Businesses across all industries and sectors are trying to connect with their customers through social media, and self-storage is no exception. Seemingly every day new self-storage-facility fan or business pages are added to Facebook. Of course, just having a Facebook page isn't enough. Facilities must draw possible customers and Facebook users to the page to interact with them. And as a business, the way to give customers and potential customers access to your Facebook content is to get them to "like" you, a subject currently being tackled on Self-Storage Talk.
Getting "likes," or digital, informal, thumbs-up approvals from other Facebook users, is the goal of the thread "Getting Likes on Facebook." SST members have created a system (via sharing links on a thread) to build up each other's number of likes. At first, this might seem like a pointless exercise: Why does it matter if one manager in Oregon likes the Facebook page of a facility in New Jersey? It's not like the Oregon manager is a potential customer. That's a valid question, but building the number of likes on a Facebook page is important for search optimization, both within Facebook and through search engines such as Google. Every business page needs at least 25 likes to be allowed by Facebook to create a unique URL. A unique URL (for example, http://www.facebook.com/coolselfstoragefacility) will make your page rank higher in search and attract more likes, those issued by people are probably are your customers or potential customers. Once someone is liking your business page, they receive updates from your Facebook posts in their content feed. If you advertise a special or announce an event, the information about the update will make it to your "fans." In short, if you're using Facebook to market, it's very important to accumulate likes.
The great thing about the SST forum is it's a great way to get these types of ventures off the ground. There's no better resource than your industry peers, who if they know about your budding Facebook page, wouldn't mind taking five seconds to log on and like it. with peers' help, you're on your way to a stronger social media presence. So, if you're looking for more likes, this is the place to go. If you're hoping to do a little research and go beyond the simple like requests, go to the forum home page at www.selfstoragetalk.com and search "Facebook." You'll find several threads over the past few years where industry peers and social media/Web experts discuss social media and Facebook strategy. It's incredibly worthwhile reading for 21st century marketing. If you'd like to do more than read and actually post responses or ask questions, you must register an SST username if you haven't already. Registration is free and easy, and can be done at www.selfstoragetalk.com/register.php.