With so many options and tools available for magicians to market themselves on the web, choosing the right tools to focus on can be difficult. Which tools will give you the most value for your time and efforts?

One tool I highly recommend to all magicians marketing themselves on the web is Facebook. Facebook has become the world's largest social network and it is highly likely, for magicians in most geographies where Facebook is popular, that your potential clients and target audiences are spending a lot of their time on Facebook.

What is the best way for you to engage and reach your target audience on Facebook?

Rather than using Facebook with a regular profile, which you may want to limit to your friends and other magicians (since your personal posts may not be relevant for your target audience, and they may include content that you do not want your target audience to see, such as posts about magic products), I recommend setting up a Facebook "Page" for your magic performing business.

Your page should carry the name of your stage/performing persona, as you want your target audience/potential clients to see it. When you post as your "Page" on Facebook, your posts should be valuable for and engaging to your potential clients. Ask a question, for example, "What is one of the most memorable magic tricks you have seen?"

Why use a page on social network like Facebook, you ask, and not just regular Google Ads?

Google Ads have their place and can get you clicks. But, people are also searching for services on Facebook more and more these days. If they are looking for a magician, they might go to Facebook to search for magicians. And if they see that one or more of their friends have "Liked" your magician page, they will check you out. The return on investment might not be as fast as with Google Ads, but you are building long term relationships with your past and future clients, and getting mindshare with them. The next time they need a magician, you will be the first person they think of.

If you don't already have a Facebook page, go create one now. ... Done? Good. Now that you have a Facebook Page, lets talk about what to do with it.

When posting on your page, you should focus on engagement; meaning, getting comments and likes on your posts, and creating conversations. This is important because Facebook ranks posts based on how many comments and likes they receive. The more likes and comments your posts have, the longer your posts will stay at the tops of the timelines of the people who have liked your page.

Be sure to respond to everyone who comments on your posts too. They took the time to comment, so you should thank them or give them a thoughtful response back. Imagine someone came up to you at a party and commented on something you said, and you just ignored them! Ignoring someone's comment on Facebook is similar. The more you comment back, the more likely it is that they will comment again.

Now you might be saying, "That is all fine and dandy, but how do I get potential clients, past clients, and fans to like my page in the first place, so they can see, like, and comment on what I am posting?"

There are several ways, and it takes some creativity.

1) Put a link to your Facebook page everywhere you can. On your business card, promotional materials, email signature, your website/blog, etc. But don't just put a link to your Facebook page... use a call to action that gives people a reason to "Like" your page. For example: "Like my Facebook page for news about my upcoming shows." or "Like my Facebook page for news about exclusive shows and promotions." Whatever you think will be interesting and valuable for your target audience.

2) If adding a "Like" button on your website, be sure to set the "URL to Like" to your Facebook page, and not your website URL. That way your Facebook page gets liked, and not your website. See the Like button here on The Magic Network as an example of how this works.

3) Run an ad on Facebook to get "Likes" for your page. You can highly target these ads to people in your area, wedding planners, event planners, and even friends of people who already "Like" your page (the latter can be very effective - since your ad will be shown with a little message saying that the target person's friend likes you - which is an endorsement in itself).

4) Run a promotion, such as offering a free show to a local person that Likes your page, chosen at random.

Those are just a few ideas... more will come in future posts.

I have a lot to say about this topic, but this post has been quite long already, so I will save the rest for some future posts.

Needless to say, I feel very strongly about having a Facebook page and using it to engage with clients, and I hope you are convinced of the same.

Leave a comment with your own ideas about how to get Likes and use Facebook pages to engage with your target audience. We're all here to help each other out!