thing”, as he puts it, for the first time. So ads aren’t an option for now.

@russellallert Thank you. I see where I needed some clarification. Though the idea I threw out there wasn’t strictly based on liking something, it would have taken place on their wall. Regardless of the page tab I’ll be creating for the contest, you’ve definitely pointed out something I overlooked. But that is no problem, I’ll have fans completely interact with the page tab. I had planned on collecting emails to announce the winners anyway. I probably should have been more specific with the details. 

With that said, any cool contest ideas?

@jamesalonso James if you generate traffic to the Facebook page using a banner ad, facebook ad or email blast that is shareable you can set it up so whomever ‘clicks’ or follows the link will land on a splash page and no the timeline/ wall. 

As for contest ideas I would have to refer you to our website http://www.crowdmartmedia.com because this is what we specialize in, if the fan page you are working with has less than 10,000 followers we charge only 99$ a month to run exciting and engaging contests. Every month you will pick up new followers and new potential customers. The contests are designed to engage the fans’ and advertise to their friends and family! There are a few other things we include in 99$ a month like our 24/7 monitoring and response team, I am sure you can see the value in that!

What do you guys think of making a criteria of the contest to reach a certain number of fans? Something like “Once we reach 3000 fans we will email the winner”.

@jamesalonso The posters that you see go into your location (of course if you have one) or anywhere else you would like to put them! So And yes we set it up on the back end through a third party app. So it does indeed meet all Facebook terms and conditions.

For that specific contest we only post what games are going to happen this week or weekend.

Depending on where you Facebook page is now, we could definitely run with “once we reach…”. On the other hand if you only have 25 fans it could easily take more than 6 months to reach 3,000. We have found that a community will get bored after about a month becoming very dis-engaged and that’s why we have soo many different contests!

@jamesalonso I wish I could give you an answer as to how many new likes you will receive but without looking at the insights from the inside all I can tell you is that if you already have a fairly engaged community of 1,000+ who respond well then 200 new likes should not be a problem. 
On the flip side of this I would also like to tell you that month number one you could gain 10 followers but do it again and month number 2 you gain 20-30. Now month number 3 you get 50-60. The thing to remember is that we have to teach your community to share word of mouth with their friends and family, it may take longer than you like but month after month you will see the results you will see the community grow. When we start with a page that has 10% engagement it is a much shorter time period to achieve goals than it is a page starting at .06% engagement.
I hope this helps, any more questions I am happy to answer!! 

@jamesalonso Is it ok if I send you some more info via email? If so may I have your email address?

I dont want to understate the obvious but… it actually pays to “ASK” people to like your page (when they get there) somehow.  I know it sounds obvious and almost silly, but, I really do believe it makes a difference.

Also side note:

With facebook advertising on a product we paid $350 ($50 week) for 7 days and got 700 likes.  So in theory (I know very rough figures) but theoretically 200 likers could be gained with fb ads (targeted) for say $150.  Is it better just to spend $150 or somehow try to ask people to ask people.  It depends.  If starting out, Id prefer to invest $150 (hypothetically speaking).