As any Facebook page admin knows, it’s not easy to earn Facebook likes without spending at least a little bit of money. However, there are still ways to earn likes without paying anything at all. In fact, we pull in over 20 likes per week for one of our clients with just one blog post. What’s our secret? Allow us to explain. Have you ever heard of a handy website plug-in called Social Locker?
Social Locker by OnePress is a nifty plugin that allows you to increase your social media reach by requiring visitors to pay for your content with a like, plus one, or tweet in order to access it. It’s an incredibly simple concept and it’s extremely effective! The best part is that Social Locker is a completely free plugin to install! Social Locker does offer a premium option with more features $25, but the free version is more than sufficient.
How We Used Social Locker
We implemented Social Locker for the health and fitness gurus over at Muscle Class. We only implemented the Social Locker on one blog post as a test. The post was on the Layne Norton PHAT workout which you can view by clicking the link. In the post we asked readers to like Muscle Class on Facebook through the Social Locker in order to receive a PHAT log that compliments the PHAT workout. By paying with just one like users could have a printable workout log to track their progress in the gym.
The Layne Norton PHAT workout post receives an average of 150 new readers a day which translates to anywhere from 10-20+ Facebook likes per week. The Social Locker has proven to be an incredible social media growth tool and we only placed it inside one post. Could you imagine how many more likes you could garner for your page by implementing it on multiple blog posts? That being said, how do you replicate our success for your Facebook page? Allow us to explain.
How You Can Use Social Locker
There are a few short steps required to successfully leverage social locker. In order to view our steps to Social Locker success please like our Facebook page via Social Locker.
…We’re kidding. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt you to like our page. We post highly relevant marketing tips, tricks, and insight any marketer/business owner could benefit immensely from. You have the potential to learn something new every time you log onto Facebook. It’s also a great opportunity to test how the Social Locker works. At any rate, the steps to Social Locker success are as follows:
1) Set Up A Blog
For obvious reasons, you can’t use Social Locker without a blog. You’ll need to first setup a blog before moving on to the following steps.
2) Pick Out Your Most Trafficked Posts
Log on to Google Analytics and find the blog posts on your website that are currently driving the most web traffic. These blog posts will be the posts you want to add a Social Locker to.
3) Create ‘Bonus’ Content
The best practice for locked content is to lock up additional content rather than an essential part of the blog post. The user’s reading experience should not be hampered by the Social Locker. In other words, don’t use the Social Locker like we just did above. If a blog is titled How We Earn 20+ Facebook Likes Per Week, then you’d expect to read how this feat was pulled off without having to pay anything, correct? Instead, create bonus content to give away with Social Locker. The more valuable your bonus content is, the more likely readers will be to give you a like. Get creative and come up with something really cool you can give away to your audience. Examples include ebooks, infographics, templates, and guides.
That’s it. Increasing your Facebook audience is that simple. However, it is worth noting that the number of likes you end up receiving from Social Locker is dependent upon the amount of traffic to your blog posts and the appeal of your bonus content. If you’d like to start earning more than a retweet, Google + one-up, or Facebook like, you can upgrade to the premium version. The premium version will allow you to collect emails, ask for Facebook shares, YouTube subscriptions, LinkedIn Shares, and more.
