Are you looking for creative ways to spread the word about your Facebook page?

Your fan page can be one of your organization’s richest sources of interaction, R&D and lead generation. The only problem is making people aware of it!

Unless you have a built-in audience like big-boy brands Coke or Red Bull, you’ll need to educate your fan base on how to find you on Facebook.

To help you out, I’ve put together a list of 20 different ways to promote your Facebook page. Even if you only put a few of these ideas into action, you’ll start seeing growth and increased conversation on your fan page.

Are you ready? Let’s get started.

#1: Put your fan page URL in your email signature

How many emails do you send per day? Now imagine each email you send is a chance for someone new to find out about your awesome fan page!

This URL goes out on every email I send! Talk about free publicity!

#2: Write a blog post about your new fan page

Give your readers five compelling reasons why they should join your fan page. Don’t beg; just give reasons they’ll benefit.

#3: Tag other, well-trafficked fan pages in your updates

Their fans might see your page and you may get some cross-traffic.

Cross-referencing SME on a fan page I administer.

#4: Ask your Twitter followers to join your fan page

Give some compelling reasons why your Twitter base should join your Facebook community. If Twitter is the new water cooler, think of your fan page as an invite to come in and chat.

For example, tweet something like, “Wanting more conversation than 140 characters will allow? Join us on Facebook at http://fb.me/awesomefanpage.” A nice and simple ask that will get results.

#5: Invest in Facebook ads

They’re easier than you think and you can spend as little (or as much) as you’d like.

#6: Put a fan page widget on your blog or website

You’d be amazed at how many people simply don’t know about your fan page. Putting it on your website (i.e., your home base) will get it in front of all of your website visitors. My favorite example of this is from Klout. It got me to Like them!

Klout baked in their fan page right in the dashboard. Brilliant and effective!

#7: Customize your fan page URL

Vanity URLs are a fantastic way to make your fan page memorable. Check this awesome fan page http://facebook.com/awesomefanpage. Vanity, baby!

#8: Put your fan page URL on your business cards

Combine offline and online by letting the people you meet IRL know about your fan page.

#9: Put a link on your personal Facebook profile

Put this under the “links” section. This is a “soft sell” of sorts, letting your friends passively know about your page. You might have forgotten that people actually check that part of your profile!

This is what my personal profile looks like!

#10: Harness the power of your team

Have everyone in your organization put your fan page link on their personal profile.

#11: Ask fans to post a link

Ask all of your current fans to post a link to the fan page on their personal profile. As long as you don’t ask this often, I’ve found that people love to help out. Leverage the power of your existing audience and get results!

For instance, at Monk Development, we simply asked everyone to post a link to our company fan page on the same day. We doubled our average daily Likes because of one simple step.

#12: Put a tag in your YouTube videos

If you make compelling videos as a part of your content marketing strategy, throw in a well-timed fan page link at the end of your YouTube videos.

The Gregory Brothers, the geniuses behind “Auto-tune the News,” are some of the best social marketers around. They always include a link to their fan page (and other social networks) at the end of every video and make it a welcome addition to their content.

Notice the link to their Facebook Page.

#13: Put your fan page URL on your Twitter profile background

Lots of tweeters still use the web-based version and your profile background is a prime piece of web real estate. Cross-advertise and use one social network to promote another!

CenturyLink does a great job of this. If you go to their Twitter page, you can clearly see where their fan page is located. They don’t make you guess, which leads to conversions!

A look at @CenturyLink's Twitter page.

#14: QR codes for your page

I bought the furniture for our house mostly because the store used QR codes to get me to their fan page. Once I got to the fan page, I was welcomed with a custom landing page that welcomed me to the store. It wasn’t elaborate, but it was creative and it worked! They engaged me as a customer both online (QR code leading to fan page) and offline (sales agents in the store), making sure I knew I was welcome. Smart!

#15: Use your fan page

Use the “Tell Your Fans” feature. With the tools built in to the fan page, Facebook allows you to import a contact file or import your contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. Good for when you’re just starting out and want to tell people you already know.

The "Resources" section under the "Edit Page" option on your fan page.

#16: Add a Like box

Place this in your blog/website sidebar. This is a given. A must. But when you do this, make sure you set the options to include face pile. That way, your Like box will show your readers how many of their friends like the page as well. Genius.

The Like box in action on Social Media Examiner. So easy to Like!

#17: Use targeted keywords in a Google AdWords

Use a keyword-based ad and direct people to your fan page. This is like Facebook ads on steroids. If you’ve never used AdWords before, it’s fairly straightforward.

Here's an example of what a sample ad might look like.

#18: Redirect your webinar guests to your fan page

If you use GoToWebinar, you can choose to send registrants to a URL of your choosing after they sign up. This is where you let them know of the awesomeness that is your fan page.

#19: Put your fan page URL in your Keynote/PowerPoint slides

When I present, the last slide I show is my contact info, complete with our organization’s fan page. Most people are already on Facebook, so it’s a no-brainer to give them an easy way to connect with you.

#20: Last, and certainly least, invite all of your friends (if you must)

This is at the end for a reason. Pester your friends only as the nuclear option. I’ve given you 19 other ways to let people know about your fan page. Give your friends a break!

Don’t let the list stop there. There are hundreds of different ways to let people know about what you and your online community are up to on Facebook. Why not get creative and start a list of your own?

What are some of the most interesting ways you’ve seen people or businesses promote their fan page? Let us know in the comments box below and share what you’ve found!

Do this and you may just find a sea of opportunity waiting for your brand, company or event.

The biggest challenge with Facebook advertising is maximizing the efficiency of your ads. In short, this means getting as many Likes for as little money as possible. To help you win this challenge sooner rather than later, here are seven important facts you should know about Facebook advertising that will help you get moving in the right direction.

#1: There are two primary destinations that can be advertised through Facebook

A destination within Facebook is a page, group, event or application. A destination outside of Facebook is a URL such as http://socialmediaexaminer.com.

When creating a new ad campaign from scratch, the Facebook Design Your Ad screen defaults to advertising a destination outside of Facebook. To change this setting, just click the option, “I want to advertise something I have on Facebook.”

A primary distinction between these two types of ads is that with an outside URL, users are only able to Like the ad. For destinations on Facebook, users have the opportunity to Like the page (or RSVP to the event) from within the ad.

The two major benefits of the latter are that (1) users can become connected to your page (or event) without ever clicking on the ad itself (which is a huge benefit for CPC advertisers) and (2) you’re keeping people on Facebook.

Select the “I want to advertise something I have on Facebook” option if your goal is to drive fan page Likes.

As a final thought on this subject, one of the inherent benefits of Facebook is that you can bring individuals into your network and engage with them on an ongoing basis. By driving people away from Facebook, you’re missing out on this opportunity, and consequently defeating one of the primary purposes of advertising on Facebook in the first place.

On the surface, there is only a subtle difference between advertising something on Facebook and advertising an outside URL. But there are actually major differences between the two. Make sure you’re selecting the right type of ad for your goal.

