A customer finishes a project with your company, thanks your team, and moves on with their day. They may happily recommend you when someone asks, but unless you give them a reason to stay connected, your business can gradually slip from their attention.
Your Facebook and Google Business Profiles will help your company stay visible and build relationships with customers.
Of note, Google has retired the feature that allowed customers to follow a Business Profile. Companies can still build Facebook followers, but the goals for GBP are visibility, customer confidence, and meaningful actions such as calls and website visits.
Give People a Reason to Follow Your Facebook Page
“Follow us on Facebook” tells customers what to do, but it leaves an important question unanswered: What will they get from following?
A fence contractor might share completed installations, gate design ideas, and maintenance advice. A perfume retailer could introduce new arrivals and explain fragrance families. An industrial repair company could offer practical equipment care tips and show how its technicians solve difficult problems.
These subjects give the right audience a reason to return. They also help prospective customers understand your experience before they need to contact you.
Start With Customers Who Already Know Your Business
Your existing customers are a practical starting point for building a relevant Facebook audience. They already know your company, and many have firsthand experience with your services.
Make your page easy to discover through your website, email signature, customer newsletters, and appropriate printed materials. Choose natural moments to introduce the page. After a ‘sale’, a follow-up email could invite the customer to follow for maintenance reminders, new products, services or discounts.
Ask a Focused Local rep to make a QR code for you, which will reduce the effort required, particularly on counter displays, receipts, and leave-behind materials. Label it clearly so customers know it opens your Facebook page.
Publish Content Customers Can Use
A page filled entirely with advertisements gives people little reason to keep paying attention. Your Focused Local writing team creates content that demonstrates what your business knows and how it helps customers.
Start with questions your employees hear regularly. What confuses customers before they buy? What causes avoidable problems? What do people wish they had known earlier?
Turn those questions into focused posts. A dumpster rental company could explain how to prepare a delivery location. A contractor could show what affects a project estimate. A repair business could describe an early warning sign that equipment needs attention.
Project photos become more useful with context. Short videos offer another way to explain these subjects. A clear demonstration with a useful takeaway is a reasonable starting point, even without elaborate production.
Ask for the Follow When the Value Is Clear
An invitation to follow works best when it connects directly to something the reader wants.
At the end of a maintenance tip, a contractor might write: “Follow our page for more ways to protect your fence and automatic gate.” A retailer could close a product introduction with: “Follow us for new fragrance arrivals and help choosing your next scent.”
These invitations reinforce the purpose of the page. Use them periodically, while allowing the content itself to carry most of the message.
Participate in Your Community
Companies can build awareness by contributing to the communities they serve.
Local organizations, business associations, community events, and complementary businesses can provide opportunities for useful collaboration. Share a joint project, recognize a community initiative, or contribute expertise to a relevant discussion.
Where a Facebook group permits business participation, answer questions helpfully and follow its rules. Repeated promotional posts can quickly undermine the credibility you are trying to build.
Respond to comments on your own page as well. If someone asks a practical question, provide a helpful answer and explain the next step when appropriate. Consistent attention makes the page more valuable to the people already following it.
Make Your Google Business Profile Helpful to Prospective Customers
Your Google Business Profile serves a different need. Someone viewing it may be deciding whether your company offers the right service, works in their area, or deserves a place on their shortlist.
Google recommends keeping your business information complete and accurate, responding to reviews, and adding photos and videos. Its guidance also explains that local results depend mainly on relevance, distance, and prominence.
Review your listing from a customer’s perspective. Are the services clear? Are the hours correct? Does the website link lead to a useful page? Do the photos help someone understand your work?
For a service company, recent project images can make the offering easier to evaluate. For a retailer, store and product photos can help customers prepare for a visit. Replace outdated information promptly, particularly when hours, services, or contact details change.
Use GBP Posts to Support Customer Decisions
Google Business Profile supports posts for updates, offers, and events. These provide opportunities to share timely information with people viewing your listing.
Choose subjects that help customers take the next step. A seasonal service reminder could link to the relevant service page. A project update could explain a capability customers may not know you offer. An event post could provide details that help someone plan a visit.
Give each post one clear purpose. If you are explaining automatic gate installation, send visitors to a page about that service. A relevant destination makes it easier for interested customers to continue.
Treat posting as a way to inform and persuade prospective customers. Avoid assuming that publishing more frequently will automatically produce better rankings.
Build an Honest Review Request Process
Reviews help prospective customers understand what working with your company may be like. Make requesting feedback a routine part of your customer follow-up.
Ask customers consistently after a completed service or purchase, using a direct review link to simplify the process. Request an honest review without offering incentives or limiting invitations to customers you expect will leave positive feedback.
A straightforward message is enough: “Thank you for choosing our company. If you would like to share your experience, we would appreciate your feedback on Google.”
Respond thoughtfully to the feedback you receive. Keep replies professional, acknowledge specific concerns, and avoid sharing private customer information.
Build an Audience That Supports Business Growth
People follow a company when they see a reason to keep hearing from it. Prospective customers contact a company when they have enough information and confidence to take the next step.
Useful Facebook content, a well-maintained Google Business Profile, and a helpful website can support both outcomes. Over time, consistent attention gives your business more opportunities to become familiar, demonstrate expertise, and earn inquiries.
Focused Local helps businesses connect social media management with their broader marketing goals. From content development to local search visibility and performance tracking, an effective program should help your company attract the people most likely to become customers.
Frequently Asked Questions: How To Build A Social Following
Q: How can a company attract more Facebook followers?
A: Give people a clear reason to follow your page, such as helpful advice, project ideas, product updates, or local news relevant to your business. Promote the page through your website, email signature, customer communications, and printed materials. Consistently publish useful content and respond to comments to keep your audience engaged.
Q: Can customers follow a Google Business Profile?
A: Google has retired the feature that allowed customers to follow businesses through their Business Profiles. Companies should focus instead on helping prospective customers discover their listings, evaluate their services, and take actions such as visiting their websites, calling, or requesting directions.
Q: What should a business post on Facebook to encourage followers?
A: Share content that answers customer questions and demonstrates your experience. Useful subjects include maintenance tips, completed projects, product demonstrations, employee insights, and explanations of common buying decisions. Include occasional invitations to follow your page that explain what followers can expect.
Q: How often should a company post on Facebook and Google Business Profile?
A: Choose a schedule your team can maintain without sacrificing quality. A practical starting point is two or three Facebook posts per week and one useful Google Business Profile update per week. Adjust the schedule based on available content, customer response, and business results. These are planning suggestions, not platform requirements or guarantees of better rankings.
Q: Will posting on Google Business Profile improve local rankings?
A: Google Business Profile posts can help customers understand your services, explore offers, and visit relevant website pages. Posting more frequently does not guarantee higher local rankings. Google identifies relevance, distance, and prominence as the main factors influencing local results, so maintain accurate business information and treat posts as a tool for customer communication.
Q: Should a business buy Facebook followers?
A: Buying followers can increase the displayed total without attracting people interested in your services. Focus on building an audience of potential customers and relevant business contacts. Evaluate growth through meaningful engagement, qualified website visits, inquiries, and sales rather than follower count alone.
Q: How can a company measure whether its Facebook and GBP efforts are working?
A: Review Facebook follower growth alongside relevant comments, website visits, and inquiries. For Google Business Profile, examine available performance measures such as calls, website clicks, and direction requests. Connect these activities to qualified leads and sales whenever possible to understand their business value.