Over the years, I’ve had to manage numerous Facebook pages for my clients as part of my job. Because of this, I’ve used and seen the various tactics these small business owners have used. Some of these tactics cause their pages to improve, decline, and sometimes not budge at all.

Now, none of this is groundbreaking information for those of you who are experienced in social media marketing. However, for those of you struggling to bring in new customers using Facebook, I’m certain that these tips will help you improve your campaign.

Promote Your Referrer Program

I absolutely love this method and believe it to be one of the most under-utilised tactics on social media. I first read about this method on Black Hat World in a thread titled, “How I built my offline SEO/Social Media empire earning $15,000 a month in three months!!!“.

The basic idea is to message everyone you know on Facebook (or anywhere else, for that matter) and let them know that you’re offering a 10% commission for any new client they refer to you. While the member “Taktical” who posted this method used it for his social media marketing company, the idea can be applied to nearly every other business. Imagine a car washing business or a gardener who pays you to send them customers. People love easy money, and it doesn’t get any easier than telling a friend or family member to try out a new product or service (especially if they’re getting paid for it).

Announce a Contest

A few clients of mine used this tactic on their Facebook pages in the past and saw more activity and business than they could handle. The concept is similar to the referrer program for the reason that people love easy money, but that’s where the similarities end.

You’ve more than likely seen your friends on Facebook share a contest in the past. “Share for a chance to win” posts are fairly common on Facebook, after all. Now, I’ve never been a fan of the “share” or ” like” method as I’ve seen it abused in the past by Facebook users and other social media marketers who have access to hundreds of accounts. However, the way my clients handled their contests took care of this issue; they promoted posts stating that any new customers who worked with them would automatically be entered for a chance to win a cash prize.

If you decide to go through with this, be sure to remember that there are numerous laws governing contests.

Take Advantage of Current Trends

Remember Pokemon Go? Did you know that businesses were using this game to attract customers to their business?

I tried suggesting taking advantage of the Pokemon Go craze to one of my former clients before people were really picking up on it. He didn’t even bother to consider it, and he lost out on an easy chance to drive traffic to his business. Friends of mine in this industry took advantage of this craze

Next time you hear about a new craze, take the time to look into it. Even if it’s not another “Pokemon Go” specifically, simply using your Facebook page to post content on the craze can be enough to attract attention to your page.

Learn To Take. A. Risk!

If you’re just going to post boring call-to-actions on your Facebook page and expect results, just do us all a favour and delete your Facebook page right now.

Entrepreneurship is often associated with taking calculated risks. So why is it that we have so many risk-averse small business owners on Facebook?

I want you to take a look at the Facebook page for Arby’s. Look how creative their social media marketer is. THAT is what marketing should be, not those boring “Click here to do business with us, even though we haven’t given you a reason to. We are located at 123 Failure Street”.

This leads me to my next point.

Do Something Unexpected

Let’s say you’re a tailor and you want people to notice your tailoring store. Do you Know what people are expecting when they arrive on your page? Boring ads that say, “Come visit us at blah blah blah”. Do you know what they’re not expecting? Photoshopped images of dinosaurs in tailored suit with a tiny top hat and a monocle.

Business owners are often scared of seeming unprofessional, and granted, the image above would most likely be a turn-off to the target demographic for a tailor who specialises in bespoke suits.

But if you’re not in the luxury market, then let me ask you: what’s the worst that can happen? They won’t do business with you? Chances are though, somebody will find it funny and share with their friends (who will share it with their friends, and share with their friends, and so on).