How to Get More Facebook Likes

How to Get More Facebook Likes

Facebook is undoubtedly the king of all social networking sites, and like a virtual New York, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere! One of the key measures of Facebook success is the number of likes you get on your page, posts and status updates. But these likes can be elusive - so reeling them in requires some strategizing. Whether you're just trying to get more likes on your personal statuses, or attempting to promote your business online, this handy guide will help you to successfully navigate the finicky world of Facebook likes.

Post often, but not too often. Posting often increases your visibility on people's timelines, making it less possible for your posts to be overlooked or skimmed over. If you can become known for posting interesting and funny status updates, photos and videos, people will be more likely to stop and take notice when your name appears on their feed. The more people who actually pay attention to what you're posting, the more people who'll be inclined to like each post. 

• A word of warning though, posting too often will just clog up people's feeds and they'll become tired of it, which may lead them to hide you from their timeline or possibly unfriend you - not what you want at all!
• A good guideline to follow is about 1 to 2 posts a day, everyday. According to an analysis done by KissMetrics, posting 1 -2 times a day increases other Facebook users' engagement by 40%

Post more photos and videos. People are very visually-oriented, so photos and videos are more likely to capture people's attention than wordy status updates. It only takes about half a second for a person to take in a picture, so it requires very little effort, and they can respond to it almost immediately. Interesting or funny videos are also a great way to get likes, but you may need to include a comment which entices people to watch the video in the first place, something enigmatic and intriguing like "This video is so funny I snorted milk through my nose" or "I can't believe this video is for real...needs to be seen to be believed!"

• Tagging friends and acquaintances in pictures is also a great way to get likes and possibly make new friends. People are narcissistic and like to see pictures of themselves (as long as they're flattering!) so get tagging and start rolling in the likes.
• With camera phones and apps like Vine and Instagram it's now so easy to upload your own high-quality videos featuring you and your friends. Again, people are more interested in things involving themselves, so a tagged video of your friends reenacting Katy Perry's new music video will probably get more likes than if you posted the official Katy Perry video itself.

Keep it short and sweet. People are lazy. And impatient. They want to be entertained and they want it now. Therefore, long-winded or wordy status updates are more likely to be given a cursory glance, then quickly scrolled past. Remember that Facebook is not a blog - people don't want a summary of your day, a description of what you ate for breakfast or a lengthy opinion piece on the latest episode of Breaking Bad. They want short, amusing anecdotes or concise updates on cool, interesting things you've seen or done. So give the people what they want.

• Unlike Twitter, you're not technically limited to 160 characters or less, but you should seriously consider imposing this rule on yourself!
• Of course, if you have a blog, you're more than welcome to share a link to these in-depth musings on your Facebook page. Once you've built up a reputation for posting interesting and unique status updates, people might be more inclined to click through to your blog.

Ask interactive questions. Another great way to get more likes is to be interactive with your Facebook friends, by asking engaging questions and requesting other people's opinions. You can also ask for other people's help or recommendations - people like to be the ones to give the best or most interesting answer. Examples of this might include something like:

• "Calling all techies! My computer is refusing to install the new version of iTunes...help please?" or "Anyone tried that new pizza place downtown? I need a cheese-y carb fix - stat!" Just be sure to reply to any respondents quickly so they'll be willing to help you out again in future.
• Do not abuse the question system though, you shouldn't ask questions that are too personal or that require too much effort from other users. For example, asking people whether a certain picture "makes you look fat" is a definite no-no, while asking people for an explanation of how to make a PowerPoint presentation is just lazy. Google it.

Like other people's posts. Sometimes you just need to establish a mutual "liking" relationship with another person, especially if you're not particularly close to them in real life. Even if someone enjoys or appreciates something you posted, they may hold back from liking it because they're afraid of seeming weird when you don't know each other well. In this scenario, you should be the one to break the ice by liking one of their posts first. This way they'll feel more comfortable, or maybe even obliged, to like yours back. It's a win-win situation!

• If you really don't know the other person all that well, you should be somewhat scrupulous in the posts you choose to like. For example, you should avoid liking a post that says something like "Just broke up with my boyfriend of 6 months - happy to be single again!" If you're barely acquaintances with this person, or if you happen to be friends with their boyfriend, it will seem weird if you like it.
• You should also avoid liking posts where the person is obviously upset or frustrated about something. For example, you shouldn't randomly like a post that says "My childhood dog just died at 15 years of age. RIP Fido, you will be greatly missed. :(" That would just be mean.

On Personal Posts

1.  
    1
   Post often, but not too often. Posting often increases your visibility on people's timelines, making it less possible for your posts to be overlooked or skimmed over. If you can become known for posting interesting and funny status updates, photos and videos, people will be more likely to stop and take notice when your name appears on their feed. The more people who actually pay attention to what you're posting, the more people who'll be inclined to like each post.

   • A word of warning though, posting too often will just clog up people's feeds and they'll become tired of it, which may lead them to hide you from their timeline or possibly unfriend you - not what you want at all!
   • A good guideline to follow is about 1 to 2 posts a day, everyday. According to an analysis done by KissMetrics, posting 1 -2 times a day increases other Facebook users' engagement by 40%.^[1]
2. 
   2
   Post more photos and videos. People are very visually-oriented, so photos and videos are more likely to capture people's attention than wordy status updates. It only takes about half a second for a person to take in a picture, so it requires very little effort, and they can respond to it almost immediately. Interesting or funny videos are also a great way to get likes, but you may need to include a comment which entices people to watch the video in the first place, something enigmatic and intriguing like "This video is so funny I snorted milk through my nose" or "I can't believe this video is for real...needs to be seen to be believed!"

