How to get 10,000 fans in one month (with just a 2k budget)

By David J Garcia Tuesday January 5, 2010

We reached a huge milestone for The Frugality Game on Facebook yesterday: 10,000 fans. It feels great to hit that mark before tomorrow’s launch.

Along the way, I’ve learned a lot about what works. In future posts, I’ll dig in-depth to explore the details. For now, here are some initial thoughts.

Have a good product. This doesn’t mean that your product has to be perfect. Since The Frugality Game hasn’t even launched yet, many people have become fans based on the just the concept, the pitch and the prizes.
Leverage other efforts. Since many social media projects don’t start with a huge budget, you need to tie into what’s already happening and apply it to social media. Repurpose existing contest and tie into existing promotions. For example, I was able to get a $1,000 prize for pre-registered users extended to fans.
Offer rewards. When you’re in budget meetings, social media is about what it can do for your company. But when you’re online, it’s all about what you can do for your audience. Not everyone responds to prizes, but enough people do (and enough large brands have set the example). We also offered fans an early invitation to the game.
Use your connections. Everyone who knows you or your brand should know that you’re on Facebook and how they can benefit. If some of your friends and family let their friends know, the multiplier can be significant. We asked our employees to become fans, then ran a contest for them to recommend it to friends.
Customize. Adding a custom landing tab can give you a great way to offer your pitch. We included information about the games and prizes, an arrow pointing to the “Become a fan” button, and a email sign-up. Remarkably, 35% of fans have also pre-registered with the email sign-up.
Engage. But don’t over-post. Once a user clicks “Hide” or “Unsubscribe” because they feel spammed, they’ll probably never see your updates again. However, realize that you will lose some people along the way, and that’s okay as long as your increase is bigger. Also, responding quickly and frequently to comments has increased the sense of community. When people ask questions–answer!
Advertise. Advertising on Facebook is one of the biggest opportunities in marketing today. Prices are still relatively low, since not everyone has figured it out yet, and you can target your exact audience. Viral growth is a powerful multiplier, but it relies on the size of your initial population. Get the most out of your efforts by investing in well-targeted ads to grow your initial viral seed.
Test. When advertising, try different images, different copy and different demographics. When you find something that works, test variations of that. You could spend a few dollars per fan if you don’t test, but potentially much less if you do. I found advertising combinations that resulted in a new fan for every $0.09-0.45 spent. More on how to do this in a future post (subscribe).
Find the right fans. Once you have a few fans, figure out what they have in common (look at profiles to find out what else they’re fans of). Then advertise to more people like them. This helped me realize that women who are fans of TigerDirect.com might also become fans of The Frugality Game (they did, in astounding numbers).
Get creative. Social media is so hyped right now that people expect extraordinary results with small budgets. Prove you can deliver something with a small budget, then don’t be afraid to ask for more. Companies like to invest in things that are working (and producing measurable results).
Go viral. Our final push to get over 10,000 (we added about a thousand fans yesterday) came when I posted:

We’re giving away $1,000 today! Last chance to invite your friends before the drawing…just go to http://Facebook.com/FrugalityGame and click “Suggest to Friends” under our profile picture. Stay tuned later for the announcement of the winner.

Dozens and dozens of fans posted and commented that they had invited their friends. We’re still seeing significant growth from that blast. Obviously, that wouldn’t have worked without the other elements already in place.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to leverage Facebook and increase fans, please comment, subscribe, and post on Twitter and Facebook. Thank you!