A Note from Cindy: This is a guest post written by my VA Jackie Cunningham of Green Kite Virtual Assistance. She created my new Fan Page and when I started receiving emails asking me about it and whether there were tips/tricks to putting one together, I thought it best to let the expert handle those questions. 
Facebook Fan Pages are an integral part of an effective social media strategy plan. While a Facebook profile represents an individual and is held under an individual’s name, a Fan Page is designed for businesses and organizations to share products and services and to interact with current and potential clients.
So why do you need a Facebook Fan Page?
- Separate your personal profile from your business. You can keep your friends, family and the occasional embarrassing post or pic from that old college buddy separate from your professional or business posts.
- A Fan Page is a useful tool for driving traffic back to your website or blog. It’s one more way to create awareness around your business and what you offer. And as the largest social network on the planet, and second most visited site on the Internet, Facebook means massive visibility! It’s an excellent venue for building your brand, promoting your products and services and publicizing your events.
- Build a robust community around your business to interact and communicate with current and prospective clients.
- Position yourself as an expert in your chosen market.
- Fan Pages are public and searchable on the Internet, which makes them a great boost to your SEO.
Creating a Facebook Fan Page isn’t hard (find step-by-step directions here), but it does take a little preparation and strategy to make it work for you. One of the most important things to think about before creating your Fan Page is the name. From an SEO point of view, the name of your page is crucial. You’ll want the name to be something recognizable and meaningful to your clients, but also include good keywords. For example, instead of naming your page “Sue Johnson Coaching” go with “Sue Johnson – Mentor and Coach to Women Entrepreneurs in Direct Sales.” See the difference there? And once you name your page it can’t ever be changed, so give it some thought before you jump ahead.
Another critical factor is the design of your Page. If you already have a web presence, you’ll want to make the design consistent with the look and feel of your website. Use your logo, the same colors, your tag line – but make it compelling, unique and appropriate to your market. Fan Pages give you a lot of design flexibility with the option to use a custom banner graphic and to create your own custom tabs and boxes using the Static FBML application. You can go simple and understated or super-charged with audio and video, but be sure to keep your target market in mind and the image you want to portray.
Once you’ve created your Fan Page and published it for the world, you’ll want to add valuable content on a consistent basis. Engage your Fans by asking questions, offering special “Fan only” contests and specials, post status updates that include links to interesting or valuable articles, blog posts and videos you find. Be authentic – let your personality shine through so your Fans get to know, like and trust you. It’s all about building relationships in social media. Stay active in the conversation, posting responses to comments when appropriate.
Here are a few of my favorite tips and tricks for Facebook Fan Pages:
- Take full advantage of the profile image area, which is 200 x 600 pixels. Create your own custom banner, or have one professionally designed for you.
- Once you have 25 fans, go to www.facebook.com/username to select a custom URL for your page – most likely your business name. Be cautious here – you can never change the custom URL of a page.
- If you have a blog, automatically publish your blog posts to your Wall and news feed with the Networked Blogs application.
- Use the Static FBML application to create custom tabs for your Page, add an opt-in box or any custom HTML code.
- In the “write something about yourself” box on the left sidebar of your Wall use lots of primary keywords that relate to your business for boosting your SEO.
- On the “Info” tab, include information like when your business was founded, your website URLs, a company overview or mission statement, and a list of your products/services.
- Fan Pages can be managed by multiple administrators who post as “the page” rather than as an individual. This is helpful if you have a VA helping you with updates and maintenance, or multiple people in your business who author status updates.
If you would like more information about building your presence on Facebook, developing your social media strategy and action plan or creating your Fan Page, email Jackie or visit her website at www.greenkiteva.com.
©2010 Jackie Cunningham
