Hey Rich – allow me to give this one a stab. 

I have over 3,400 personal friends of my FB profile and I estimate that I actually have met over 3,000 of them.  So they are real and I am not a friend collector or envy of # of friends anyone has.  That being the case, and having invited all of them to Like my new page with FB’s Invite Your Friends feature, friends are still very much in need of a nudge, AND multiple times.  Being in sales my entire life, I have come to understand and expect this behavior.

So what I have tested is a tactic to earn my own friend’s like of my page is this:

1)  While logged on my PC, I send a copy and paste message only to those who are currently available via the chat function.  Theoretically, they are online and will see it and respond.  This is not always the case, but odds do improve.

2)  My success rate has been 48% of these friends liking my new business page.  My success rate only using the FB invite function was 9%.

3)  I spend only 1 hour at any one time so as not to get burned out.

4) So that I know who has already liked my page and who to invite, I track via an excel spreadsheet.  Sending an invite to like your page when they already like it can be embarrassing, so this is a tedious ‘must’ step.

5) To obtain 600 new likes, I estimate I spent 30 man hours, so at $10 per hour wages = $300 total spend divided by 600 likes, my cost per like is $.50 per like.  I could reduce this cost dramatically once I decide to outsource at a much lower cost per hour for labor, to approx. $.08 per like.

6)  This method drives actual friends to like my page, keeping it personal and with a greater engagement rate since they know me to begin with.

7)  Here is my copy and paste message:  “Hi Rich, Would you be so kind to do a favor and LIKE my new page?  Your help is really appreciated, just click here:
< insert my Facebook page URL link>  Thanks much!  Dave   Jackson Insurance Agency”

This grass roots approach may not be what many are willing to take on to build their business page, but it is one test I have made and have found it useful.

I would love to hear your comments!  Dave (Action) Jackson

@rich-brooks Many of the pages I manage are for specific nursing programs. I have found, over time, that first increasing and engaging current students and alumni and encouraging their postings and engagement and THEN focusing on reaching new prospective students and capturing new inquiries has been beneficial. I have found that in addition to engagement on our pages there are students who have created their own groups on Facebook to increase interaction with peers and discuss class topics and even selling textbooks to each other.

All of these things translate to great engagement for IN-PERSON events we host as “Open Houses.” We have current students and alumni who have engaged on the page and in groups who also contribute to the student panels and offer to spend time with prospective students and go as far as offering shadowing opportunities. After those events we get additional increases in our likes and engagement. 

I don’t focus on the vanity metrics of likes and shares but instead look at the quality of postings and variety from those posting. I look for the interactions to build our legitimacy and allow prospective students to open up and ask the questions they want to know. I post photos from the student panels and open houses and encourage attendees and students to tag themselves and others in the photos.

This is a sample of what has helped me! Good luck with the presentation! Looking forward to it at SMMW!

@davejackson6 Hi Dave. Your process looks great, but I’ve got a question. Do the friends who like the page also engage with it, bring other users and generate business? Or do they just like it to do a favour for you? 

@davejackson6

That’s really interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing! I especially appreciate how much better results you got through messaging rather than inviting.

I will say that I would value your time much more highly than $10/hr, though. I paid my college intern $10 – $15/hr this past summer! 

Still, you can’t argue w/the greater engagement rates you got. Just don’t undervalue your time…or worth!

@rich-brooks  heres my page…. http://www.facebook.com/greenoakantiques   the  big  posts  are in the albums  …garden party people  or   one about the yardsale…

my  customers  are in the  perfect   facebook   pool  already…..

@rich-brooks  Rich – thanks for the comments!  Haha!  $10/hour was only for illustrative purposes.  I certainly do not value my time at that level, but closer to $100/hour.  The process was what I was merely wanting to describe.  Here’s to tomatoes in your face!