January 25, 2012

Facebook is a social media hub, and having a page for your business is de rigueur for any entrepreneur.

"The way you use Facebook is going to be different for everyone, but it's really important for every business to have a Facebook experience," said Jennifer Manger, CEO of San Francisco-based marketing and business development consulting firm Manger & Associates. "Facebook gives you the ability to have a consistent dialogue with your customers."

Having a page in and of itself, however, is not sufficient. You also need fans. They're your audience, your community and your customers.

But how do you find, keep, and engage these fans? Manger has some advice about this perennial Facebook dilemma.

Communicate

You need to let people know you're on Facebook before they can become your fans. This means talking up your Facebook account on your website, in your e-mail newsletters and through other social media venues, such as Twitter and YouTube.

"You need to tell your customers that you have a Facebook presence, and ask for them to follow you," Manger says.

This means highlighting why people might want to "like" your page, telling them what kind of content you have there, directing them to any giveaways or contests and putting a Facebook widget on your site. Don't make them guess if you have a Facebook page. Tell them outright, and provide a link to it.

Leverage networks

Manger says that one of the most important things you can do is leverage the networks of your employees, clients and associates. If all of them post information about your Facebook page on their Facebook profiles and other social media sites, your audience can grow exponentially.

“You want to leverage everyone that’s part of that business to grow your network," says Manger. “The owner of a business can share the page with their developed network, and everyone working there could share the page with their network.”

Provide quality content

Content is king with Facebook pages, and the better the content you provide, the more likely it is that people will become fans of your page. This content needs to be useful and actionable; updates about what you had for breakfast won't cut it.

“It’s important that people consider what kind of content would be valuable to their customers," says Manger. "Come up with several themes that you’ll consistently post about, such as trends in the marketplace and topics trending in the media."

Manger notes that it's important to provide useful information that clients might not find anywhere else.

“You want to post things like case studies and things you can do as a client," notes Manger. "If you’re  a proprietor, you’ll want to post sale items, new inventory and special deals. You always want to think about what you’re putting out there as valuable, authentic content that the user wants.”

Keep updating

Finally, keep the content fresh. It's all too easy to set up a site and forget about it, but that's the death of Facebook marketing. You need to keep updating daily in order to keep your fans engaged and interested in your site.

"Sometimes it starts out well and then sits stagnant," says Manger. “It’s important to provide consistent contact.”

Your Facebook page is an important part of your brand, so you'll want to take it as seriously as you do other aspects of your marketing plan. And with a little care and feeding, your Facebook page will have an ever-growing roster of loyal fans—and customers.

Vivian Wagner is a freelance writer in New Concord, Ohio. Vivian blogs via Contently.com.

 Photo credit: iStock

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Join the conversation ( 7 )

• InternetDramasBlog 12 days ago

  

  That's awesome article on how to get facebook fans. I especially like the content quality part.What do you think about this site that provides you LIKE exchanges? I been using www.fblikesyou.com for a while now, they they got me fans to my fanpage with ease. Their system is pretty awesome.

• Jay Gentile 17 days ago

  

  Great information shared here about how to get facebook fans and I do agree with some of the stratagies that you are pointing out. Doing research I have found that if a person was browsing a specific niche and saw two facebook fan pages side by side then the Facebook Fan Page with 1,000 likes would more likely to be clicked then a Fan Page with 100 likes. This is just one way increasing Facebook Likes/Fans can help your business. I use http://FacebookFanAdder.com to increase my fan base.

• OPEN Team

  

  This comment has been deleted.

  • Flowspoon 3 months ago

    

    Great...I put this in the wrong catagory. That's what I get for having 5 browsers open.

• Daniel Clauser 3 months ago

  

  I have been told numerous times that posting daily on my Facebook (particularly when your number of subscribers is low) is bad practice. What are your thoughts on posting frequency? I know there isn't a magic number, but what is posting too much? Thank you, Daniel Clauser, Media Contour.

  • Claire Monahan 3 months ago

    

    Daniel - I agree that too many daily Facebook posts is bad practice, particularly if the posts are not spaced out through a day. Too many Facebook posts from one page in a newsfeed is almost like receiving multiple eBlasts from the same company throughout a day; it just becomes spam after a while, and you never want your Facebook fans to get that impression about your brand.

    • Claire Monahan 3 months ago

      

      However, I don't feel that there is a magic number for how many updates you're posting on a company Facebook page. I try to space posts out by the very least to one hour, but even that seems excessive unless it is an urgent or timely message. Other than that, I give it several hours in between before I post again for a company Facebook page.