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10 Steps To Get 1000+ Fans On Your Facebook Page

One of my cuties - Bex is presh!Ok, so you’re a portrait photographer and you’re trying to grow your business. You feel like you have tried and tried and tried and NOTHING is working. Well, I may have something that might work for you. As you all know I’m a wedding photographer but one time I thought it would be a FANTASTIC idea to try and get some local portrait business in my area. I had been reading different ways to get my name out there and someone suggested running a “Cutest Kid Contest” on your blog/facebook. O.M.G. This idea, whoever thought of it, was the best contest I ever ran.

Think about it this way. You have a kid, you obviously think they are the cutest right? If you’re trying to win a prize and the ability to say that your kid won a contest for the cutest kid, of course you’re going to spread that ALL AROUND the internet making everyone from your next door neighbor to the bagger at your grocery store help you win this contest!

I literally grew 1000+ fans on my facebook page within a month. NO JOKE. I don’t even know how that even happened and I couldn’t even believe my eyes as it was happening. This is an amazing tool to get your name out there and to start a buzz in your company. The beauty of this, you can mold this contest to fit anything you want to do, “Cutest Pet Contest” or “Cutest Couple Contest.” So here’s what you need to do to get started and make an awesome contest campaign for your facebook fan page.

Say self, “What type of contest should I run?” If you’re trying to get more wedding clients, run an engagement contest, if you’re trying to get more kids, run a cutest kid contest.
What do I want the prize to be? When I did this contest I made the prizes absolutely ridiculous, 3 mini sessions, prints, you name it I was giving it away. You have to think in terms of the amount of exposure this can get me is HUGE so how much is that worth to me.
Set rules and regulations for the services/products that the winner will get. IE The mini sessions have to take place at this location, for this long. If they get prints, they get this much time to order them; it does or does not include a cd. Make this as specific as possible but make the prizes WORTH creating a buzz about.
Have a Facebook Business Page set up. Don’t know how to do that? Click here.
Facebook has a ton of regulations on contests and giveaways so make SURE you read these, so you don’t get your page taken down. Click here to read the rules and regulations.
Use different apps like Wildfire to run your contest. You can set the rules, whether or not people have to like your page, put in deadlines and rules and regulations about the contest. Makes the contest user friendly to the contestants and also helps make sure no one is “cheating”. This is not a free app but for $35 and this much exposure, well worth it! The best thing is, it takes all of the overwhelming part of the process out of it. It walks you through how to set it up step by step.
PROMOTE this campaign on your personal page, business page, in newsletters. Have everyone you know post about it even if they don’t have a kid or a pet.
Don’t have this contest drag on forever. I would do no more than 1 month.
Use the time that this giveaway is going to post super strong images to your facebook. This may seem like a no brainer but remember the month you run this, probably will generate the most buzz you’ve had on your page so give the contestants and the voters something to look at.
Most important piece of advice is pick a deadline for when the contestants can submit the photo. So let’s say you wanted to do this in September. August 22^nd-August 29^th they would have to submit the photo to the contest. The actual contest with voting would start September 1^st and then it would run for however long you would want it to run for. I messed this up when I did the contest and it created major drama – so take my advice!

I would love to hear if you tried out this campaign and how it worked for you! Let us know over on our facebook page. Share your contest on there so others can see how you set it up!

Happy shooting!

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4 Responses

BP4U

September 24, 2012

@Shira: How did you advertise it, did you post on your personal as well as your business pages?

@Tiffany – I would run a Facebook ad targeting free sessions if you win the cutest kid contest or something like this. The cutest kid entries are definitely the way to go to build a fan base in your new location.

@Paige – How many likes did you get from it? Also how else did you advertise for your contest? Did you send out a newsletter to past clients and clients that are currently booked? Run a facebook ad? I did the same thing with an engagement contest and noticed I wasn’t getting as much exposure with the kids so I made the prize better. That might help as well to gain more submissions prior to the deadline.

Paige

August 24, 2012

I did a contest and only got a few submissions. I ended up private messaging all my friends who had kids in that age range, with the same message saying I didn't get enough submissions to hold the contest so I was allowing one more day to submit and would love for them to enter their kid. I ended up with 25 submissions and turned some away after the submission deadline. And I almost doubled my likes. It works. BUT be prepared to lose likes soon after it is all over. I lost about 10% of my new likes.

Tiffany

August 23, 2012

I would love to try this, but I am moving at the end of the month. This si just thing I am looking for to get me going in my new location. How do you suggest I get submissions since I will not have a local client base?