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Case Study & Guide: Getting Facebook Page Likes for Pennies
The struggle of getting real Facebook likes
If you started a new Facebook page, you’ll quickly realize it’s pretty hard to get real Facebook likes. Here are some common methods people will initially practice to gain likes:
- Start by inviting friends and family
- Creating posts
- Buying batches of Facebook likes
- Running Facebook ads to promote the page
Let’s dive into each one for a moment here.
Inviting friends and family
Hey, if you have hundreds or thousands of people on your personal friend list, by all means, go for it! It will allow jump-starting your new Facebook page easily and entirely free. You can’t argue with this.
But, what happens once your friends are now your page followers? They probably “liked” it to do you a favor. As far as engaging with your posts, and turning them into profitable followers, that’s a different story.
Creating posts
When you create a post, the first line of people who see these posts, are your followers (people who have liked your page). And if you don’t have any, well… No one is going to see them.
It can be disheartening to write your first post, only to check a few days later and see a “0 people reached” note below it.
Posting more content really isn’t going to get you anywhere. Even by using hashtags or tagging other pages, it’s likely Facebook won’t really give your posts the time of day.
Buying batches of Facebook likes
You can buy thousands of page likes for $40, some websites even go as low as $10. Sounds wonderful right?
But what are you really buying here? Most of these sellers use bots with fake profiles to go and like your page. At the very best, they are real people who, in turn, get paid pennies to go and like your page.
Either way, you’re buying “like” numbers, and that’s about it. They will not engage in an authentic way or turn into profit by any means.
Additionally, Facebook has become smarter in how it ranks your page in search results, as well as how often and where it shows your posts to followers.
Pages with no engagement, like those who bought likes, will take even longer to become successful, even if you eventually get real likes and followers!
Promoting your page with Facebook ads
Then there’s Facebook’s way of taking your money in exchange for the possibility of getting likes. It’s not a guarantee by any means. But by following this guide, you’ll make the best out of every penny.
I have seen businesses spend hundreds of dollars to get a few dozen likes. Even guides and case studies talk about getting 9 likes for $5 a day, like this case study on thenextweb.
With those numbers, it would take you close to 4 months to reach 1,000 likes. And it would cost you close to $600.
While $600 isn’t a whole lot for successful businesses, it can be a tremendous amount for something new that isn’t even making a profit.
How not to promote your Facebook page
Before we dive into how to get real Facebook likes for pennies, I want to cover how not to promote your Facebook page. And don’t worry, it won’t turn into a “buy my ebook” twist!
Now, don’t just take my word for it. Here’s an example of what you may get if you do practice the following don’ts:
Don’t use your existing cover photo
While using your existing cover photo is the easiest method, as it’s there by default, it’s more than likely not going to be successful. A cover photo is typically used to promote an offer, or it’s just part of your brand. Either way, don’t use it.
Don’t promote the page to everyone
Again, this is Facebook’s default audience. It typically looks like this, and it basically will target anyone over 18+ that lives in the United States. Don’t use it, you’ll waste your money.
Don’t use your entire budget on one ad
The last thing you shouldn’t do is to create an ad, have it use your entire budget, and hope for the best. You don’t have to be a marketing guru to get a feel for how effective your ad is doing and to make improvements.
If it is not getting likes after spending a few bucks, it won’t get much better. Cancel it!
I ran this ad for Shopaholly. While I only spent $5, I would have had similar results even if I had spent $500. Sure, I would have reached a lot more people, and maybe even gained a few lucky likes. But overall, I would have wasted $500.
How to get real Facebook likes for pennies
Now that we’ve covered what not to do, with a pitiful – yet often occurring – example, let’s dive into what to do instead.
Not sure how to promote your Facebook page?
If you don’t know how to promote your Facebook pages and get likes, here’s a quick walkthrough. If you do know, you can skip right ahead.
1. Click promote
Open your Facebook page, and if you’re logged in, you should see this button right below the cover photo.
2. Choose “Promote your page”
If you clicked Promote, you’ll be presented with various goals. To get more page likes, you’ll want to click “Promote your page”.
