Facebook is a massive social network that sports over 500 million users from around the globe.
Although the social networking site originally started as a tool for people to connect with one another, it has now become an amazing platform for businesses to reach their community and build an incredible brand online.
The fast track to reaping the rewards of Facebook for business is through a Facebook Fan Page; here’s how to get started with one.
Step 1: Plan a Purpose and Strategy
Before lunging face first into Facebook, take a few hours of time to determine what your overall purpose and strategy will be for the social network. Write down your ideas and goals to which you wish to accomplish by joining the social network. Conceptualize ideas for the type of posts you will be adding to your Facebook Fan Page wall and how you plan to keep people entertained or informed after the visitor has become a fan. It’s important to understand what you want to do with your fan page when getting setup so you can keep focused on the messages you’ll be delivering to your community so not a single moment is wasted when interacting with your followers.
Step 2: Create your Basic Fan Page
Next, setup your Facebook Fan page by visiting http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php. On this page, you will be given multiple options for the type of page you wish to create; setup a page according to the type of business you operate (which will most likely be ‘Local Business or Place’). Once you’ve setup the basic information for the account, fill in the rest of the details that relate to your business.
Step 3: Add Unique Design Elements to the Fan Page
The next step of setting up your Facebook Fan Page is to populate your page with elegant graphics which will capture the attention of those that land on the page. For starters, create a graphic that is at least 180 pixels wide that will be used as the main profile image (the height is up to you but keep it under 500 pixels). Following your main image, add additional images to your page so it fills in the pictures that appear at the top of your fan page; use images that relate to your business such as the employees or products you offer (you could also include customer photos if you have any on file that you may use with permission).
Step 4: Create a Facebook Landing Page
One of the attractive features of a Facebook Fan Page is the ability to add a landing page dedicated to capturing visitors; this fan page is similar to one which you’d have on your business website but has the single action of getting people to ‘like’ your fan page. The image you create should be a minimum of 520 pixels wide and however tall you need to fill in the information you wish to display. At this point, fill your landing page graphic with call-to-actions and arrows that lead people to ‘like’ your fan page; you could also offer a freebie for those that subscribe by using HTML or iFrames to embed opt-in forms such as those provided by Aweber or MailChimp.
Step 5: Integrate and Promote the Fan Page on your Online Channels
Finally, begin promoting your Facebook on every channel you have access to. Tweet that you’ve created a Fan Page on Twitter to your followers. Place a ‘like’ button on your website for people to join your fan page without ever leaving your website. Send out an email to your newsletter to alert people that you now have a fan page. Include a link to your Fan Page on other channels that you frequent such as your author bio during article marketing efforts, forum signatures or even a link at the bottom of your emails. Promote your Fan Page on every channel that you can to reach your audience; once you have people on board you can keep them there by always delivering new status updates and content which was a part of your overall strategy and plan from the very beginning.
Conclusion
All in all, setting up a Facebook Fan Page takes less than an hour to get started; if you’re having trouble creating graphics or setting up the landing page you can easily outsource this to experienced individuals. A Facebook Fan Page is incredibly useful for engaging your audience; each interaction that your followers have with your fan page will be shared to their own wall which creates a viral effect in promoting your business through Facebook. Don’t be afraid to engage your audience, get started on Facebook today by launching a Fan Page around your business; it will be one of the best decisions you’ve made a long while.
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