The Struggle for Facebook Likes
Owners of independent restaurants or franchisees of larger chains are discovering that getting people to find your local Facebook page and then to like your page are more challenging than they thought. Large brands and thousands of businesses are screaming for your customer’s attention.
We are going to give you some strategies to cut through the online noise and get customers to find your Facebook page and like it. This post will focus on how to get the customer to like your page with a special offer and control your margin.
But first – Why do customers like a restaurant’s Facebook page
Rather than guess, we decided to ask customers why they like a restaurant’s Facebook page. We surveyed thousands of Facebook users and here is what we found. (For a complete copy of the survey results click on Facebook Fan Page Survey and tell us where to email the survey. In the survey we also ask why customers visit restaurant pages, how many restaurant pages they have liked, and why did they unlike a page.)
Survey Response to “Liking” a page
We asked customers, “If you have “liked” a restaurant Facebook page, why did you click on “Like”?” The top two responses were:
– 78% – It is one of their favorite restaurants. (No surprise there!)
– 61% – To access a fan only offer
How to get more likes with a fan only offer and protect your margin
There are a lot of solutions to create a Facebook tab for your page that requires a customer to click on like to get the special offer. The problem is every customer that has already liked your page will see the special offer. Every time you try to grow your fans with a fan-only special offer, you keep rewarding the same people multiple times for liking your page.
We think you should reward a customer once for liking your page. That way you can provide a truly special offer knowing the same people will not be using it over and over. It will also allow you to keep a permanent like offer on your page to continue to encourage new fans.
Watch our one minute You Tube video for a quick overview:
How to Get More Facebook Page Likes
How to develop a Facebook like application that the special offer can be used one-time
Here is your checklist for your Facebook application to get more likes on your terms:
– Create a Facebook application that requires a customer to like your Facebook page before they can access your special offer.
– Personalize the special offer coupon using the customer’s Facebook account information.
– Record the customer’s click information in a database on your server and include a special code on the coupon that the customer will present when they stop in to your restaurant.
– When your customer presents the printed coupon or the coupon on their smartphone:
– Check the database using the special code and make sure they have not already used your one-time offer.
– If they have used the offer provide a message indicating that the offer has already been used with the date it was originally redeemed.
– If it has not been used, record the usage of the coupon in your database.
– The next time your customer visits your fan only offer tab on your Facebook page remove the special offer coupon from view if they have already redeemed the special offer.
Now you can keep an on-going special like us Facebook fan page offer on your page and know that your customers will only be able to use it one time. In addition, you start to capture a goldmine of data about your customers.
We’ll discuss how to promote your Fan Only offer in your restaurant in a future blog post.
If you want to see how a Facebook like application should work visit our Like Us Love Us application at www.facebook.com/thatsbiz.