Facebook has taken over the world! Well, at the least, it controls the largest social network on the planet, with users ranging from 13 to 100 years of age. It ranks number 2 on Alexa, only behind Google, and boasts 400 million active users according to its own statistics.
If you have a business, a product, an event, or even a cause you want to promote, you need to have a Facebook presence. Fan pages have been created just for this purpose, and many people have begun to take advantage of this powerful hook into the social web.
But alas, there are hundreds of fan pages out there with nothing on them. At least, nothing of value on them. If you want a better fan page, follow these five tips.
1. Allow Fans to Interact with the Page
Many people decide to tip-toe into social media, rather than diving in, and to that end, they disable posts by fans on their pages. Now logically this might make sense. It will certainly cut down on the time spent administering the page, and it will allow for all page content to be controlled by management.
But this is a bad idea. The power of social media is user-interaction. Your Facebook page is only useful if it becomes a conversation, between customer and company, alum and alumni network. My advice is simply this – don’t do it if you don’t want to commit.
2. Give Fans a Reason to Visit
Most of your fans didn’t become a fan just so it would say “Suzie became a fan” of you in their friend’s feeds. They want quality posts about things related to your page. No one likes a dead web page, and everyone forgets about a dead fan page.
So keep it active. Give fans a reason to visit your page, for insider tips, upcoming events, promotions, discounts, anything that is interesting and relevant to your fan base. Remember that fans get most of your posts through their feed, and they don’t read every post in their feed, unless they are pre-teen girls. So keep useful content coming; just don’t over do it.
3. Utilize Fan Page Applications
There are limits to Facebook’s build-in page features. Some would say, there are too many limits. But take heart. There is a whole array of fan page applications built to make Facebook show the content you want, the way you want it. Take advantage of someone else’s hard work, and beef up your fan page with YouTube videos, slide shows, and content from other social sites.
4. Engage Fans through Contests
Everyone likes to be part of something, especially when they might get something for free. Wise and enterprising minds have applied the ancient marketing technique of contests to Facebook fan pages with great success.
The idea is to develop a contest that is offered only to fans, which requires them to interact with your page, and in return, they might win. Win what? It could be a prize, a discount, recognition, dinner with the page admin – anything that will build excitement in your fan base, and entice others to join.
5. Incentivize Customers or Followers to Become Fans
Speaking of enticing fans, something every page creator realizes eventually is that fans don’t become fans by accident, usually. They have to be told you have a page, and that there is a good reason to become a fan of it.
If you have a website, it should certainly have a link to “become a fan” or “follow us on Facebook”, which takes them right to your fan page. Any email communication should also have this link. And when they become a fan, thank them with a friendly email, which includes a code for some discount or a free fill-in-the-blank. The point is to increase your audience by increasing your fan base, so give them something in return for access to their feed.
Final Thoughts
With a few tweeks, you can amp up your Facebook presence, and build a community of loyal followers willing to evangelize for you. These tips are just the beginning. Find a few products or brands that you dig, and see how they do it. But above all else, listen to your fans. Give them what they want, and they’ll love you for it.
