#37: How do I get my Facebook friends to come over to my Page?

Would you like to know how to spend less time trying to convert your Facebook Profile "Friends" over to "Fans" of your Facebook Page?
Would you like to learn an easy trick to link your Profile and Fan Page together so that your visitors to your Profile would have direct exposure to your Fan Page?
You will learn all of that and more in this weeks Episode of Online Marketing Made Easy - Ask Amy Podcast.
On this episode I answer a question from one of my listeners about how to get your Facebook friends to like your Facebook Page.
This is the question she asked:
Kathy Sacks: “I have more than 500 friends on my Facebook Profile. Since it would take a long time to get that many “likes” on my Facebook Page, I’d like to get my friends on my Profile to to like my new business Page. Do you have any advice for me?”
Now, the short answer is that there is no foolproof way to move your friends over to your Page.  There are a few things you can try and I’ll go over those things with you but I want to encourage you not to spend too much time trying to move your friends over to your Page.
Instead, I would encourage you to spend more time on developing your Page, the content, the engagement, your list-growing strategy, all of that can be done on your Page.
I wouldn't suggest you spend too much time on this strategy although I am going to give you some helpful tips to get you started to make that transition.  I understand that if you are growing a Facebook Page you want to build your fan base quickly and it makes sense to start with the friends on your Profile since they seem to have an interest in what you are posting.
Sounds logical, although, it doesn’t happen as though we think it should.
One thing you might want to think about is this: Are those friends that you have on your profile genuinely interested in your business?  Some of them likely are but definitely not all of them are.
To be upfront, some of your Profile friends just aren’t interested in hearing from you about your business. That’s why I just want to caution you, it's likely on your Profile, you have a mix of people that are friends or just want to know you personally and have no interest in what you are doing for business.  That's just how it is.
In my experience, moving friends to fans is a slow process that is rarely a raving success.  That’s why I don’t want you to spend too much time in this area.  However, I will say, it is worth an effort to give it a shot.  Do it and then move on to bigger and better things.
I did promise you a few things that you can implement to build your new fan page with your existing friend base from your profile. 1) The first suggestion I have for you is make sure that you link your Profile and your Page.  In the video below I’m going to show you how to link your Profile and your Page so if somebody comes to your Profile they can easily click a link right there on that timeline and go over to your Facebook Page and become a fan. This can be tricky because the step-by-step process I am going to show you (it's quick, I promise!) doesn’t always work for everybody, so I am also going to show you a quick workaround in the video.  I've got you covered ;-)
Linking your Profile to your Fan Page 2) For about two weeks, start a campaign where you are actively promoting your Page on your Profile.  What this means is that you’re telling people that you are now posting regularly on your Facebook Page about (...you fill in the blank here) and that you would love for them to come over and become a fan. Make sure you tell them to click “like” on your Page to become a fan.  Give them an action so that you can actually stay in touch with them in the newsfeed. Do this for a week or two; that should be enough to create the awareness.   You then need to take it one step further and give them a reason why they should come over to your Facebook Page.
Use Video to promote your Page to your friends on your Profile Creating a video to encourage your friends to come over to your Page is a great strategy. My good friend, James Wedmore, did this when he first created his Facebook Page.  At the time, James was only using his Profile to connect with people on Facebook and he wanted to start using Facebook ads.  So he created a Facebook Page because you can't run ads on Facebook if you don't have a Facebook Page.  He made a short video telling people something like, “Hey there, I’ve finally jumped on the bandwagon, I have a Facebook Page, and I want you to come over because this is what I’m doing over there.....”  In his video he talked about a free giveaway to get them to want to actually click the link, go to the Facebook Page, and become a fan.
Lure your Profile friends over to your Fan Page by using a "FREE" giveaway If you’re not comfortable with video, do some kind of promotion or giveaway on your Page for a series of one to two weeks just to get people to come over.  You’ve got to give them a reason why and tell them what's in it for them.  The thing is, most people are not going to pay attention if you just tell them to come over to your Page.  But, if you tell them what’s in it for them and you create a benefit they’ll pay attention.  I suggest giving away an ebook related to your brand or possibly a program or a product that you have; something completely aligned with your brand so people that are interested in your giveaway are going to be genuine prospects for you.
I always say giving away a shiny iPad is not the best idea for a giveaway because anybody would like the iPad but not everybody would want my Facebook marketing program.  But, if they do then they are a perfect fit for my audience.  A giveaway is a great way to go that extra step and actually attract the friends on your Profile that are genuinely interested in your business.
Attract New, Quality Fans with Like Ads (Instead of Focusing on Moving Your Friends Over) If you have a Facebook Page with less than 500 fans I’m sure that you want to grow that Facebook fan base quickly.  One strategy that may be much more powerful than moving your friends to your Page, is to experiment with Facebook Like Ads.  If it fits within your budget, I would spend two weeks running a Like Ad campaign.  With approximately $100-$200, you could grow your fan base by a few hundred fans quickly.
Once you get to 500 fans, that’s considered to be a pretty solid audience. That’s when I would shift gears. I would stop focusing on growing your fan base and worrying about your friends coming over to your Page and instead focusing on turning fans into leads. Attracting leads on Facebook is extremely important if you want to make your Facebook efforts profitable.
7 Steps to a Facebook Marketing Plan In my flagship program, Facebook Marketing Profit Lab, I take my students through a seven step process to create a profitable Facebook Marketing Plan.  If you want a quick snapshot of all seven steps, you can check out Episode #28 where I dive into each of them with specifics.
Key Takeaways:
Don't spend too much time trying to move your friends over to your Facebook Page Spend more time on developing your Page, the content, the engagement, your list-building strategy Ask yourself: "Are the friends that I currently have on your Profile genuinely interested in my business?" Make sure that you link your Profile and your Page Spend only two weeks maximum on the campaign to actively promote your Page on your Profile Take things to the next level with a short video to introduce your new Page and brand to your Profile friends list Think about creating an irresistible giveaway to entice your friends to become your fans.