In the ultra competitive world of online marketing where every business is looking for the right kind of attention, business owners can easily become obsessive in the pursuit of Twitter “follows” and Facebook “likes”.

While experts have yet to successfully calculate a definitive return on investment and monetary value of social media fans, entrepreneurs sense the potential power in amassing a following for their brands.

If getting liked is a worthy goal, and if we calculate our likeability by what our fans are saying on social media, how can we effectively gauge the evidence of our likeability?

Current tools available for measuring and collecting social media feedback for specific demographics provide a certain level of insight, and these tools will only continue to get more detailed in the future. Soon businesses will be able to determine actual scores related to the level of service customers received they can market to others within that target audience.

However, until that point, here are a few simple but effective ways to encourage your followers to like your business.

Facebook Fan Page

If your business doesn’t already have a fan page on Facebook, take a few minutes to create one and start asking people to “like” your page. It takes a customers seconds to click on the “like” button, so take advantage of this easy marketing tool available through social media.

Don’t be timid when asking customers to like your page. Ask people to like your Facebook page on business cards, blog sites and across all social-media platforms.

LinkedIn Endorsements

Ask your connections on LinkedIn to list your skills and provide an endorsement. Similar to asking customers to like you on Facebook, listing your skills and endorsements on LinkedIn offers a great way to have people you know and respect list where you most excel.

The fact that when people meet new associates or colleagues within their industry they search for their name and read their LinkedIn profile makes listing your skills and endorsements such a valuable resource.

Think of LinkedIn as an extension of your resume. The more skills and endorsements listed that reaffirm how you present yourself, the more consistent your narrative will appear and the greater the level of trust you’ll gain.

Website Interaction

Design an interactive page on your website that specifically asks visitors to take action on what you consider most important. Every website should have a clear call to action, as it helps to cause an immediate response. Don’t make visitors to your website guess at how they can assist you; tell them what you consider a positive action from the beginning.

Solid call to action examples include subscribe icons to join social media channels, newsletters, forums or request a follow on a social media platform.

 

To run a successful business today and in the future, you need to be liked. The more liked you are, the higher your business will rank in searches using tools that sort results by customer satisfaction, which in turn will influence how successful your business will become. To make sure your long-term viability remains consistent, renew your focus on increasing the number of “likes” your business receives