#2: Ad costs and impressions are heavily influenced by click-through rate

Click-through rate (CTR) is an incredibly important measurement for Facebook advertising. Even if your singular goal is to grow fans, regardless of how many people click through, you’ll still need to keep a close eye on CTR. Essentially, Facebook judges the success of your ad on the ad’s ability to get a relatively high percentage of people to click. Facebook rewards successful ads with a lower cost per click or cost per impression and more visibility.

Unfortunately, if your ad drops below a certain CTR threshold it will be nearly impossible to bring it back up. In that case, it’s better to start a new ad than to tweak the one you have. From my experience, having below a 0.1 CTR will almost always result in an underperforming ad. But the criteria for establishing a threshold will depend on the goals you establish.

#3: Targeting friends of connections increases the relevance of your ad

Have you ever seen an ad pop up on Facebook that shows that one of your friends is already connected to that page? Did you feel more drawn to the ad than you would have been if no connections were shown? Fact is, Facebook is really great at peer pressure, and when users see that one of their friends is connected to a page, it increases the chance that they too might want to check it out.

Targeting users whose friends are already connected to your fan page can be a powerful tool for increasing the relevance of an ad.

The downside of the Friends of Connections targeting selection is that it narrows the field of potential ad impressions down by a significant percentage. But, because the cost of the ad is a result of the CTR, having a narrow field of relevant individuals may in fact be more important than having a large field of irrelevant individuals.

Try testing ads with and without the Friends of Connections option selected. You may find that some ads work so well that having that narrowed field may actually hurt the full potential of a given ad.

#4: Facebook advertising takes time

If you intend to get great results from your Facebook advertising, be prepared to dedicate the right resources to supporting the effort.

Facebook advertising requires a lot of trial and error. Every brand, product and company will have a different message and a different audience, and knowing how a given audience will respond is impossible before getting in there and actually trying it.

Create ads, create lots of ads and create new ads every day. Even when you find an ad that works, it will have a limited run. I’ve seen ads that perform well for a few days and some that perform well for a few months. The smaller your potential audience, the quicker your ad will fizzle out.

There are a lot of different variables that can be tested. Test them all – copy, image, demographics, friend connections, interest groups. They’re all important variables that can dramatically change the results of a given ad.

Finally, look at daily analytics. CTRs and CPCs/CPMs change from day to day. An ad can start out with a great CTR, but gradually decrease over time. This means that what was once a $0.05 CPC ad may eventually be $0.50.

#5: An “Action” is an in-ad Like

If you’re advertising a fan page, “Actions” refer to in-ad Likes. In other words, an Action is when someone clicks Like on your ad, but doesn’t click through to your page.

Facebook doesn’t show Actions from the Campaign Overview screen, so you’ll have to click into an ad to see Actions. This may be an extra step, but if at the end of the day your goal is more fans, you need to be keeping track of Actions.

Clicking on a specific ad will give you a more in-depth look into the performance of your ad over time, including number of Actions.

Unfortunately, measuring the actual cost per fan (CPF) of a given ad is not as easy as it should be. And, perhaps at some point in the near future, Facebook will make this a standard measurement tool. But until that point comes, you’ll either need a custom software tool or you can use Actions as a base level estimate for fan acquisition. Just keep in mind that Actions only tell half of the story. The other half is the percentage of people who did click through to your page and Liked your page at that point.

“Facebook does provide a few additional reports that can help you gain a better understanding of the costs and conversion analytics related to acquiring fans. These reports, including the “Advertising Performance” report, can be found in the reports section of the Facebook Ad Manager.”

#6: Daily budget and daily spend limit are not the same

Daily budget is the maximum you would spend in a given day for a single campaign. Daily spend limit is the cap set on your account by Facebook. Your daily ad spend limit is automatically set to $50 per day. So, if you have a daily budget of $500 for campaign ‘A,’ and you continuously max out your spend at $50, this is the reason. To change your daily spend limit, you must contact Facebook directly.

#7: You’re not the only person who can access and edit your Facebook ad dashboard

As discussed, Facebook advertising takes a lot of time and resources. Depending on your organizational structure, it may be beneficial to have multiple people working on Facebook advertising. Under Settings, there is a Permissions section that will let you add other users to your ad account. If multiple people are working on ads at your company, it’s beneficial to have them all tied to one account for a number of reasons.

First, it helps overall measurement and analysis because data between accounts cannot be automatically combined. Second, the more money you spend on Facebook ads, the better access you will have to Facebook Ad staff, which comes in rather handy when you’re looking to get answers and run official promotions on your page.

Allowing multiple people to use and access the same Facebook ads account can help organize resources and data.

Once you’ve passed the beginning stages of Facebook advertising, you may find these other articles helpful. Both dig deeper into specific tactics around creating successful ads, including landing pages, maximizing for CPM and creating a call to action with your copy.

• How We Got To 40,310 Facebook Fans In 4 Days
• 10 Facebook Advertising Tips For Brilliant Marketers

There’s a reason why Facebook ad revenue is projected to be over $1.2 billion in 2010. It’s because when businesses manage them correctly, Facebook ads can be an incredibly successful and cost-effective means of tapping into Facebook’s 500 million users. Out of all the reasons why you may consider advertising on Facebook, driving fan page Likes should be at the top of your list. Just make sure that when you do decide to start the process, you understand the factors and resources involved.

If you’re ready to start digging deeper into your overall Facebook marketing strategy, then check out these Facebook marketing tips from the world’s top pros.

Have you found other tricks and tips for helping beginners maximize their spend with Facebook ads? Tell us about them in the comments box below.

Let’s take a look at the definition of influence:

Influence is the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior and opinions of others. Source:  http://dictionary.reference.com/

Your influence like your shadow extends to where you may never be.

It is astounding just how much social media has penetrated our daily lives. I would like to share a story about social media influence and how influential people helped to reinstate a 47,000-fan Facebook page that was terminated for a few days.

As you will see, compelling action was taken after a person of influence in the social media realm took the initiative to get involved.

I have a friend, Jonathan Rivera, who is the owner of The Official Real Estate Referral Group on Facebook with over 47,000 fans. The goal of this group is to connect like-minded real estate agents who are looking to grow their businesses via referrals and social media. For example, the page is used as a messaging system to alert agents about referral business if, say, an agent in Florida has a buyer for a property in California.

Jonathan’s fan page was recently taken down by Facebook because the name of his unique URL—which used to be http://facebook.com/socialrealtors—was required by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to use the trademark symbol REALTOR®. The NAR had sent an email stating that they didn’t want the group to be disbanded, but just to make the change to the URL.

Two years ago when Jonathan set up the page, he didn’t think about the implications of using the trademarked word REALTOR®. After the NAR contacted him, he sent in the request to Facebook to change the URL, but instead of allowing him to make the change, his 47,000+ fan base vanished into thin air.

