Organic views/Likes on Facebook for a B2B

[Scott Davies]

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering if anyone had any actionable hints & tips on how to bring in organic views & likes for your B2B Facebook groups.

Whilst I appreciate that Organic is free, and is therefore definitely rapidly disappearing from Facebook in place of Facebook Ads (understandably) I'm not at a stage where I can put any money into Facebook Ads that would be worth my while (i.e. I couldn't budget £20 a day. I don't currently have enough in the bank)

Right now I'm working on Content for my website, which is all well and good, but it's getting zero readers, so bringing in zero cash, and therefore still ruling me out of the Facebook Ads game!

What I want to achieve is: attract restaurant/club/entertainment owners to my Facebook page, and then provide them with free resources (eBooks, content, and of course a bit of fun!) in the hope that following my page will get them to know, like and trust me enough to ask me for logo designs, menu designs, websites, etc.

Thanks!
Scott

 

[fisicx]

It's really not worth the effort. The number of people who are going to see your page is tiny and the number who share or like even fewer.

There are gazillions of people doing logos and stuff, so if you want to get seen you need to market yourself. And this means spending money not promoting yourself on Facebook.

 

[Scott Davies]

Could you be more specific?

 

[NickGrogan]

If you want to sell something to restaurant/club/restaurant owners, then talk to them and see if you can offer what they're looking for.

This is not the same as seeing if they want what you're offering.

 

[fisicx]

^^^What he said.

Go to people rather than expect them to come to you.

If you need something what do you do? Do you go to facebook and look or do you Google, ask friends or just go back to the last place you got one.

Someone needing a logo will do a search, ask for referrals or just use the same bloke who did their last one.

 

[makeusvisible]

It sounds like you are wanting Facebook to be your main vehicle for generating sales. In all honesty it is going to be extremely difficult to achieve via Facebook organically.

Even if you had 100,000 genuine business owner liking your page, the chances of reaching them at the exact time they want a logo or menu design would be minimal. The leg work involved in building this type of audience is phenomenal, as is the time required to build the right content.

By all means build an audience.... but I think you need to have a tighter audience; perhaps past and potential clients.

Focus on gaining clients more directly;

People per hour?
eBay?
Paid advertising (Adwords/Social Media)

Google communities can often be overlooked, and you may get some traction by registering with a few UK business to business groups on Google Plus. Also contributing at relevant forums such as this one, where you clients may be 'hanging out'.

 

[Scott Davies]

Thanks Makeusawebsite - I appreciate the legwork to get 100,000 followers is incredible. I have some experience in building an audience to scale via twitter but again without injecting cash into ads there was little to no return on that time. having the followers is just a number and it's definitely interaction and a saint-like patience that gets you to sales without cash.

I don't want Facebook to be my main lead-gen necessarily, but it's what is in front of people isn't it?

I absolutely want my website to also delivery lead-gen and I'm working my butt off every day to get the website to delivery leads.

eBay I hadn't thought of, that's potentially a good idea that I'll look into.

I think Adwords & Facebook Ads/Twitter Ads are going to be ways I'll inevitably have to access clients soon enough, but I do first need to have cash in the bank to be able to afford to pay out and experiment with those.

I'm trying (as you see right here, right now!) to be active in a few different communities. Sure, this thread is me asking for some advice, but I've already offered some advice elsewhere here just today (and will continue to!)

The question still remains, however, how to catch people organically, and whether that is even possible for B2B (I built an entire B2C business on it 2 years ago, which paid the bills for several months, but that was as simple as posting in loads of "for sale" groups!)

 

[fisicx]

I don't want Facebook to be my main lead-gen necessarily, but it's what is in front of people isn't it?

Not if you are looking for a logo.

The number of graphic designers is huge and getting bigger every day. There is still plenty of work but you have to go hunting. If you needed a new bit of software how would you do your research? The methods you use will be pretty much the same as someone looking for some artwork.

And you are right, you need to spend some cash - that what all your successful competitors will be doing.

As an aside, how much local promotion do you do? Have you got flyers up all over the place, sent samples to all the local businesses, joined networking groups, spoken at local shows and so on?

 

[NickGrogan]

I don't want Facebook to be my main lead-gen necessarily, but it's what is in front of people isn't it?

I absolutely want my website to also delivery lead-gen and I'm working my butt off every day to get the website to delivery leads.

Any evidence to support the idea that nightclub and restaurant owners are buying logos on Facebook?

You can do busy-work as much as you like on social media and websites and everything else, or you can go make some money.

A while ago, I wanted to sell to energy to nightclubs.

I called up Stringfellows (the most famous club I could think of) and spoke to the FD, he thought I wouldn't be able to help him, but agreed to a 5 minute meeting and to give me a copy of their bills. I went to London the next day, did the meeting, got the bills. On my way back I knocked on the doors of 3 other well known clubs, told them I was helping Stringfellows and got their bills too.

Saved Stringfellows 25%, and the others around 10%, kept them as clients for years.

10 minutes on the phone, 2 hours on the train, 3 hours in London, £1000's in revenue.

