With more than 300 million active users so far, the number is still growing, Facebook has great potential for marketing your business. Facebook Groups are great for organizing on a personal level or for smaller scale interaction with an organization. Facebook Pages are much better for brands, businesses, bands, movies, or celebrities who want to interact with their fans or customers without having them connected to a personal account, and have a need to exceed Facebook’s 5,000 friend cap. A fan page lets you grow as big as you want, send updates to an unlimited number of people.
Create a Facebook Fan Page for your business and reach more potential customers today! This post is a beginner’s guide to help you create, set up and get the most out of a Page on Facebook for your business.
What is a Facebook Page?
Facebook Pages are different than profiles. In Facebook, you have a profile for you, but your business can’t have a profile, however, it can have a Page. You can include the information about your business on a Facebook Page such as:
- Overview of your business
- Website and contact info
- Press releases
- Videos
- Blog RSS
- Twitter updates
- News and status
Create a Facebook Fan Page
Once you’ve logged in to Facebook, scroll to the bottom and click on “Advertising”. Then click “Pages” and Create a Page. Select the type of business you own and start filling in all the details. A raw fan page includes a wall, feed, photos, videos and list of fans. If you really want to attract fans who don’t just consist of your circle of friends, you will need to make some upgrades to your fan page.
Enhance Your Fan Page with Apps
In order to attract more “fans”, after you’ve create a fan page, you need to setup it and improve it. There are hundreds of apps designed to help you do business better on Facebook.
The following are some of the tips for your reference.
1. Upload a logo or photo.
It is a good idea to upload a logo or photo with your web address at the bottom to marketing your website, so more people may visit your website.
2. Use FBML to create a appealing landing page.
FBML is Facebook’s version of HTML, which you can use with an application called Static FBML. This lets you render basic HTML in a box or tab on your page. You won’t find it in your default applications, but you can find it with a search in the application directory.
A landing page is just like good direct marketing, which can dramatically increase your Facebook fan growth. The idea is that instead of sending people to your wall, you send them to a landing page with more interesting message you want to provide. For example, you can give a short description of your product and/or service and tell people to click the “become a fan” button.
3. Use the tabs wisely.
A Facebook page just like a webpage of your site for your business, the tabs at the top of the page play the role of site navigation. You can setup a tab for your newsletter, a tab for donations, a tab for products, etc.
4. Customize the sidebar.
Anything you can put in your tabs, you can also put in your sidebar. A newsletter signup form fits sidebar nicely. So does a poll, affiliate banner, or set of links.
5. Post often.
Content and interaction are the key to social media networking. Post something to your fans frequently to keep connected. This can be links to your blog, product announcements, questions, news, or anything your fans would be interested in.
In addition, every time someone becomes a fan, comments, clicks the “like” link, or shares your post, it shows up in that fan’s news feed for all their friends to see.
Promote your Fan Page
You can not friend someone from your Facebook Fan Page like the way from your profile, however, people can elect to become fans of your Page. So you’ve got to introduce people to your Page and to your business.
1. Send a short message on your fan page to your contacts
You can identify contacts from your profile that are either business connections, people working in a field related to your business, or who would otherwise benefit from your offering, and invite them to become a fan of the Page. Send a short message explaining what you want to offer from the Page and include a link to the Page.
2. Link to your page from everywhere.
You also can promote your Page elsewhere online by putting a Facebook Page button on your website to help others find it, spreading the word on Twitter. Do whatever it takes to help people know that you’re on Facebook and you want them to become a part of your community.
3. Email and blog it.
Do an email newletter driving subscribers to your fan page. Post a blog about what’s happening on your fan page with an invitation to become a fan.
4. Subscribe to similar fan pages and groups.
A low cost and effective way to reach beyond your fans and attract new fans is to subscribe to similar pages and groups and post short messages inviting people to visit your page. Don’t do it too often. And don’t be spammy.
It will take time to build your fan base, so remember to keep sending out invites to new contacts asking if they want to become a fan of your business Page. Constantly promote the Page in any way possible, and keep your content fresh to give people a reason to check in on your page regularly. Facebook can drive significant traffic to your website as your fan base grows. And it gives you a totally independent way to interact with potential customers or supporters.
Creating a Facebook fan page and gain the benefits for your business. Build off your fan page, keeping it fresh and new, so that your fans have a reason to come back to it. Like any other marketing effort, your Facebook efforts will be ongoing, so plan to dedicate a few hours each week to getting new fans and updating content. You’ll quickly appreciate the instant ability to connect with customers and future customers through this social media tool!
Do you have a Facebook page? How are you using Facebook to promote your business? Share with us in the comments please.
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Beside FBML , you also can use Facebook developer tools to create a tab with own logo . It look more professional compare to FBML which the logo of the tab is . For a business fan pages, you do need a tab for welcome pages, then some tab to share some you-tube and some tab for campaign.
Most of the Facebook fanpages do need to do campaign and contest frequently in order to maintain your customers and get more new fans.