Jonathan then decided to enlist the power of social media to get the word out to help get his page restored. He asked different people to share a blog post by Tech Savvy Agent on their Facebook walls. It was amazing the number of people sharing his story. It showed up numerous times in my Facebook news feed. I decided to take his story to Twitter and sent this tweet to a person of influence:

@MariSmith Any advice that I can pass on to my bud? Facebook Shuts Down Page with 47,000+ Fans

Boy, did this tweet start to go viral! Scobleizer even retweeted the story. The great thing is that Mari knew of a way to get Facebook’s attention. She was able to use her influence to get others to act. Everyone pulled together and did a spectacular job to help the cause; however, I believe Mari’s influence had a major role in the 1-day turnaround of his page being reinstated. Jonathan made a great thank-you video for everyone who helped to get his page reinstated.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9InJw8VTEM

Of course there are many lessons we can learn from this incident. Below I will share a few:

#1: Own Your Own Home Base

Social networks are awesome, but as you can see, your profiles, pages and contacts can be taken away in an instant. It’s best to have your own website or blog as your main focus and utilize your social networks to draw everyone to your home base.

#2: Maintain Your Contact Database

There are a number of ways to have your fans and networks become a part of your email database, but the goal is to have them in your own personal database. That way if anything happens, you have access to them without being connected only through a social network.

#3: Identify People of Influence in Your Niche

This can be very helpful in stressful situations. Identify, learn about and follow these people and make a point to befriend them. That way in times of need, they’re eager to help a good cause.

In addition, here are three tips and techniques that will help you use influencers to spark your particular cause:

#1: Know Where Influencers Spend Their Time

This is when listening in social media is really important. Determine if they spend most of their social media time on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. It will start to become obvious which is the best network to gain their attention.

#2: Show Your Appreciation for Their Work

It is possible to genuinely share their words of wisdom, blog articles, products and events via multiple social media outlets by tagging on Facebook, retweeting or even linking content on LinkedIn. It’s also an added bonus to append encouraging personal thoughts to the topic.

#3: Be Positive and Straightforward

As you start to interact with influencers, always be positive and value their time. Obviously if they are influencers, their schedules are very busy and there are numerous people vying for their attention. Be mindful of this and always give them the benefit of the doubt if they don’t respond as quickly as you’d like.

To learn more about social media influence, be sure to check out this social media examiner article.  It goes into more detail about the six weapons of influence and how to use them in your social media efforts.

Have you had a person of influence help you in a situation? If so, what happened? What are some other ways that you can connect with social media influencers? Spice up the conversation and let us know your comments in the box below.

Image source

So he set up a Facebook fan page with the help of his parents. In just one week, he got more than 1,200 fans and raised $400!

“I can understand using Facebook for a fifth-grade science project,” I hear you saying. “But how do I use Facebook to market my business? I keep hearing that I should include social media in my marketing campaigns, but I don’t have a clue how to do that.”

You’ll be happy to hear that your clueless days are over.

A recent Nielsen report showed people spend 7 hours a month on Facebook, but only 2 hours a month on Google, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN.  That’s a huge opportunity.

One of the biggest names in Facebook marketing has written a Facebook marketing textbook just for you. Mari Smith partnered with Chris Treadaway to write Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day.

Yes! It’s another “Hour a Day” book. So you know you’ll be getting the equivalent of a college semester’s training in the privacy of your own home, at your own pace.

Facebook is every marketer’s dream, because in no other medium can you:

• Show your ad to 1,000 people for only 20 cents. Not 20 cents apiece, 20 cents total.
• Create lifelong fans of your business for only 27 cents per fan.
• Target divorced male executives between the ages of 40 and 55 who have an MBA from Harvard Business School and work at specific companies in Chicago.

Targeting Customers With Surgical Precision

You can target Facebook members by location, age, sex, education, language and even by their workplace. So you could target your ad to married men over 40 with a college degree who work for a particular company. You can throw in a couple of keywords that members list in their profiles to get even more specific.

And Facebook asks its members for a LOT of information! Not only gender, birth date and location, but also favorite TV shows, college major and even religious and political views!

“Facebook advertising is perhaps one of the most effective and inexpensive ways available to target specific people based on profile data that they have entered voluntarily,” write Smith and Treadaway.

But Facebook isn’t just about ads. And that’s just as well, because Facebook ads are the same, interruptive, “in-your-face” form of traditional advertising in a new medium. Many Facebook members may just ignore them.

“Although Facebook’s pay-per-click model of advertising offers competitive rates… Facebook users have been consistently obstinate when it comes to responding to advertising on its profile pages,” write Smith and Treadaway. “As an advertiser/marketer, Facebook has an extremely large, desirable audience that [has] refused to click ads.”

“Facebook members are typically not in the habit of clicking on ads,” say Paul Dunay and Richard Krueger in Facebook Marketing for Dummies. “They are on Facebook for social purposes, as opposed to browsing and discovery.”

Facebook Is More Than Just Ads

Fortunately, there’s a lot more you can do on Facebook than just running ad campaigns. But only if you follow the primary rule of social media marketing: Find your evangelists and then give them everything they need to help you market your business for free.

Before you even begin a social media marketing campaign, you need to answer the following questions:

• What is the goal of your social media campaign? Increased sales? Better customer service?
• How will you measure success? What metrics will you use?
• Do company executives view social media as a risk or an opportunity?
• Do you have employees who are interested in helping with the campaign?
• Can you provide enough interesting content on a regular basis to attract potential customers and keep them engaged?

And your company executives will have to answer the following questions:

• Should you promote your brand, your company or your products/services?
• Will you need a policy governing what information can be shared on social media?
• Will every update have to be approved in advance? By whom?
• Will you communicate directly with customers via social media?
• Will you manage the project internally or outsource it?

And this will be a team effort. No single person has all the skills necessary to run a large corporate social media marketing campaign. And the leader of the team has to be “one part visionary, one part marketer, and one part politician,” according to Smith and Treadaway.

Here are some Facebook metrics you can track:

• Number of new Facebook fans
• Number of wall updates/posts
• Number of likes and comments
• Number of customer interactions
• Amount of money spent on advertising
• Advertising cost per fan

This is just a taste of what you will find in Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. The authors cover the gamut of Facebook marketing, beginning with Facebook basics and working through to Facebook analytics, Facebook Connect, and Facebook apps. They end the book with interviews from six industry experts who predict how Facebook may evolve.

If your prospective customers are spending more time on Facebook than any other site, shouldn’t you be there too?

Social Media Examiner gives this book a 5-star rating. Be sure to grab a copy if you want to master Facebook with only an hour a day.

Have you read the book?  Do you think Facebook will change the way businesses connect with customers? Please leave your comment in the box below.

You can, and social media can be more effective than other forms of influence, as you’ll see in a minute.

First, let’s talk about the phenomenon I’m referring to. Influencing people you don’t know (in this case, new web visitors) by using information is known as social proof.

The Growth of Social Proof

Social proof isn’t a new concept, or one that only applies to social media. It’s a psychological phenomenon.

