4 Simple, Yet Powerful Ways to Promote Your Facebook Fan Page

Facebook Fan Pages are the hottest thing on the web right now!  Business owners, movie stars, and even churches are finding how effective they can radically change the way they interact with fans.

Not to mention the viral marketing exposure they can deliver for a business!  Basically the more your "Fans" interact with your page, the more your page will be exposed to that person's friends!

However, promoting your Facebook Fan Page can be a bit challenging if you don't know what you're doing.

So I want to help you today by showing you 4 simple, yet powerful ways you can promote your Facebook Fan Page:

1)  Create A Custom Username

** NOTE **

You must have at least 25 fans of your Facebook Fan Page to be eligible for a custom username.

A custom username is now pretty easy to come by on Facebook.  And in fact, this strategy works great for your Facebook Fan Page AND your personal Facebook profile.

From a marketing perspective, a custom username (or custom URL) allows you to more easily brand your Fan Page on things like websites, business cards, documents, etc...

Also a custom username makes it easier for you to tell others how to get there (again, look at the 2 addresses above for example).

Create A Custom Facebook Username & URL

The way you create a custom username for your Facebook Fan Page (and also your personal profile) is by first visiting http:// Facebook . com / Usernames.

This page opens by default in the personal profile option.  Look below the shaded box and click the link that says "Set a username for your Pages."

You will then be able to proceed and set your custom username for your Facebook Fan Page. 

2)  Embed your Facebook Fan Box

If you visit your Facebook Fan Page, and then look under your the profile picture, you'll find the following link:

"Add Fan Box to your site"

Go ahead and click that link, and you'll be taken to the dashboard for your "Fan Box".  There are a lot of ways to customize this fan box, but you'll see 2 easy edits right in the dashboard and these are "Streams" and "Fans".

If "streams" is clicked, then the comments from your Facebook Fan Page will be included in your Fan Box.  And obviously, if it's not clicked they won't.

The same for "fans" - if it's clicked, then your default number of fans is 10, and if it's not clicked then you won't see any fans.

If you look at the right hand side bar of this site (just look right), you'll see my Facebook Fan box.  This is the standard box without "streams" checked, but with "fans" checked.

Once you're done selecting "streams" and / or "fans", there are options for embedding into your Blogger blog, TypePad blog, or other.  If you have a Wordpress blog, then select "other" and then highlight the code in the text box that will appear.  Then take that code and embed it into a sidebar widget, or wherever else you want to present your fan box.

3)  Utilize the new "Get More Fans With SMS" feature

A lot of people have yet to realize that Facebook now allows people to send a text and instantly become a fan of Facebook Fan Pages!  Go to your Facebook Fan Page, find the word "more" (it's in small blue print), click that and a drop down menu will open.  Look down that menu and you will see "Get More Fans with SMS".

But wait... there are a few restrictions on this feature - which are:

*  you must have your own custom user name (see #1 above)

That's really the only restriction.

If you have your own username, then you'll see this feature present.  You can start telling others about, and you can even put a quick note on your blog or website with instructions on how to text to become a fan.

Look at the top right of this blog for an example.

The only other thing to remember with the "Get more fans with SMS" feature is that text rates do apply.

4)  Add a custom Facebook Fan Page banner to your profile.

This one is my favorite!  It's been a point of contention since Fan Pages launched, and that is the owners had no way to promote their Page to their personal friends on Facebook.

The "Fan Box To Your Site" does not embed into a Facebook profile.  And without that, how else is someone suppose to promote their Facebook Fan Page to personal friends on Facebook?  People don't want to be emailing their personal friends all the time talking about their Fan Page - most would perceive that as inconsiderate.

** OUR SOLUTION **

We finally had enough people ask about "how to" make this happen that we decided we were going to find a way - someway, somehow, to make this happen.

If you'd like to learn more about this process, then call us today @ 706-363-0335!

Robert Holland is the founder of Social Media SEO, a leading technology and social media blog that covers news, tips, and information for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and tech enthusiasts! Visit us at http://SocialMediaSEO.net

Become a fan of our Facebook Page at http://Facebook.com/SocialSEO

For consulting, content, and customization services, you can call us directly at 706-363-0335.

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5 Great Ways To Promote Your Business With Facebook

If done correctly, you can use Facebook to promote your products & services, build awareness, research consumer opinion and much more! Here's a few ways...

Facebook Pages

You can create a free page for your business or web site with Facebook Pages which gives your business a presence on Facebook. You can think of it as the equivalent of your Facebook personal profile, only for your business or web site.

You can add your business details and logo and you can also spice up your Facebook Page with a range of applications.

Facebook users who become fans of your Facebook Page can post on the wall, buy your products, learn about special events or promotions, join discussion boards and upload photos and video content to your Facebook Page.

You can also send message updates to all your Facebook Page fans at once, which you cannot do with your Personal Profile.

You want to keep the social aspect of Facebook in mind as you create your Facebook Page for your business, and try to present the social, human element of your business as much as possible on your Facebook Page.

To create your Facebook Page...

Log into your Facebook home page and search for Create A Facebook Page via the search bar at the top of each page.

You might also want to have a quick browse through existing Facebook Pages in your niche before you create your own page. You can find these pages here...

You'll have various applications and options you can use once you've created your Facebook Page.

Here are some options you may want to consider...

Facebook Notes

The Notes Feature allows you to post notes in a similar way to blogging. You can add Notes to your personal profile or to your Facebook Pages.

Facebook users can subscribe to your Facebook Notes via RSS in the same way they would on any normal Blog. You can even import one external Blog into Facebook Notes via an RSS feed.

Facebook Events

You can use the Facebook Events feature to create events pages for launches, openings or any other online or offline events you are hosting.

You can invite the fans of your Facebook Page to your events and they will be able to accept, decline or "maybe" your invitation. Your friends will also see a reminder of the event when they log in to their Facebook home page.

Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads allow you to use Facebook's platform for targeted advertising of your business. This is similar to AdWords content ads. You pay Facebook per click or per impression for ads which are displayed to your choice demographic among Facebook users.

You can target your ads to specific Facebook users according to age, gender, location and interests.

Should you consider Facebook Ads for your web business?

Paid web advertising can work for you when you provide high-profit goods or services.

You will therefore have the Return On Investment (ROI) to justify the expenses of advertising. You may want to consider keeping to free methods of exposure such as Facebook Pages and Groups should you not be in a high ROI situation.

You want to make sure to research the service well before you get started and then be sure to test your market at first with only small campaigns. You can always increase the size of your campaigns when you see which ads convert well.

You can get started with Facebook Ads by clicking the Advertising link at the bottom of your Facebook home page.

Facebook for Market Research

You will also find market research opportunities with Facebook...

Browse through Groups and Pages in your niche for a snapshot of the level of interest and activity.

How large is a group? How many members join each day? What are people's interests according to what they post on the group wall?

The answers to these questions can provide you with general data about the size of your niche and activity within your niche among Facebook users.

You can also create your own Facebook Group about a specific problem or issue in your niche and use it to ask questions to people who join. You can use the information you gather from the Group for content ideas for your web site or products you wish to develop.

Dave Lewerenz is owner of [http://www.marketing-for-people-who-hate-marketing.com] - a new site devoted to helping businesspeople and independent contractors find better ways to market their businesses. Written in a clear-cut format with no technical jargon and no sales hype!

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