As you are setting up your Facebookfan page, you need to think about what you want it to do for you in the same way you would if you were setting up a website. Some people want to establish brand recognition, others to make the right connection with customers or partners and yet others to make sales. You will probably want the page to continue as long as your business does, so make sure that whoever is setting it up for you signs an agreement that the super administrator rights belong to the company. If you outsource it, this is particularly important.
Setting your page up is very easy, all you have to do is log in to http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?pages you can log in using the log in details of whoever will be the administrator. Choose which kind of page you want to set up and then give it a name. Mostly, it makes sense to give it the same name as the company for searchability and brand recognition. It is important to keep your branding consistent across the different social media platforms. We have two pages, one called Win a Social Diva Makeover which has been set up specifically for our competition and the second one called Social Diva Marketing. This one will our combined contacts and friends and will act as our official fan page. We will all take a role in developing this page.
Content on The Page
Your page should give your readers all the information they need about what you are offering. Most of the information should be included on the Info page and you can edit this easily. This should be a condensed version of your website or blog and you should remember to put all of your keywords on this page. It should be concise and very clear, you can check it out by showing to someone who doesn't understand your business to see if know what you are trying to say.
Your Picture is worth a 1000 Words!
The maximum size is 200 x 600 pixels and is vital to the success of your page. Remember that it needs to be consistent with your branding and should make people want to like your page. We have used Sarah's photo for a number of reasons. We know it works, people do click on her profile and ask to be her friend. So as she quickly heads towards 5,000 friends, she will ask people to join her on the fan page instead of her personal profile. Because they have engaged with her, it is important that she then carries on the communication with them on the fan page. Lastly, she is our Facebook Diva and we are branding her as such within our company. Because we are offering a service (social media management) as opposed to a product, it makes sense to brand Sarah.
Make a good First Impression
Make sure that you add a short, snappy and powerful paragraph about your business that people see as soon as they land on your page. It should include a link to your main website, blog or media hub so that you get them there as soon as possible. Give them a strong reason to fan your page, be creative with this. This might be a competition, a free report or the promise of regular valuable information. It might also include the opportunity to post on the wall and get in front of your valuable network. Don't forget to remind your visitors to fan your page!
Creating a Facebook Landing Page
Some people are now creating facebook landing pages which are not actual pages offered by facebook, but ones that developers will create if they have a good understanding of HTML. They are actually created using FBML, but the principles are the same. You need to use the Static FBML application and then create the page in FBML using text and images. This will be more captivating and give your page a more credible and professional appearance.
So it is relatively easy to create a fan page, but trickier to keep it going. It is like a garden, it needs to be planned, planted, watered, pruned and then you can enjoy and harvest. It needs ongoing care and attention and the best fan pages are highly interactive. One of my favourite ones is John Asaraf's page who always engages with his readers and asks questions as well as posts content. It is not unusual for him to have hundreds of comments on his posts from very loyal fans. His posts are always thought provoking and inspiring. This becomes an easy platform for him to announce any up and coming product launches and ongoing offers. However, he does not use it just to 'sell'.
Developing a sense of community is a skill and to do it well, you need to encourage your fans to engage with you and with each other. It is easy to set up a page, but the real task is making it a place that people want to visit regularly. Micro blogging is a great skill to develop as people are more and more conscious about managing their time online. Keeping it entertaining and fun is a great way to achieve this. Spend a bit of time looking at fan pages that work and see what it is that works for them. If you have a personal profile that is working, and want to move on to a fan page, make sure that you give your fan page as much attention as you have been giving your personal page.
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