Marketers have used social proof as a fundamental principle for years. Blogs have used it recently by displaying the number of RSS subscribers prominently (usually through FeedBurner). Then, when new visitors stop by, they think, “Hey, this site looks pretty popular. 2,000 people already subscribe. It must be worth following, so I’ll do the same.”

Social proof gives your site an advantage over other sites that don’t use it, and social proof can help you grow faster by turning more people into repeat visitors.

And now, with social media, social proof doesn’t have to be restricted to just displaying RSS subscriber counts. Your social media profiles and activity on Facebook, Twitter, etc., can serve as social proof too, and sometimes are even more effective than just RSS counts or traffic numbers.

How Effective Is Social Media as Social Proof?

I reached out to Lisa Barone from Outspoken Media, a respected Internet marketing company, to ask her exactly that question. Here’s what Lisa had to say about the effectiveness of social media as social proof for a blog or website:

It’s highly effective, especially for an entrepreneur or small business owner. Developing a presence on the social web adds credibility to your blog/website because it allows people to see you engaging with other people. They see their social media friends talking to you and it serves as a sign that you’re trusted and not going to swindle them.

It also gives another indicator that you’re committed to building your presence, and that as a customer, they’ll be able to get in touch with you if they have a question, concern or complaint. Creating a social media presence is another way of letting customers know you’ve left a light on for them.

Social media actually enhances social proof because it can involve the specific friends, colleagues or associates of the people you’re trying to influence.

How to Use Facebook, Twitter and Others as Social Proof

Let’s look at a specific example of what I’m talking about. Facebook has all kinds of social widgets you can install on your website. These widgets can show lots of things, including how many people “like” your site (if you have a Facebook Fan page), or how many people have recently shared your content on Facebook.

And Facebook is smart about it. They tailor the widgets to whoever is visiting your web page. In the example below, Social Media Examiner uses the Facebook “Like Box” in the right sidebar. It says 10,530 people like SME on Facebook at the time of this writing (wow). If some of my friends are in that group that “likes” the site, their pretty little faces will appear for me to see:

Facebook makes it easy to use your Fan page as social proof with widgets.

In either case, the social proof makes it more likely that I’ll keep reading this site, or even subscribe to or “like” it. In one case, I’ll see that lots of strangers already like the site; in another case, I’ll see that some of my specific friends like it.

Facebook isn’t the only form of social media that can serve as social proof, either.

Twitter can be used in a similar way (by displaying follower counts, activity feeds or the number of times content has been retweeted). Digg and other social networks/bookmarking sites also have widgets. Check your favorite social media hangouts for things you can use for social proof.

Below is a unique and creative way that the blog Engadget uses Twitter as social proof (as well as a great way to direct visitors to popular content):

Engadget uses the number of times a story has been shared on Twitter in this unique display of social proof.

Get Creative With Your Site’s Social Proof

Don’t forget that blogs are a form of social media as well. If your blog attracts lots of comments, displaying your comment counts prominently can serve as an effective form of social proof.

I asked Lisa Barone how she and Outspoken Media have used social media as social proof on their sites. Her methods include displaying FeedBurner subscriber numbers, rotating testimonials from respected industry colleagues and displaying media logos on their home page to show visitors where they’ve been mentioned.

As for tips on using social media as social proof, Lisa likes to focus on making your site/blog look bigger than you are. Borrowing logos from other sites where you’ve been featured and letting people know about interviews or podcasts you’ve been a part of are a great way to show visitors that your site is worth paying attention to, according to Lisa. “If social proof tells us that we like what our friends like and that experts hang with experts, then you want to make it look like your community has a line wrapped around the corner waiting for entrance. Fake it till you make it, and when you’ve made it, show your badges,” she recommended to me.

Consider using any points of interaction you have with your tribe on the social web as social proof for your site. People will see that you’re active, that you’re providing value, and that crowds of other people (possibly even their friends) think your content is the bee’s knees.

How do you use social media as social proof?

What is your experience with influencing people on the web with social media? What could you do to improve your use of social media on your website? Please share your thoughts in the comments box below.

Is your Facebook page dull and uninviting?  Maybe you’ve seen those really attractive Facebook pages and wondered, “How’d they do that?”

Given Facebook’s powerhouse status for marketers, isn’t it time you upgraded your Facebook page?

How can you help your brand stand out from the competition and increase the relevancy of your Facebook page?

The answer: Static FBML.  This article will share what you need to know to conduct a Facebook page makeover.

What Is Static FBML?

FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language, which is a subset of HTML.

Static FBML is a Facebook application that allows Facebook page administrators to create custom tabs on their Facebook pages. This application is only available for Facebook pages, not for personal profiles or Facebook groups.

Adding Static FBML to Your Facebook Page

You can add Static FBML in four easy steps.

#1:  Make sure you are an administrator of the Facebook page so you have the ability to edit.

#2:  Go to the Static FBML application.

#3:  Click “Add to my Page.”

#4:  A window will appear that contains a list of the Facebook pages for which you are an administrator. Click “Add to Page” to add the application.

Static FBML is now added to your page.

Before you add content to your FBML tab, you should have an idea the image or video size you need so these components fit in the space provided.

Setting Up Static FBML as a Tab

To set up your FBML tab, click on “Edit Page” under your Facebook page logo/avatar located on your wall.

Scroll down to the “Applications” section and locate the FBML app and click “Application Settings” (see below). Make sure that the “Tab” setting is “added”. You now have an FBML tab.

To the left of application settings you will see an “Edit” option on your FBML.  This is where you will ultimately paste your HTML code.  You can also add a “box title.”  The box title becomes the name of your tab.

Please note that your FBML box must be coded for a maximum width suitable for a tab. The maximum width for an FBML tab is 520 pixels.

Adding Content to Your Static FBML Tab

Now it’s time to edit and add content. To begin, click on “Edit Page” located under your Facebook page logo. Scroll down to the “Applications” section and locate the FBML app, but this time click “Edit.” The FBML tab will be empty.

This is the area where you can name the FBML tab and add HTML code. Please note that FBML does not work with all HTML code.  For example, JavaScript does not work.  You’ll need to experiment.

If you scroll down to the bottom, you can add additional FBML tabs.

The maximum number of FBML tabs you can have is 10.

Now let’s spice up your Facebook page. I’ll go over the two most popular enhancements using Static FBML – adding a clickable image and embedding a YouTube video.

How to Add a Clickable Image in Static FBML

When adding an image in the FBML box, I’ve found that the best place to host images is Photobucket. Using Flickr or Facebook photos caused issues for me. If it works for you, stick with it. The maximum width for an image in the FBML tab is 520px.

There is no maximum height, but think of it as a landing page by keeping the scrolling to a minimum. Ask yourself: do you want users to scroll down to get the message or do you want to get the main point across once they’ve landed on your page?

