How to increase your Facebook Fan Page likes by up to 300%

I prefer email list subscribers to Facebook "likers" because I've found the former to do a better job of driving profitable actions for my company than the latter. 

But Facebook Like's can function as a social proofing juggernaut and provide awesome credibility. Thus, we practice "fan-gating".

"Fan-Gating" defined

A restaurant in Washington increased their 'like' conversions on Facebook by 136%* using a practice called "fan-gating"; the act of showing non-fans one landing page design and then after they click like, showing them another design. 

To get a clear idea, check out their page: http://www.facebook.com/wafrostcompany?sk=app_191963584188739

Here is another company called "All Facebook" who uses the same fan-gating practice on their fan page: http://www.facebook.com/allfacebook

And here is a blog post by the same company detailing the HTML code they use to create fan-gated pages:http://www.allfacebook.com/create-reveal-tab-2010-09

Your opportunity:

Create a landing page that teases with an enticing offer and then rewards on its promise and watch your likes multiply.

Hire a developer who isn't just a designer, but has an emphasis on conversion testing and influencing user behavior. This is the difference between having a landing tab that converts and having a landing tab thats just "pretty".

Best practices

On average, 90%** of Facebook fans will never visit a fan page again after clicking "like". This means a fan page should function as a conversion page, not a destination page. Custom landing tabs can on average convert about 50%*** better than a pages wall can. 

Since only 10% of fans will ever visit a fan page again after liking it, your only interaction with fans will be through status updates which show in fans newsfeeds. This means your goal should be increasing engagement on each status update because the more engaged your fans are, the higher their edge rank will be, and Facebook will show their future statuses to more newsfeeds. This gives you greater social influence. 

Statistics for success

- Fans gained through social influence are more likely to become engaged with status updates than fans gained through advertising. 

- The status update formula that produces the most engagement is two sentences long with a question as the first sentence. Use this formula sparingly or it looses it's power, perhaps only one out of every 5 updates. On average, update 1.3 times a day. 

- You can earn up to 300%**** more interaction on your status updates over the weekend by taking advantage of the 5 day workweek enjoyed by other fan pages.

Sources:

* http://www.spydertrap.com/blog/2011/09/grow-your-facebook-likes-with-a-fan-gate/

** http://pagelever.com/

*** http://blog.conversionconference.com/speaker-announcements/social-media-roi-simple-question-complex-answer/

**** http://media.eloqua.com/documents/ProBook.pdf

How to up-sell male clients from haircut to facial treatments

See what inspiration you can draw from this. What follows is my sales process for up-selling a male client from a haircut to a facial skin treatment. 

I derived it from small sale best practices combined with a few youtube videos of male hair consults, particularly this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfA2ZbfVEc4

Step One: Hair consultation

Goal of Hair consultation: Make the client comfortable with receiving advice from the stylist.

Consultation questions: 

- How do you feel about your hair at the moment?

- What do you really like and what do you really dislike about your hair?

- Do you change the style of your hair between work and going out at night?

- Is it challenging or simple for you to re-create the look that the stylist gives you when you're home the next day? (This one hits home for me.)

Insights from the stylist:

- Your hair is (Insert: Wavy, thick, fine, curly, cowlicked) which means (Insert: Something relevant to its cut or styling), What kind of product do you usually use?

- Given the input you've just given me I think we should (Insert: Cut or style). 

Step Two: Skin consultation

Goal of skin consultation: Segue from giving insight on the clients hair type to giving advice on the clients skin type.

Once the haircut has started: 

- Give some insight into how the haircut you're giving them compliments their facial structure or skin tone. Ideally, you can tell them what sort of skin tone they have (Normal, Dry, Oily, Combination or Sensitive.)

Which gives way to a line of questioning: 

- What kind of moisturizing products do you use for your skin? 

- Do you use any facial washes? 

Step Three: The soft close

And you can then give the following insight: 

"We've found that most guys with skin type (Insert: Skin type) Benefit from a sequencing of products applied in one sitting about once every two weeks, so we hand picked our favorite products, came up with the ideal application and created "the oscar wilde" treatment designed to exfoliate, moisturize and refresh your skin. Most of our clients like it because it makes your skin feel brand new, kinda like you just came out of the womb. I think you'd enjoy the result if you've got 20 minutes to spare when we finish up this cut, and if you don't mind my hands on your face ;)"