There is one metric you can “throw down” that is often impressive to listening ears. No matter what level in the arts hierarchy you may be placed, having a large number of Facebook page likes overall is essential. It pleases board members, donors, presenters (if you are an artist), and the general public. This is possible through Facebook page promotion.
Over the past year I had been tasked to improve the social profiles of the Cleveland International Piano Competition. One such metric for successful improvement was to increase the exposure of their Facebook page. At the starting point of working with them, the page had only around 2,000 likes. Depending on the size of an organization, this could be good, but given the reputation of this organization, it should have been larger.
Over the course of about nine months, I worked with the competition staff to develop a clear strategy to increase their following. The strategy was twofold: 1) deliver consistent content aligning with the brand, 2) promote both the fan page and individual posts through Facebook advertising. The end result? Their Facebook page has now over 32,000 page likes.
You can read all about promoting individual posts in my last ArtsHacker piece and also read ArtsHacker Ceci Dadisman’s fantastic piece on Facebook ads.
However, I have found promoting the overall Facebook page is not clear with organizations or artists. For some reason, people seem to think it is not necessary as part of their marketing/communications strategy. I believe the contrary and that it needs to be part of the plan to elevate a reputation.
Similar to promoting an individual post, here’s how to promote your Facebook page.
1. Select “Promote” on the left hand side of your Facebook page.
2. Click “Get People to Like Your Page”.
3. Adjust the ad presets to reflect the page’s content.
4. Set your budget. I recommend $10/day.
After setting these presets, launch your campaign and wait for the results. You can always return and adjust the settings if you are having trouble achieving the numbers you desire. Location is critical as well as targeting certain interest groups.
Lastly, the more money you can spend per day, the higher chance you have to achieve your goal of increasing page likes.
Let me know if you have questions about this and I would be happy to help, feel free to get in touch.