Upload your image to your Photobucket account. Copy the direct URL to the image you intend to use in your FBML box. Next, you want to use this code:

<a href=”http://xxxxx” mce_href=”http://xxxxx” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://yyyyy” mce_src=”http://yyyyy” width=”##px” height=”##px” border=”0″ alt=” “></a>

Replace the xxxxx with the target URL. Replace the yyyyy with the direct link to your uploaded Photobucket image. Replace the ## with your width and height in pixels.

How to Embed a YouTube Video in Static FBML

As with images, I would recommend a maximum width of 520px for a tab. After uploading your video, you want to use this code:

<fb:swf swfbgcolor=”000000” imgstyle=”border-width:##px; border-color:white;” swfsrc=”http://www.youtube.com/v/xxxxx” imgsrc=”http://img.youtube.com/vi/xxxxx/2.jpg” width=”520″ height=”400″ />

Replace the xxxxx with your YouTube’s video ID. In both examples below, “MqqKPWhY4es” is my YouTube ID.

Example 1: In this YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqqKPWhY4es, all the characters after the “=” are the YouTube ID.

Example 2: If your YouTube link looks like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqqKPWhY4es&feature=player_embedded, all the characters after the “=” and before the “&feature” will be the YouTube ID.

You can change the values of “swfbgcolor” and “imgstyle” to your preferences. The “imgsrc” is a bit trickier because it is a preview image. When a user clicks on the preview image, it turns into the video. To see a real-life example, you can go to the Marketwire page (see below screen shot). In order to change the preview image, you can replace the URL to a direct link to one of your Photobucket images (or any other source).

Make sure you open and close all tags and quotes.

Example of a clickable image with an embedded video

How to Set the FBML Box as the Default Landing Tab

The option of setting your FBML tab as the default landing tab, rather than the wall, is one of the most relevant enhancements you can make to your Facebook page. This is where adding Google Analytics to your Facebook page helps tremendously with tracking.

In order to set your FBML tab as your default landing page, go to “Edit Page” under your Facebook page logo and scroll down to “Wall Settings.” You’ll notice a section called “Default Landing Page for Everyone Else.” Visitors who are not fans of your page will see your newly created FBML tab. Visitors who are fans will land on your wall.

That’s it!

Static FBML a Must-Have for Facebook Pages

The ability to enhance your page as a marketing vehicle by driving traffic to your website and engaging even more with your audience should warrant consideration. Many administrators shy away from Static FBML because they’re intimidated with coding.

My suggestion: review this post, research a bit more on Google and try it out. In the words of Ben Stiller from the movie Starsky & Hutch, Do it! Do it! Do it!.

I hope this tutorial has given you some insight on how to implement Static FBML to your Facebook page.

What are your thoughts on Static FBML? Is there a reason why you haven’t added it yet?  Comment below and let’s get this discussion going!

Rich content creates a memorable interface that gets people talking, lets a special announcement or contest go viral, improves fans’ engagement and so much more.

To create an important hub to reach out to millions of potential supporters, you need to up your game and optimize your fan page to meet its ultimate purpose.

(Important Update: Facebook no longer supports FBML. Please refer to the articles on Facebook iFrame.) Everything is possible, thanks to the powerful Facebook application known as Static FBML. Many people may be unaware of the advanced functionality FBML gives a fan page, such as creating and naming your tabs or boxes freely. For those who are curious just how powerful Static FBML can get, we’re going to inspect it all here:

#1: Welcome Page

The main purpose of a Welcome tab is to provide an overview of your page—what you can offer to people who like your page and why it should matter to them. Quit force-feeding new visitors a sales pitch; instead convince them with solid reasons to stay as followers.  You have one chance to impress them, so make sure your Welcome tab serves its purpose:  greet with enthusiasm, guide visitors to ‘like’ or have a look at certain tabs.  Mini websites, Flash and webcasts are just some of the advanced methods you can use to create a lively, impactful Welcome page.

Create a strong call to action with eye-catching graphics and clear instructions.

#2: Social Profiles and Contact Information

Have you ever wondered why certain options are not visible in the Info tab? For example, there is no place to include your business hours and location, while other pages have it. You’ve probably selected the wrong type of fan page during the setup process. Because deleting and recreating a fan page with a large number of people who like your pages is not really an option, Static FBML provides you a way to include your business contact details as often as you like.

Use extra information and social buttons to enhance visibility of a contact box.

#3: Testimonial Page

When it comes to service providers and professionals, nothing is more convincing than a testimonial page. You can have a static page with testimonials or have a designer create a catchy layout to attract peoples’ attention. How you decide to showcase your testimonial page is only limited by its relevancy and your creativity. Static FBML allows you to do so much, even placing video testimonials and arranging client reviews in the order you prefer.

Create an attractive Testimonial tab with FBML that draws attention.

#4: Newsletter and Opt-In Form

An opt-in form can be easily placed on either your Welcome tab or as a box on the sidebar of the fan page wall. Regardless where you put it, make sure it’s visible at all times for people to sign up. It’s an added opportunity to build a strong readership and a potential client base with email marketing. Some of the famous services such as Aweber and MailChimp provide HTML code for users to place an opt-in form in any selected tab using static FBML.

To encourage sign-up, place an opt-in form on your Welcome page, as a box on your wall or as a tab.

#5: Secret Membership Area

This is a tricky one to entice visitors to like your fan page.  Prepare several useful resources, backstage passes, anything you can think of that provides value.  It can be a newsletter or any private content with hacks and tips, business guidelines or videos that are available solely to people who like your page.

Encourage visitors to Like by providing a secret resource area only accessible to them.

#6: Contests and Special Events

For fan pages with regular monthly events or contests, a tab can be used as a promotional board for fans to check out the details and deadlines. A sharing button makes it all easy for anyone to share the exciting news with their friends. Try it and see how your information can go viral before your eyes.

Build a special tab consisting of contest details and monthly events that can be shared easily.

#7: Article Links

Ever wonder what you can do for those old, yet timeless, posts on your blog? Why not give them some extra visibility by placing an ‘oldies but goodies’ box next to your fan box? Steal some attention with a slight bit of creativity and occasionally mention them in your announcements. You can rotate the frequency of post links or even post categories so visitors have a wide range of selections, as shown on Social Media Examiner’s fan page.  Most of all, it’s much better than the usual Social RSS feed that only displays the most recent entries.

Include a category box of articles that allows visitors to navigate effortlessly to the main site.

#8: Job Board

People are turning to social media sites for job opportunities. It’s no surprise that even Facebook’s own fan page has a We’re Hiring tab to recruit. There are 200 million active users who log on to Facebook daily. If your company has job opportunities, why not insert a job board on your fan page?

You just never know who might drop in one day.

#9: Analytics

Who would forget the popular Google Analytics post about the magic code we place in the FBML tabs to track page visits? Combining this fantastic method with static FBML, we can now decide which FBML tabs are staying which tabs should go.

Have you been playing with static FBML to enhance your fan page? Feel free to share your experience and success stories with us.

