Guide to Creating a Facebook Fan Page For Your Business
1/21/2010
by Shara Karasic

 Last year social networking site Facebook saw an 89% increase in unique visitors to the site, and has seen a demographic shift away from college students and towards post grads. Warrillow touts Facebook as a platform on which small business owners are promoting their businesses and learning about their customers. Facebook now allows you to create a fan page for yourself, your entity, or your business which lets you:

1) Communicate with your customers and let them show support by becoming fans
2) Get insights into what your customers want
3) Allow your customers to spread your message throughout their social graph

Here's how to create your own Facebook fan page:

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done:

First check out other fan pages to get a feel for them

Make sure you've become a member of Facebook. Then try a search for a fan page. For example, do a search on "apple" and click on "Pages" when you get the search results. Click on "Apple Inc." to view the Apple fan page. Examine how the page is structured. Repeat for businesses of your choice to see if they have a fan page on Facebook.

Create a Facebook fan page for your own business

Facebook pages allow your customers to become deeply connected with your business or brand. Customers can express their support by adding themselves as a fan, writing on your Wall, uploading photos, and joining discussions with other fans.

Add company information to your page

To start, add basic information such as website, company overview, mission and products. Add your logo or another picture that represents your business. After adding info, make sure you publish your page.

Welcome and please your fans and they'll tell their friends

Now that you have your fan page up, how do you actually get fans? Ah, now this is a delicate art of not annoying your potential fans and providing value. First see if some of your existing customers are on Facebook, and become Facebook friends with them if you haven't already. Then you can invite them to become fans. Also let all of your customers know about your fan page through existing media campaigns, and encourage them to show their support by joining Facebook and becoming fans. Once you have some fans, it's easier to get more as news of your page spreads virally.

Promote Your Page Off Facebook

Promoting your page externally helps spread the word to new customers and fans.

Track and analyze your page activity

Once you've created a page, a "Page Manager" link appears in your left navigation. Click on that for access to the admin and stats areas of your page. You can see recent page activity, how many fans you have, and more.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Facebook is not the right place for all businesses. Spend some time on Facebook first determining the potential for your customer base before you choose to expand your presence there.

 http://www.business.com/guides/creating-a-facebook-fan-page-for-your-business-5612

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