Getting a ton of page likes is a huge ego boost. Among other things, getting a ton of likes makes you feel important, it makes you feel your 4000+ Facebook friends, most of whom you will never meet, actually care about your big idea or project.

And this is why it is such a letdown when you hit that blue ‘Invite Friends’ button and only a handful of people (bless their hearts) reply.

Your heart sinks to the pit of your stomach and you wonder why your friends can’t spare two seconds to like your page—can’t they understand you’re about to change the world with your big idea, you ask.

Well, I’m about to share with you a technique I used to get hundreds of extra likes for the page of my startup, Wazota, from friends, free of charge, after my ‘Invite Friends’ button was ignored (Still hurts, man, fake friends everywhere!).

But first I should probably tell you why your invite was ignored.

You see that your project or business you believe will become the next Coco Chanel and change the world? Nobody cares about it.

Let that sink in for a bit.

Sure, your mom cares, and your fiancé(e) might care; but they are emotionally invested in your happiness. Your best friend may hit the like button because they meet you often and don’t want to receive the side eye. But majority of people simply don’t care enough to spare a second of their 24-hour social media scrolling marathon to pause and like something they know very little about.

Sorry.

That’s why you gotta go the extra mile. You gotta think out of the box to give extra nudges to make them care.

Getting Likes Through Facebook Messenger

In my case with Wazota, I had no money to promote the page at that time and simply had to get creative. I turned to Messenger.

Facebook Messenger is known more as a forum into which unsavory guys slide in to try their luck on unsuspecting women, but it also has potential as a marketing tool if you really put your mind to it.

After I had maxed out on invites, I decided to use the share button. I suspect Facebook put this feature to allow page owners share their pages to groups but that hardly ever produces any appreciable results.

So I decided to try something different. I copied the share link and shared to my Messenger contacts instead.

This can be nerve racking, to say the least.

Usually, you try to be funny and cool on Messenger in order to be likeable or at least not get blocked. What would your crush say if she saw this?

Relax. Anybody who blocks you for pushing your hustle was probably wasting space on your friend list anyway. And your crush hasn’t replied you in years, maybe trying a different type of message would help generate a response (In my case it didn’t but that’s a story for another day—it’s not yet testimony hour in this church).

Why the Messenger Technique Works             

There are two reasons why sharing your page through Facebook Messenger works:

First of all, it reminds a huge chunk of your Facebook friends about your page which they intended to like but mistakenly forgot as they were catching the latest updates on Big Brother Naija. These are fake friends good people, just a little bit busy, and so they would like your page if you nudge them inbox.

The second and more important reason why this technique works is that it gives you the opportunity to explain what your page is all about.

When you send a sweeping broadcast message through Messenger, you get the chance to add a short write up to it. Take advantage of that to talk a little bit about your project or business and why your receiver should care.

This second point works well to win over those friends of yours who take social media way too seriously for anybody’s liking. You know the type: “I don’t come here for fun, I come here to learn and share knowledge…etc, etc” Yeah we know, now like our page please.

If you use this Messenger technique right, you could get hundreds of extra page likes without spending a dime on promoting your page. You also get the chance to share your vision with others in a passionate and meaningful way—something every would-be entrepreneur ought to get good at doing.

Feel free to send this message as many times as you want; just make sure you take the liberty of being courteous and give your friends a heads up on your timeline about what you are doing so that those good people who have already liked your page do not get confused.

Of course, you could always be surgical and send the message to a different set of a hundred friends every day, spreading the task over several days, and avoiding sending twice.

Just as importantly, this exercise can help identify members of your friend list who do little more than occupy space that could be occupied by true fans.

For this recalcitrant group feel free to exercise your right to click the ‘Unfriend’ button if you feel you must. But don’t unfriend your crush, of course, because…you know…she gets lots of second chances…she’s special.