People must be lured to your fan page. And there are some good and bad ways to go about doing this. In this article, I’ll share a big myth and 21 ways to drive more fans to your Facebook fan page. (Though Facebook recently changed the “Become A Fan” button to the new, omnipresent “Like” button – and a fan page is called a “Business Page” or “Facebook Page” – we can still call them fan pages and people who join are fans!)

The Big Myth

There’s a great myth that once you create a Facebook fan page for your business, the first thing you should do to get fans is invite ALL your friends from your personal profile using the “Suggest to Friends” feature.

Unfortunately, this strategy may not be that effective and can, in fact, often backfire. I have seen many industry gurus complain that when they decline a fan page request, it’s frustrating to continue to be asked again and again.

There are several reasons not to use the Suggest to Friends feature:

• Facebook users can only like up to 500 pages and may wish to be selective. (Though I have seen it’s possible to go over this limit).
• Fan page suggestions may often build up, unnoticed. (At last count, I have 593 overlooked fan page suggestions and am already a fan of 500!)
• To aggressively pursue all your friends to join your fan page – for no apparent incentive – is counterintuitive to the nature of social media.

So, the good news is there are many ways to promote your fan page and proactively increase your fan base without bugging all your current Facebook friends, and also by thinking wider than just Facebook.

Here are 21 ways to get more fans for your Facebook fan page:

#1: Embed Widgets on Your Website

Select from a number of the new Facebook Social Plugins and place them on your website and blog. The Fan Box widget is now the Like Box and it works well to display your current fan page stream and a selection of fans - see screenshot below with Whole Foods Market Facebook Like Box. I would recommend adding a title above the box encouraging visitors to your site/blog to click the “Like” button (which makes them a Facebook fan).

Whole Foods Market Facebook Like Box.

You might also consider the Live Stream widget for more advanced uses, particularly on an FBML custom tab of your fan page itself. The Live Stream widget allows Facebook users to add their comments to a live event, for example, and that activity pushes out into their stream.

#2: Invite Your Email and Ezine Subscribers

Assuming you have an opt-in email list, definitely send out an invitation to your subscribers via email (several times, over time) letting them know about your fan page and encouraging them to join. Ideally, provide them with a description of the page and an incentive to join.

Be sure to have the Facebook logo/badge appear in your HTML newsletters. Instead of the usual “Join our Fan Page,” say something creative like “Write on our Facebook wall,” or “Join our Facebook community,” or “Come add your photo to our Facebook group” (where “group” is actually your fan page). Users have to be a fan in order to interact with your fan page in this way.

#3: Add to Your Email Signature Block

Instead of promoting your Facebook personal profile (if you do), include a link to your fan page in every email you send out. If you use web-based email, check out the Wisestamp signature addon.

#4: Make a Compelling Welcome Video

Create an attractive landing tab (canvas page) with a video that explains exactly a) what your fan page is about, b) who it’s for and c) why they should become members.  The result: you’ll increase your conversion rate from visitors to fans. One of my favorite fan page welcome videos is by Steve Spangler, the Science Guy! After watching his video, you can’t help but want to join!

(By the way, with the new Facebook changes, if your custom welcome tab and video talk about clicking the “Become A Fan” button, you may want to change the wording to “click the Like button” now).

#5: Use Facebook Apps

I recently tested a new live video-streaming app called Vpype. The app adds a tab to your fan page called “Shows” and when you broadcast as your fan page, everyone can view by default. (You can also broadcast as your personal profile and selectively invite friends/friend lists). I wrote up a review of this app here. By announcing via Twitter, your personal Facebook profile, your blog and your email list, you can broadcast regular live Internet TV shows from your fan page and create much buzz.

Another example of app integration is Target’s “Bullseye Gives” campaign. Target had their fans vote on which of ten charities they most wanted to see the company donate to. By voting, a post goes out onto your Facebook wall and into the News Feeds of all your friends, thus providing Target with valuable exposure. (For custom apps, see companies like Buddy Media, FanAppz, Wildfire Apps, Involver, Virtue, Context Optional.) [UPDATE: Thank you to Context Optional, the creators of Target’s “Bullseye Gives” campaign!]

#6: Integrate the Facebook Comment Feature

My favorite example of this is the t-shirt company Threadless. On their landing tab (canvas page), you can view and purchase t-shirts as well as Like and comment on any item and choose to have that comment posted to your Facebook profile, as shown in this screenshot:

(Screenshot of Threadless Facebook Fan Page landing tab)

Threadless actually has their landing tab set up so visitors don’t have to become a fan to purchase/comment/interact. Yet they have organically built well over 100,000 fans.

As users comment on items, that activity is pushed out into their stream (profile wall and their friends’ News Feeds), which creates valuable viral visibility for your fan page.

(Important Update: Facebook no longer supports FBML. Please refer to the articles on Facebook iFrame.) For further information on adding the comment box to your FBML page/app, see these pages.

#7: Get Fans to Tag Photos

If you host live events, be sure to take plenty of photos (or even hire a professional photographer), load the photos to your fan page and encourage fans to tag themselves. This, again, pushes out into their wall and friends’ News Feeds, providing valuable (free!) exposure. And, a picture says a thousand words – we notice the thumbnails in our feed more than text. (Props to Nick O’Neil for this tip.)

#8: Load Videos and Embed on Your Site

Facebook’s Video feature is extremely powerful. You can load video content to your Facebook fan page, then take the source code and embed on your blog/website. There is a “Become a Fan” button right in the video itself. For an excellent tutorial, see Nick O’Neil’s post: How To Get Thousands of Facebook Fans With a Single Video.

[UPDATE: Since Facebook changed the Become a Fan button to the Like button, embedded Facebook videos now display a white watermark hotlink of the Facebook name in the upper left corner of the video player - see first screenshot below. This is a clickable link that goes to the original video page on your fan page. If the visitor to your site clicks through to Facebook from your video, and they are logged into Facebook at the time, they will see a Like button at the top left corner of the video player - see second screenshot below.]

(Screenshot shows example of an embedded Facebook video on an external site)

(Screenshot shows the same video on the original page of the fan page with the Like button)

#9: Place Facebook Ads

Even with a nominal weekly/monthly budget, you should be able to boost your fan count using Facebook’s own social ad feature. It’s the most targeted traffic your money can buy. To buy an ad, scroll to the foot of any page inside Facebook and click the link at the very bottom that says “Advertising.” From there, you can walk through the wizard and get an excellent sense of how many Facebook users are in your exact target market.

Then, when you advertise your fan page, Facebook users can become a fan (click the Like button) right from the ad as shown in the screenshot below. Additionally, Facebook displays several of your friends who have already liked you, thus creating social proof.

My book with Chris Treadaway, Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day (Sybex) contains comprehensive instructions on maximizing your marketing through Facebook social ads.

#10: Run a Contest

This is somewhat of a gray area because Facebook changed their Promotional Guidelines last year. Essentially, you need prior written permission from Facebook and need to be spending a significant amount on ads per month. However, you CAN require Facebook users to become a fan of your fan page in order to enter a contest, sweepstakes, drawing or competition. See these two posts for further explanation. PLUS, good news: you CAN run contests and sweepstakes with the use of the apps created by Wildfire App.

