Once you decide you need to get more Facebook page Likes, and you start to look into how to do this, you're going to hear all kinds of ideas about how to increase your fans. But be wary - most of them are terrible! A word of advice:

Don't beg or buy

While you may be tempted to start suggesting the page to everyone you "kind of" know, or to buy fans, generally speaking it's a bad idea to beg or buy.

When you focus on quantity over quality, you end up with a load of "fans" who don't really like your page or your organization. Why does this matter? Well, fans who aren't really interested in your page won't interact with the content. They won't like it, share it, or comment on it. This lack of activity lowers your EdgeRank score and limits the odds that your content will be seen by anyone. 

While you may need a little help getting your first few fans, you shouldn't rely on those strategies long-term. Instead, try these three techniques that will create more real, lasting, authentic fans for your page.

1. Engage!

One of the best ways to increase visibility and get more authentic Likes is to engage with other users. Be active and talk back. You can Like other Facebook pages as your nonprofit, and then participate in their status updates, post updates about great things your nonprofit is doing, and share lots of pictures. People on Facebook love pictures! Be sure to tag people and pages in your updates and photos, so that you show up on their wall and in their friends' news feed.

2. Post photos from events

At your next event, take a load of pictures. Be sure to let everyone know that you're going to post these pictures on Facebook and that they can tag themselves. You can even hand out cards with your Facebook address so people know where to find them.

What you'll end up with is a lot of people visiting your page. Current fans will tag themselves and new visitors will like your page and also tag themselves. What happens when fans are tagged? Great things! The picture shows up on their wall and their friends' news feed, providing lots of great exposure and likely creating a bunch of new fans.

3. Create great content

While you can slather Facebook Like buttons all over your website, blog, or newsletter, it's probably not going to help you if you haven't created something genuinely worth liking.

Share something great: interesting information, an ecard visitors can send to loved ones, a great story, or something helpful - recipes maybe? You get the idea! With great content, people will always be happy to like your page.

This article was contributed by Sumac Fundraising Software. Sumac is giving back to nonprofits by offering its software free to organizations with fewer than 500 contacts.

For more information, visit www.sumac.com.