Self-Devpt. Nuggets™

In this “opinion” piece, I express (not for the first time) what some might call a puritanical view regarding how to get “LIKES” for MY Facebook pages (Emphasis on “my” = VERY deliberate).

2 years ago, it boasted less than 40 fans.

Then I reinvented my Web Marketing System, using ideas I picked up from Patrick Meninga on what I call “Blogging with Purpose”, and insights I gained from studying Steve Roller’s excellent article titled “Reap What You Sow”, while featuring that page on my blog and website, as well as my email newsletter.

My major purpose at the time, was to attract more sales leads for my custom ExcelVB software, especially the popular ones used by Farm Business Owners e.g the Livestock Ration Formulator and the Poultry Farm Manager

Today, at 274 LIKES, my MS Excel Heaven Solutions Development page boasts a growing international community of followers from across Africa, as well as Asia, UAE, Canada and the USA.

Most of them found the page on their own, through contact with various aspects of my Web Marketing System.

Every now and then, some have reached out and made purchases.

The experience has been similar with my Cost Saving Farm Business iDEAS page which I’m now attracting more REAL “LIKES” for using this same strategy.

Now, some would call the number of page followers I’ve mentioned “tiny”, but I know where I’ve been, and what I’ve had to do to win buyers over the years – especially given the harsh socio-economic environment in which I’ve had to operate in my part of the world

Given the unconventional solutions I offer, therefore. and especially considering how I have earned those page followers, I consider that number very significant!

By way of interest, I plan to do more networking by attending meetings of niche groups and possibly forging alliances. So those numbers are likely to ramp up faster, while the QUALITY of engagement will most likely be enhanced.

2 years ago, I had no idea how to attract such authentic zero cost fans for my unconventional business pages

People told me (and I read about) buying LIKES to get a confidence inspiring number of fans on the page before launching. Others emphasized inviting friends to boost the numbers.

I do not condemn anyone using those methods. However, I’m a student of best practice. I like to study things to see how they work, so I can get reproducible output from them.

I have learned from experience that you must understand the mental attitude of your potential buyer, if you want to stand a good chance of selling to him/her successfully.

For me, marketing is not only about reaching out to, and connecting with large numbers of people, but also connecting with the RIGHT groups of people, who I know can be accurately described as potential buyers

It makes no sense having hundreds or thousands of followers that have little or no interest in what your page offers, or worse, fans who actually are just phoney facebook accounts!

Experience has taught me that serious prospects will readily LIKE a page that offers information or education about something that interests them.

This is why paying to get LIKES, that some people habitually do simply does not appeal to me.

The nature of my target audience, for instance, is such that they will often prefer to read quietly and then email or phone me, rather than post a comment, or comments!

I estimate that 70% of those who connect with me in that manner, eventually go on to buy. Often the same day, within minutes or hours of receiving payment details they request from me!

If I had gotten followers to my page by purchasing them, the quality of engagement would not be as much.

I happen to know, for instance, that the republished multidisciplinary SD Nuggets blog RSS feeds that appear on my Facebook pages contribute significantly to my website traffic.

In other words followers on that platform actually take the pains to click on the links for my blogs, to read my new content.

This is why I argue that you must carefully study people who fit your target audience profile, and come to a clear and accurate understanding of how they prefer to connect with you, then leverage that insight to make more of them do so, as often as possible.

It goes without saying, of course, that you don’t have to agree with me on this. We can always agree to disagree

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