#11: Link to Twitter

Link your Twitter account to your Facebook fan page and automatically post your Facebook content to Twitter. You can edit what gets posted, choosing from Status Updates, Photos, Links, Notes and Events.

You have 420 characters on the Facebook publisher and 140 on Twitter. In the tweet that goes out, Facebook truncates your post past a certain character count and inserts a bit.ly link back to your fan page. To track click-through stats on that link, just paste the bit.ly link that Facebook created for you in your browser’s address bar and add a “+” sign to the end. This works for any bit.ly link!

I also recommend you promote your Facebook fan page on your Twitter background and possibly in your Twitter bio/URL field too.

#12: Get Fans to Join Via SMS

Your fans can join your fan page via text message! You’ll need to get your first 25 fans and secure your username. Then, to join your fan page, Facebook users just send a text message to 32665 (FBOOK) with the words “fan yourusername” OR “like yourusername” (without the quotes).

This feature is ideal when you’re addressing a live audience, say. Have everyone pull out their mobile phones and join your fan page on the spot! This would also work well for radio or TV. (Note that this only works for Facebook users with a verified mobile device in his or her account.)

#13: Use Print Media

Look at every piece of print media you use in your business. Your Facebook fan page (as well as Twitter and any other social sites you’re active on), should be clearly displayed. Put your Facebook fan page link (and the logo) on your business cards, letterhead, brochure, print newsletter, magazine ads, products, etc.

#14: Display at Your Store/Business

If your business is run from physical premises, put a placard on the front desk letting your customers know you’re on Facebook. Ideally, you have a simple, memorable username. Incentivize customers to join right away via their mobile device and show you/your staff the confirmation for some kind of instant reward!

You might give out physical coupons promoting your fan page. For restaurants, put the Facebook logo, your username and a call to action on your menus.

I was at a hotel in San Francisco last fall and they had a placard in the elevators promoting their presence on Facebook and Twitter. The sign was very noticeable because of those ubiquitous Facebook and Twitter logos/colors!

#15. Add a Link on Your Personal Profile

If you’d like to promote your fan page to your Facebook friends, just under your photo on your personal profile there is a section to write something about yourself. I call this the “mini bio” field and strongly suggest adding a link to your fan page like so:

Be sure to format the URL with http:// otherwise it will not be clickable with just the www’s. You have a limited amount of characters, so keep it succinct and leave out the www’s. You can put in hard line breaks though to make the content easier to read.

#16: Add a Badge/Button to Your Profile

Using an app like Profile HTML or Extended Info, you can create your own custom HTML, including a Facebook badge and/or graphic embedded, as shown in the screenshot below:

#17: Use the Share Button

The Share button is all over Facebook and is a very handy feature. It only works for sharing on your personal profile. So periodically go to your fan page, scroll toward the bottom left column and click the “Share+” button. Add a compelling comment along the lines of exciting news, recent changes, special incentives, etc., happening on your fan page and invite your friends to join if they haven’t already. I find the Share button far more effective than the Suggest to Friends approach. (And, if you’d like to Share content from the web on to your fan page vs. profile, I highly recommend using the Hootlet bookmarklet tool at HootSuite.com).

#18: Use the @ Tag

As long as you’re a fan of your own fan page, you can “@ tag” it on your own personal profile wall. From time to time, you can let your friends know about something happening on your fan page by writing a personal status update that includes tagging your fan page with an @ tag. Simply start typing the “@” symbol and the first few letters of your fan page name (this works whether you have your username registered or not), and it will appear from a drop-down menu to select. This then makes it a nice, subtle hyperlink that your friends can choose to click on.

#19: Autograph Posts on Other Walls

A subtle way to gain more visibility for your fan page is to add an @ tag for your fan page when writing on your friends’ walls as a way to sign off.

I would use this one sparingly and, again, monitor the response from your friends. I have never been a fan of adding a signature block on Facebook wall posts because our name and profile picture thumbnail are always hyperlinked right back to our profile anyway. But the simple @ tag could be effective.

#20: Autograph Other Fan Pages

As with adding your fan page @ tag to posts you make on your friends’ walls, you could equally use the same technique when posting on other fan pages. This needs to be used with discretion and I would advise against doing this on any potentially competing fan page!

#21: Maybe Use “Suggest To Friends”

I won’t rule this one out completely as it does depend on how many friends you have, your relationship with your friends, how often you suggest fan pages/friends to your friends, etc (see ‘The Big Myth’ above). But I do recommend monitoring the response to this technique – perhaps simply by asking for feedback in your status update.

So, these are just 21 ways to create strategic visibility and promote your Facebook fan page.

Let’s hear from you.  Which ones have you implemented with success? Plus, do feel free to add any of your own creative promotional ideas in the comments box below!

In this article, I’ll share some tips to help you leverage social media to gain more exposure.

#1: Reap What You Sow

What are you aiming for? What is your goal?

If you want to get yourself known, social media is a great way to build visibility and a platform. Getting known might be your goal or it might be a means to an end. Again, social media can help you build connections that pay off in terms of opportunities and offers.

At the very least, when you do the right things in social media, you’re building a profile that represents you in the best possible light when anyone wants to look you up. It is a rare potential employer who will not do a quick Google search, and apparently even potential dates now do this routinely!

#2: Model Real Life

Social media grew out of real-world social rules and therefore what works in real life works well in social media, but with wider distribution and accelerated cause and effect.

Often people say to me that social media does not work, but what they really mean is they tried to extract value before they put any in. In fact, at the time of this writing I almost got into a protracted debate on Twitter about this very thing. Because this one person didn’t see any results, he believed social media “didn’t work.” The problem is, social media does not work for people who just want to take and be selfish, so he is setting himself up for a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You can’t withdraw very long from an empty social capital account. Essentially, if you want to get out value, then you need to start putting value in.

#3: Be Likeable

Another aspect of social media engagement is that your basic interactions are communicating more than the 140-character status updates. People also read between the lines. Again, this can work for or against you.

Brands are built through experience just as much as what you say and any image you create. The brands you love and hate are much more about how they have treated you than their logos and corporate mission statements!

The same is true on a personal brand level. It’s about treating people well and giving them a positive experience with you. It really helps if you like people because you are going to need to be consistently a good person to know.

Using light humor, being kind, sharing about more than just your work—including your interests—allow people to connect with you on a human level as well as a business and technical level.

Beyond this we have to be aware of boundaries and limitations to sharing. We have all seen the damage that can be done through “overshare” or Too Much Information, and also what we find humorous might well put people off, or even cause emotional or professional damage.

Consider a popular blogger who is constantly on the attack, belittling people, making fun of people, “digging up dirt” and so on. Yes, he will gather a following—bullies often do—but how do these kinds of tactics affect long-term relationships and loyalty?

At SXSW I had a discussion about this very topic and we realized many of the highly visible people who used this approach 4 or 5 years ago are now seldom heard from and nobody will take their calls.

