Organically Grow Restaurant Facebook Fans: Utilise Facebook's Viral Power

Multi-channel campaigns get you major increases in Facebook Fans, but there are many ways to keep the Fan count ticking with people who are actually interested in your restaurant, without spending the big bucks.

We recently took over WAFI Restaurants Facebook account, and within 12 hours grew their Facebook Fans by 12% (from 3900 to 4350). A simple competition achieved this:

"Tell us why you love Fish & Chips, for the chance to win dinner for 2 at Mahi Mahi's special Fish & Chips night. Post your comment on our wall, the comment with the most Likes wins."

Rocket science? No. But implementation is key, and the winning comment received 180 Likes, followed by 150 and 105 respectively.

The result? The more interaction around users comments, the more relevant and interesting Facebook views them. If your comment has a number of Likes and Comments, Facebook regards it as more interesting and ensures it appears closer to the top of users Walls. Although the algorithm in reality is more complex, this utilizes one aspect of Facebook's viral power: the more Likes a comment has, the more people (who don't already Like you) see it. If they're interested, they'll Like you too.

The best part of a campaign like this is it targets friends of people who have already demonstrated an interest in your restaurant - increasing the chances of a conversion.