How to Increase your Facebook Likes with a Small Budget: Case Study

The art and science of Facebook advertising is a challenge.

The questions such as, who should I target, what headline do I use and what budget should I set are just some of the questions that goes through each marketers mind.

Here is my story of how I increased my Facebook likes from 600 to over 11,000 in just over 2 weeks with a creative and low cost strategy that used Facebook’s advertising platform.

I had recently launched fitness site, WorldsFittest.net which is receiving some good traffic via organic search. However, I soon turned to Social Media (Facebook) in a bid to try and grow a fan base that I could later send through to my website.

My Facebook page is called Erny Peibst Fitness and I used to have only 600 fans.

Now I have over 11,000.

At the moment I am roughly paying £0.002p per fan (much less than a penny!). The average cost per fan for businesses is reported to be around £0.70p (or around one US dollar).

That is 350x more than what I’m spending!

The proof

Here is the screen shot of my Facebook analytics showing the increase in page likes by 4,147 in just one week from the 15th of July to the 21st of July for just under 8 pounds! (That is only just over $12 US)

How to increase your Facebook likes for a low cost

So what were the key elements that made this Facebook advertising campaign such a success and how do you increase your Facebook likes so dramatically with a small budget?

Here is what I learned about creating an effective Facebook ad strategy to increase my Facebook likes without spending a fortune.

#1. Target something people are crazy about

For me it was targeting all fans of Goku. Goku is a fiction character featuring in the popular DragonBall Z cartoon. His physique is immensely muscular and ripped. So, the key is channeling their love for this superhero and linking this somehow to your page i.e. them wanting Goku’s physique, and my page giving tips on how to achieve just that!

For High CTR’s you must have a picture that stands out! For me it was simply picking an image of Goku that was bright and with some of his muscles showing to grab attention. When you show a big and colourful picture of something somebody admires, it will get their attention quickly!

#2. Write a great title

My title was “Get Ripped Like Goku!“.

Notice how I mention what they admire in the title to grab attention and it’s short, punchy and exciting. It leaves fans thinking ‘wow I’d love to have his body‘.

#3. Write compelling copy

My content in the ad was “LIKE for Free Tips by Erny on How to Build Muscle and Burn Fat – Goku Style!”

What are the 6 key elements that worked for me in this advertisement?

1. It is important that you give a call of action which is to like your page. 
2. Put that in capital letters at the start of your ad.
3. Make them want to like your page so I give free tips on how to build muscle.
4. Make it relevant to your page by including your name, so I put “Like for free tips by Erny“. This also adds curiosity, “who’s Erny?”
5. Mentioning the name of the thing they adore again in the content of the ad is wise, so for me it was at the end of the ad ‘Goku Style!’.
6. Also make sure that all first letters of words are in capital letters. I find this way, it is easier to read and stands out without looking unprofessional.

OK, great. You’ve got a very high CTR, but now what?

#4.  Make your Facebook cover relevant

To get a great click to like ratio, I send all clicks to my wall. But I added images on my wall so they would think my page is really cool. So, I changed my cover to a cool fitness related Goku image (see below)

This makes the Facebook page relevant for the campaign that they would instantly like.

#5. Show the buzz on your page

I would also pin a status to the top of the page that would have a lot of likes/comments for social proof to show that there is a lot of buzz on my page.

Another important factor is to include statuses related to the ad campaign. So for instance, Goku likes sushi. So I would take a picture of my sushi meal and write “Eat Like Goku, to Look Like Goku!“, then include a picture of Goku dribbling next to my sushi.

Fun statuses like this will really engage fans and get them liking once they get to your page.

If you run a page that is personal i.e. your name is in the page title, then put a picture of yourself near the top of the page so when they click through they can associate a recent pictures of you in statuses. Remember that you can manipulate where your statuses show on your page by editing the dates. This can come in handy when testing how well fans convert when changing statuses at the top of your page.

#6. Set your budget low

One final and strange thing I noticed with the ad, is that when I set my budget higher, I ended up paying a lot more per fan. So I recommend keeping it low (I keep mine at £1 every day).

Wrap up

Be creative and apply these principles to your own page and you will also grow your fan base – hopefully by thousands like myself and at a very low cost!

Guest author: Erny Peibst is the savvy marketer behind the WorldsFittest.net website and the Facebook page Erny Peibst Fitness and now he is a Goku fan.

Want to learn how to market your blog with social media?

My book – “Blogging the Smart Way – How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” shows you how.

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