3. Create your ad, and choose your settings
Next, you’ll be presented with various options, as well as a preview of your ad. If you’re here, pause, and just continue reading this guide. I’ll be talking about the best practices in creating your ad and segmenting your audience.
Creating the ad and segmenting the audience
1. Create an audience plan for who you want to target
This is most important as the audience determines everything else. Let’s use Shopaholly for example.
At Shopaholly, we mainly write about products. We buy and test them, and then we review them. The products we review could be anything. We have reviewed attachments for firearms, wireless security cameras, mascaras, and even dog food.
So what audience would I want to target? Anyone? No!
How do you find the right audience for your business?
In Shopaholly’s case, I chose people who are likely to be interested in firearms, so I narrowed it down to people with an interest in hunting. Hunters are likely to invest a great deal of time and money in their firearm, both for sport and pleasure. And since we often review firearm attachments, cleaning kits, and so on, they seem like a great fit.
Here’s a snapshot of the specific audience I used:
To grow our make-up audience, we could target women aged 18-30 with an interest in make-up, clubbing, maybe even the show “RuPaul’s Drag Race”? To grow our audience interested in security cameras, we can target men that are homeowners, aged 30-50.
You get the idea.
Does our website only serve hunters? Or women who like make-up? No, but it allows me to focus on a specific audience and tailor the right experience for my ad. This, as you will find out later, tremendously increases the chance of success.
No matter what your business is focused on, there’s a way to narrow it down from just anyone to a focused group. Facebook offers you the tools to segment your audience, use them!
If you find that your website is a good fit for multiple groups of people of different ages, genders, or interests, great! This allows you to try various ads to various audiences, and see which one works best.
Taking things to another level
You can take things a step further and target something entirely unrelated, and niche specific. Like, focusing on a zombie-related ad for people who show an interest in zombies.
No matter what you’re selling, you’re likely to get likes extremely cheap, just because you’re focussing on an extremely specific niche. And let’s face it, how often have you seen a zombie ad?
2. Prepare an image and text for your chosen audience
Now that you know your audience, tailor the ad to them. This doesn’t have to be elaborate. Keep in mind, simple is better.
In the case of Shopaholly, I segmented my audience down to men that have an interest in hunting. So I used a photo I found on Pexels (a free stock photo website).
As far as the ad copy, here’s an example of the entire ad:
I kept it simple. Is it perfect? Probably not. But it’s relatable, friendly, and inviting.
While you could try a photo with text, like a promotion, it’s usually best to just use a nice photo that is likely to catch the attention of your targeted audience.
3. Choosing a budget and duration
Budget
In Shopaholly’s case, I used the same budget as I did for the first ad. That budget was $5, and as you might recall, it got me 0 likes.
The budget should be something you’re comfortable with losing. Keep in mind, we’re just testing the waters here. If I try something for $5 and it’s an epic failure, oh well, I lost $5.
Duration
As far as duration goes, I like to spread out my ads over multiple days. Whether your budget is $5 or $50, spread it out over at least a few days. In the case of $5, the most you can choose is 5 days, as Facebook’s minimum is $1/day.
Why spread out your budget over days/weeks?
Various things affect people’s moods and behavior. For many businesses, Sunday is a dead day as far as business goes. The same could be true for Mondays. People are getting back to work and have that dreaded “Monday” feeling.
Even something on the news could affect your ads. Regardless, spread your ads out over multiple days/weeks, so these various factors aren’t likely to consume your entire budget.
Performance results of successful Facebook ad
Now, I’d like to show you my results for an ad that practices these dos. I’m not saying it’s magic or ground-breaking by any means, but it succeeds my initial ad by far, as well as the numbers many guides and case-studies have achieved.
So, whether your Facebook page has 0 likes, or thousands, following this guide will allow you to grow that number in an affordable manner.
Not just that, you’ll be growing it with real people that have shown an interest in what you have to offer. And that, in turn, sets you up for high conversions as well!
Final thoughts
I hope you enjoyed this guide, and I genuinely hope that it helps you create more effective ads while saving money at the same time.
If you want to keep reading, I would recommend our recent post about Missinglettr’s social media publishing tool. It’ll save you a ton of time if you manage a business Facebook page.
If it helped you in any way, I would really appreciate it if you would follow us on Facebook and say hi!
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