   • Tagging friends and acquaintances in pictures is also a great way to get likes and possibly make new friends. People are narcissistic and like to see pictures of themselves (as long as they're flattering!) so get tagging and start rolling in the likes.
   • With camera phones and apps like Vine and Instagram it's now so easy to upload your own high-quality videos featuring you and your friends. Again, people are more interested in things involving themselves, so a tagged video of your friends reenacting Katy Perry's new music video will probably get more likes than if you posted the official Katy Perry video itself.
     
   3
   Keep it short and sweet. People are lazy. And impatient. They want to be entertained and they want it now. Therefore, long-winded or wordy status updates are more likely to be given a cursory glance, then quickly scrolled past. Remember that Facebook is not a blog - people don't want a summary of your day, a description of what you ate for breakfast or a lengthy opinion piece on the latest episode of Breaking Bad. They want short, amusing anecdotes or concise updates on cool, interesting things you've seen or done. So give the people what they want.

   • Unlike Twitter, you're not technically limited to 160 characters or less, but you should seriously consider imposing this rule on yourself!
   • Of course, if you have a blog, you're more than welcome to share a link to these in-depth musings on your Facebook page. Once you've built up a reputation for posting interesting and unique status updates, people might be more inclined to click through to your blog.
3. 4
   Ask interactive questions. Another great way to get more likes is to be interactive with your Facebook friends, by asking engaging questions and requesting other people's opinions. You can also ask for other people's help or recommendations - people like to be the ones to give the best or most interesting answer. Examples of this might include something like:

   • "Calling all techies! My computer is refusing to install the new version of iTunes...help please?" or "Anyone tried that new pizza place downtown? I need a cheese-y carb fix - stat!" Just be sure to reply to any respondents quickly so they'll be willing to help you out again in future.
   • Do not abuse the question system though, you shouldn't ask questions that are too personal or that require too much effort from other users. For example, asking people whether a certain picture "makes you look fat" is a definite no-no, while asking people for an explanation of how to make a PowerPoint presentation is just lazy. Google it.
4. 5
   Like other people's posts. Sometimes you just need to establish a mutual "liking" relationship with another person, especially if you're not particularly close to them in real life. Even if someone enjoys or appreciates something you posted, they may hold back from liking it because they're afraid of seeming weird when you don't know each other well. In this scenario, you should be the one to break the ice by liking one of their posts first. This way they'll feel more comfortable, or maybe even obliged, to like yours back. It's a win-win situation!

   • If you really don't know the other person all that well, you should be somewhat scrupulous in the posts you choose to like. For example, you should avoid liking a post that says something like "Just broke up with my boyfriend of 6 months - happy to be single again!" If you're barely acquaintances with this person, or if you happen to be friends with their boyfriend, it will seem weird if you like it.
   • You should also avoid liking posts where the person is obviously upset or frustrated about something. For example, you shouldn't randomly like a post that says "My childhood dog just died at 15 years of age. RIP Fido, you will be greatly missed. :(" That would just be mean.
5. 6
   Be funny. Okay, so this can be hard advice to put into practice, especially if humor isn't your strong suit. But as mentioned before, people go on Facebook to be entertained, so if you can post something that makes someone laugh, or even smile, you will be handsomely rewarded with likes.

   • Try to think of something funny or weird that happened to you and write about that. Or if you're brave, describe an embarrassing situation you found yourself in, such as calling your Spanish professor "Mom" or knocking over a cart full of pineapples at the supermarket.
   • If you can't be funny, use someone else's humor instead. Search for an entertaining joke on the internet and post it to your wall, or share a particularly clever version of a popular meme. You may not have come up with it yourself, but you'll still get all the cred

   
   
   
   

   Avoid posts that appear attention or sympathy seeking. In general, people don't like Facebook posts which are solely intended to attract attention or garner sympathy. If you post those kinds of status updates, you're more likely to get a a disgruntled "tut!" and a roll of the eyes than a large collection of likes. Posts that fall into this category include those that are self-congratulatory ("OMG, can't believe I got signed with a modeling agency/ got the top exam score in my class/ got asked on a date by the hot guy/girl at Starbucks!), overly self-deprecating ("Just ate an entire packet of cookies - No wonder I'm so fat") or ANY pictures of you staring moodily/pouting/winking at the camera that you clearly took of yourself.

   • You should also nix on the enigmatic or overly-vague posts which are clearly designed to elicit a sympathetic "what's wrong?" or "what happened?" Posts like "worst day of my life" or "some people have no shame" are two such examples.
   • Posts like "I hate my hair! I wish it would just do as it's told for once!" are on the borderline. If you're known for your crazy, flyaway curls then it's probably acceptable. If, however, you usually look like you just stepped out of a Pantene commercial and could easily be mistaken for Serena van der Woodsen's long-lost sister, you will receive no mercy from the Facebook Gods and probably no likes.
   • If you must post these kinds of statuses, at least try to keep them tongue-in-cheek by acknowledging that you're looking for attention. Use a clever hashtag (yes, you can do that on Facebook now) or simple "haha!" to show that you are not entirely serious.