Social karma works in the negative as well as the positive, and the Internet has a LONG memory!

Does This Really Work?

At this point you might still be skeptical. So to reassure you that there is some real cause and effect going on here, just look at your own social media activity.

• Who do you follow? Think about your top three social media users and what they have in common.
• Which blogs do you read? Again, which are your “must-read” blogs?
• When have you had the best results? Think back to when you had your best win. What did you do?
• How do you attract new contacts? When you want a social media or list boost, what works best for you?
• What can you test today? Still skeptical? Good! Test, verify—what can you try today to move your metrics needle?

I am 100% sure that when you put out good, valuable, positive stuff—when you share only the best—that’s when you will get the best results. It also follows that the people you are most attracted to or listen to most are the people you get the most value from, be that entertainment or education, and with whom you feel the best connection.

#4: Share, Share, Share

Tactically this is about sharing good stuff. If you want to position yourself as an expert, then share what you know.

The more you share good stuff, the more people will want to listen to you. Even better, if you share your expertise with good stuff from other people mixed in, it shows you’re generous and have your followers’ best interests at heart rather than pure self-promotion.

• Answer questions in LinkedIn.
• Share links, videos and anything useful that you find in Facebook and Twitter.
• Post your slide decks to Slideshare.
• Upload advice videos and demonstrations to YouTube.
• Write valuable content in your blog and answer comments.
• Invite people to ask you questions on your Facebook fan page, Twitter and your blog.

#5: Conduct a Whuffie Audit

Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing fame invented the futuristic reputation, or social capital–based currency, of Whuffie. Some days I wish Whuffie really existed and that just by looking someone up we could see what kind of person they were and how much they added to society. Unfortunately we do not have Whuffie yet, but you can “audit” yourself to see how much social capital you are generating.

Keep an eye on your key metrics to see if they are growing and what behavior is influencing them:

• Followers, friends and subscriber counts—How many people you have following you is not the best metric, but it does tell you if you’re attracting versus annoying people!
• Retweets, clicks and shares—If people want to share your stuff, it’s a hint that what you are putting out is valuable.
• Comments, favorites, discussions—Can you spark discussion and debate? That’s value right there.
• Key contacts, referrals, recommendations and testimonials—Are you reaching people and are they telling others about you? What do people say about you behind your back? Will people publicly connect their name, and reputation, to yours?

Closing Thoughts…

I know how frustrating it is when we say things in interviews like “provide value, join the conversation.” Hopefully I’ve explained a bit more about what this means and some of the steps you can use. It comes down to having the intention to really help, inform and be an excellent person to know.

A reputation is difficult and time-consuming to build, but with social media we can damage it in an instant. When you have what’s best for your community in mind, you will not go far wrong.

How does this work for you? Got any tips to share? What has worked best in your experience? Please SHARE your thoughts in the comments!

However, one thing I hear repeatedly is that Fan Page owners are frustrated with their lack of fans and low engagement levels. They work hard to create the page, add the bells and whistles, but no-one comes.

One reason for this is a lack of purpose and planning. The words purpose and planning might not get you all that excited.  However, the payoff is big and worth the time.  Once you put a plan of action in place (in the form of an editorial guide), the rest starts to fall into place. The result:  growing fans and increasing engagement will not feel like work, but actually be an enjoyable experience.  Imagine that!

Below I outline how to create an editorial guide to ensure your Fan Page success.

First, Define Your Purpose

To define the purpose of your Fan Page, here are three questions to consider:

#1: Why Do You Want a Fan Page?

If the answer is, “Because everyone else has one,” you might want to rethink your direction.  What can a Fan Page do for your company that you’re not already experiencing now? What do you hope to achieve by creating this new platform?

#2: How Will Your Fan Page Differ From Your Website?

Think about what you can offer on your Fan Page that’s different from your website. Consider the factors that will keep your clients and potential clients coming back for more.  Often, the more interactive a page, the greater the success.  If all you do is create a static mini-website, you might get people to become fans, but it is unlikely they will visit often.

#3: What is Your “It” Factor?

Think about what makes your company and its employees unique.  Figure out what you bring to the table that’s different from your competitors and build on that within your Fan Page strategy.

Once you’re clear on why you want to create a Fan Page, you’re ready to create a plan of action.  You don’t just want to wing it. The Fan Page is part of your business strategy and you should approach it just as you would any other business endeavor. (But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it!)

Creating Your Editorial Guide

Here’s what to include in your editorial guide:

#1: Posting Strategy:  Decide on the Consistency of Your Posts

For the Social Media Examiner Fan Page, although we jump in and engage with our fans at all times throughout the day, we’ve designed time chunks for specific content.  In the morning we always post the most recent Social Media Examiner article.  In the afternoon we post a link to a great third-party article that we know our fans will find valuable.  And a few times a week, in the late afternoon, we post questions.  Although most questions focus on social media topics, not all of them do.

Here’s an example of a morning post of an SME blog article:

Here’s an example of a “question” post that added a little fun:

#2: Content Strategy: Decide What Type of Content You’ll Be Posting

By defining this from the start, your team will have a much easier time finding appropriate content for your page.  At Social Media Examiner, we’ve identified about 20 websites that we use regularly to find the latest and greatest in social media marketing.  Of course you can branch out and test new waters, but if you have your list of tried and true sites for great content, you’ll never be at a loss for adding value.

#3: Formatting: Define What a Post Should Look Like

Although it may seem like a no-brainer to you, it’s important to clearly define how you want your team to craft the posts.  Some Fan Page posts are conversational and relaxed; others are more informative and read like newspaper headlines to grab readers’ attention.

Define your style and document it. In addition, if you have multiple people posting, you might want to try what we do on our Fan Page. Because we have three people posting, we always end our posts with our names to allow our readers to know with whom they are talking. It makes things more friendly and personal.  Here’s an example:

#4: Engagement: How Will You Approach Fan Comments?

On the Social Media Examiner Fan Page, we make it a goal to reach out to everyone who comments on our page. We want our fans to know we are listening and interested in what they have to say.  Fans are more inclined to come back if they feel there is an even exchange of information.

Here is an example of fan engagement:

#5: Prepare For Negative or Promotional Posts

It’s common for some fans to post promotional details about their products and services to your wall. This tends to clutter the page and deters from the conversations that are happening. Define which posts are not acceptable on your page and how you will address them in advance so your team will be ready to handle any situation that comes your way.

There’s one caveat to all of this:  Your editorial guide is just that—a guide. It’s not written in stone and should be tweaked until it works for your team.  The goal is to get your Fan Page running like a well-oiled machine, while continuing to go with the flow and enjoy the constant interactions and conversations with your fans.  Your Fan Page community is sure to thrive if you spend a little time planning up front.

Now it’s your turn!  Have you already created an editorial guide for your Fan Page?  If so, how is it working for you? And if you haven’t yet, do you see the value of planning out your strategy ahead of time?  Let us know your thoughts below.