With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is by far the largest social media platform in the world. This massive user base presents a huge opportunity for businesses looking to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and drive sales through Facebook marketing campaigns. One of the most common and effective Facebook campaigns is the Facebook “like” campaign, which aims to get more people to like your Facebook page. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to run a successful Facebook like campaign.
Set Goals for Your Campaign
Before launching your Facebook like campaign, clearly define what you want to achieve. Some common goals include:
- Increase overall page likes by X% in Y timeframe
- Gain likes from a specific target demographic
- Drive engagement and shares by getting more people to like your page
- Establish brand awareness and authority
Setting clear benchmarks will help you measure the success of your campaign and optimize future efforts. Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Target Your Audience
One of the major advantages of Facebook advertising is the ability to target your ads to very specific demographics and interest groups. Before running your ad campaign, invest time into researching your target audience and figuring out their attributes like:
- Location
- Age range
- Gender
- Interests and hobbies
- Purchase intent signals
You can target audiences on Facebook based on information people provide in their profiles, pages they’ve liked, groups they’ve joined, and many other factors. The more precise you can be in defining your target audience, the better your campaign results will be.
Create Engaging Ad Creative
Your ad creative – the image, video or carousel you use in your ads – plays a huge role in capturing attention and getting people to like your page. Here are some tips for making compelling Facebook ad creative:
- Use high-quality, eye-catching visuals related to your brand or product
- Convey a clear call-to-action e.g. “Like our page for updates”
- Leverage video content – video ads have the highest engagement
- Ensure key branding elements are clearly visible
- Localized messaging works better than generic creative
- Test multiple ad variations to see what resonates best
You can run A/B tests with different images, captions and calls-to-action to determine the highest performing creative.
Write a Compelling Ad Copy
In addition to visual creative, the text you use in your Facebook ad copy also affects results. Some tips for writing effective copy include:
- Highlight benefits of liking your page e.g. exclusive deals, early access etc.
- Use language that creates urgency or scarcity
- Keep copy simple, clear and focused on one call-to-action
- Adapt messaging to your target audience’s needs and interests
- Use emojis and humor when appropriate
- Include keywords related to your business where possible
You may need to test multiple ad copy variations to find what works best. A/B test copy along with creative for optimal results.
Choose the Right Campaign Objective
Facebook offers a range of campaign objectives you can choose from when setting up your ad campaign. For a Facebook like campaign, the main objectives you can use are:
- Page Likes: Optimizes your campaign to get the maximum number of likes for your page. This is the most direct objective for like campaigns.
- Post Engagement: Focuses on getting engagement (likes, shares, comments) on your organic page posts.
- Conversions: Drives actions beyond just page likes, like email signups or purchases.
- Brand Awareness: Builds awareness of your brand through views and reach. Helps expand audience.
Typically “Page Likes” is the best objective if your sole goal is growing Facebook page likes. But other objectives can work too depending on your broader marketing goals.
Set an Ad Budget
Determine how much you want to spend on your Facebook like campaign. Some factors to consider when setting a budget include:
- Cost per like – Average cost is $1-$3 per like
- Minimum budget for campaign viability – At least $100-$200 per week
- Benchmarks from past campaigns
- Volume and duration needed to hit goals
- Return on investment
You can start small at $5 per day, monitor results, then scale up. Aim for an efficient cost per like to maximize ROI.
Choose Your Placement
Facebook ad placement determines where your ads will be shown to users. Some options for a like campaign include:
- Facebook Feed: News feed appears in middle of Facebook app/desktop. Broad reach.
- Facebook Right Column: Ads on right of Facebook feed. Better visibility.
- Instagram Feed & Stories: Great for visual branding.
- Facebook Marketplace: Target shoppers.
- Facebook Messenger: Engage people via chat.
Test placements separately to see which works best. News Feed tends to produce strong and consistent results.
Measure Performance
Once your Facebook like campaign is live, track these key metrics to gauge performance:
- Amount spent vs. Budget
- Total page likes driven
- Increase in page likes (%)
- Cost per like
- Ad reach and impressions
- Reactions, comments, shares on page
- Website clicks from page
Monitor these daily and optimize ads to decrease cost per like and increase engagement. Shut off underperforming ads to focus budget on what works.
Retarget Engaged Users
An effective Facebook like campaign strategy is to create custom audiences and retarget people who have already engaged with your brand. You can create audiences to retarget such as:
- Visited your website
- Viewed your videos
- Clicked on your ads
- Liked your posts
- Commented on your page
These warm audiences are more likely to like your page when retargeted. Plus it’s very cost efficient to focus budget on high-intent users.
Re-Engage Inactive Page Likers
Look for people who liked your page in the past but have since become inactive. Create a custom audience of inactive page likers and re-engage them with ads reminding them why they originally liked you. Offer them new incentives to follow you again.
Cross-Promote on Other Platforms
To attract new audiences beyond just Facebook users, cross-promote your Facebook page on platforms like:
- YouTube
- Snapchat
- NextDoor
Drive social traffic from these channels back to your Facebook page by promoting it in your bio links, posts, stories etc.
Pair With an Instagram Strategy
Instagram and Facebook advertising are intrinsically linked through Facebook ad accounts. An effective like campaign strategy is to also run Instagram feed and story ads driving users to like your Facebook page. Instagram is great for brand awareness and visual content.
Leverage Facebook Lead Ads
Once you’ve grown your page audience, use Facebook Lead Ads to convert page likers into high-quality leads and customers. These ads let people sign up with just one click. Offer an irresistible lead magnet like:
- Discount coupon
- Free trial
- Whitepaper download
- Free consultation
- Product samples
Lead gen is a logical next step to maximize ROAS from likes.
Keep Growing Your Community
After running your initial like campaign, keep nurturing your Facebook audience by:
- Posting engaging content regularly
- Using Facebook Live videos
- Running Facebook contests and sweepstakes
- Following up with email and remarketing
- Interacting with followers in comments
- Offering strong incentives to keep liking
A larger, loyal community will drive long-term business value beyond just vanity metrics.
Conclusion
Running a successful Facebook like campaign takes careful planning, optimization and patience. Define your audience and goals, create compelling creative, choose the right placements and objectives, monitor metrics closely and keep innovating. With strategic execution, your brand can gain a viral following on the world’s biggest social network.