Or you can spend your time chasing likes and followers.

 

[Scott Davies]

Just an update; last night, sat in my bed, I made three sales (plus recurring revenue for print and web media advertisement design) through Facebook for logo design, and 1 personal brand rebranding via Instagram. I got those by approaching the clients directly, but now that I've sold to them sure, they MIGHT remember my name and contact details, but they're not linked in to my social media, so I can't PUSH content to them via social media (though I obviously have their email addresses and telephone numbers so can market to them in those ways).

Hence my question: "How can I grow my organic views on Facebook?"

That being said, I've got some cash now, so I can pay for some ads, but I'd still rather know the answer to my question from someone with any actual knowledge, as opposed to people saying "Social Media? Don't be stupid. Walk around in the rain and knock on doors all day" like this is the 1980's.

Cheers,
Scott

 

[makeusvisible]

If you want more organic views on Facebook, the only way you can gain them is to put the hours in.

For example, liking other business pages.
Commenting on post (as your page)
Liking comments others have made
Writing you own posts and tagging other businesses in it

Sometimes joining a Facebook group (as yourself) and tagging your own business in can be a useful strategy in gaining likes too.

This post about going from Zero To Hero On Facebook might also be of interest.

 

[fisicx]

Nobody is saying to walk round in the rain. What we saying is you need to approach potential clients as you have done already. The platform you use to do this is irrelevant.

Do you want Facebook likes or do you want more business?

 

[Scott Davies]

If you want more organic views on Facebook, the only way you can gain them is to put the hours in.

For example, liking other business pages.
Commenting on post (as your page)
Liking comments others have made
Writing you own posts and tagging other businesses in it

Sometimes joining a Facebook group (as yourself) and tagging your own business in can be a useful strategy in gaining likes too.

This post about going from[link] might also be of interest.

Thanks, that's helpful.

As I say I've only used Facebook Pages for a B2C company in the past, so consumers were liking my page left-right-and-centre. I actually didn't realise you COULD like business pages through your own business page - I will definitely be googling how to do that, because I can't see it on my "Pages Manager" app anywhere. Thanks

I'm not overt to putting in the hours. A 16 hour day is fine with me - no problem. I just want to be able to achieve the most possible in those long hours, so it's always best where possible to get advice from people further ahead than you are, obviously.

Thanks for the article link, I'm off to read it right away.

Best Wishes,
Scott

 

[NickGrogan]

OK, social media advice.

1) Hustle or Fail isn't a great brand name, on or off line.
2) The domain name linked from your twitter posts doesn't work
3) 400 followers isn't going to get you anywhere.
4) freehosted wordpress website, badly setup, showing none of your work isn't going to help
5) Logo on your twitter is very basic
6) Your facebook link doesn't work
7) Your work in instagram is very very basic
8) Your images don't relate to your sector
9) 138 followers on Instagram won't bring any business.
10) Your Etsy shop, under the same brand is empty.

I'm sure that you can do great work, but I can't find any of it anywhere that you're promoting, so even if you got a million likes that isn't really going to help, before worrying about traffic, you need something for people to see.

For social media to work, you need to be adding value. What benefit am I gaining from following or liking you or reading your posts.

There are plenty of books telling you to follow people, so they follow you and it works if you just want followers, but it doesn't bring in business.

 

[Scott Davies]

I'm just shifting my stuff yesterday/today away from the old hustleorfail domain I had a way back to the Scott Davies Logo Designer stuff, so it's a WIP, but the check list from another perspective is actually super helpful, because I hadn't thought about, for example, old URL's on my twitter timeline, so thank you for taking that time out of your day!

Regarding social, I must be doing something right somewhere because I made 4 sales last night sat in bed on my phone, lol, but obviously I don't want to stop there(!)

 

[fisicx]

Social can be a great place to find work (I use twitter myself) but it's about you engaging with others rather than hoping they will find your FB page.

Push marketing will get you more work than looking for FB likes.

 

[StevePoster]

The field of work is really competitive and it would be worth it the effort if the thread opener use every possible medium as possible with greediness in reaching the right audience. Providing them the unique benefits from the work rather than using direct selling in front of million people.

 

[webgeek]

B2B - stick your facebook budget into emailing and reap the rewards. It gives you reach plus nurturing capabilities and is 10x more accepted than facebook.

 

[Scott Davies]

Since starting this thread I have doubled my salary for the month via Facebook engagement and organic growth. The same amount again is currently out in unconfirmed quotes.

The key I found was to forget pushing your Facebook group but rather to just go ahead and inbox people you know you can help, tell them how much you like their brand, and then tell them where you can help them make more money.

 

[fisicx]

And that's exactly how to use SM and has been suggested in your other thread. Go to potential clients rather than expect them to come to you.

 

[aflat9]

I would suggest not trying to promote yourself on Facebook. Try through your website - try looking on some community forums and try getting out there in the public. It's hard getting a name. Once you get lots of views it snowballs. Getting it to start is the hardest part (I'm in a similar boat)