As you will no doubt be aware already, social networking sites and social media are very useful tools for promoting your product or brand. Such options aren’t instant solutions and they take a lot of time and effort to implement and to be successful.  It takes time to build a following, but if applied correctly you can use social media to drive traffic/people to your website and increase sales.

Once your have created your website and/or blog, it’s time to build a Facebook fan page. This is pretty straight forward and easy to get started. If you get stuck or want us to create it for you, please get in touch via Gator Web Design. We undertake social media campaigns on behalf of our clients, which could include just the set up and guidance or complete ongoing operation/management.

Create a Facebook profle

In order to create a Facebook fan page, you need to firstly create a Facebook personal profile. If you don’t have one – set one up, just got to the Facebook registration page. The set up is self explanatory; just fill out the information to get started and follow the different sets. You should be able to set up a basic profile in less than 15 minutes. After setting up your personal profile, spend some time looking round Facebook and getting to know the site. Have a look out some of your favorite companies’ fan pages to get an idea of how things work and to perhaps give you some inspiration.

Set up a Facebook fan page

Log into Facebook, scroll to the bottom of the page, click “Advertising,” and then click “Pages.” There is some great information here about fan pages, so read through this information and when you are finished click “Create Page.” As you go through the set up process, remember with any branding and marketing exercise, it is important to categorise and index your company in the right area to help people find you. Therefore, choose carefully!

A good thing about Facebook is the ease of its set up navigation. From here on, setting up a Facebook fan page is really about following the prompts. Rather than point out each step, I have outlined the important ones to get your Facebook marketing and branding going.

1. Image – Make sure you have a good photo or image for your page. It could be your logo is the best image for your page, but perhaps not. Think about other marketing materials and images you have. You could choose something seasonal or topical. Your goal is for your fans to see your photo or image and recognise your brand/company. However, you may also decide to use an image that may not be directly identifiable to your brand but may help draw people in. For example, a comical image might attract people and create an element of fun. Or you may choose an image of one of your products.
2. Write something about your company – See the little box under your image that says “Write something about your company”? Well do it! This is very important because this is one of the items that is visible on every tab of your Facebook fan page. You have up to 250 characters to write something interesting to attract people. It’s worth remembering that the wording can be changed whenever you like so it can be a useful way to highlight a promotion or some other news relating to your company. Make sure you include a link back to your website Don’t forget the http:// before the www. (e.g. http://www.gatorwebdesign.co.uk) in order for the link to be clickable.
3. Wall Settings – Another important tool in the set up of your Facebook fan page are the wall settings. You need to decide if you want visitors to be able to post messages for every other visitor to see or if you only want your own messages shown. Unless you are expecting a lot of negative comments, we normally suggest allowing everything to start with and see how things go. It will help you build your wall faster because people like to post messages. If the posts become out of control or unflattering, you can always delete individual posts or change the setting later. (“Wall settings” can be found under “Edit page.”)

Once you have filled in all of the basic information, you have successfully created a Facebook fan page. Don’t forget, it is easy to change at any time!

Make your Facebook fan page live

It is important to let people know about your page. This is where having an already active personal profile is useful because you can suggest your new page to any existing friends, who have already showed an interest in your company or product.

Next you need to set to work marketing your Facebook fan page. Marketing and branding takes time and effort. As with a normal website, you can’t just set up your Facebook fan page and expect people find you. Also if there’s nothing on your Facebook fan page that interests people, no one will become a fan or come back and it could create a negative impression of your brand or company. Social media is supposed to be a fun experience so your Facebook fan page should be fun too. Don’t just post interesting things about your company; try to post fun things or things to entice people to respond or post to your page. Posing questions can be a good technique as people like to share their thoughts and opinions.

Posting links and/or images are a good way to get people interested; they eyecatching and more visually appealing so people tend to be drawn to them more than just text. Adding links to your website has the added benefits of assisting with your SEO/link building and brings people to your website to find out more information. Good practice is to post to your Facebook fan page every time you update your blog – give a summary of the article and link to your blog article. (In a future article, I will tell you how you can automatic post to Facebook from your WordPress blog).

Don’t forget that the main reason you have a Facebook fan page is to assist with your branding and marketing strategy. So, it is useful to post relevant items and links relating to your field or industry and not necessarily just your company. For example if you are promoting a rugby club, you might want to include links to sports shops, rugby related trips, training drills, and other useful rugby related links. That way you can get repeat visitors to your Facebook fan page if your page is a useful reference point and people are likely to tell others of your Facebook fan page and company.

I have detailed the basic features of a Facebook fan page, but you will soon realise that there are many more things and apps you can add to your fan page.  For now, however,  I would suggest that you master the basics and build up your friends list/fan base. Don’t forget to mention and link to your Facebook fan page from you website and on Twitter tweets.

As mentioned early Gator Web Design undertakes Facebook fan page strategies for its clients. This could be setting up your Facebook account and giving instructions or actively managing a long term Facebook or other social media campaigns.

D Robinson Gator Web Design, part of Gator Industries Limited, UK.