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3 Reasons It’s Time for a Facebook Fan Page

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FaceBook Friend ConnectAs online marketers use social media to connect with their market, and social marketing moves more mainstream, there seems to be endless ways for companies and individuals to extend their brand, and reach. When it comes to Facebook, one must ask the question; is it time to have a Facebook Fan page?  I this post, I’ll discuss 3  reasons a Facebook fan page might be appropriate for you.

3 Reasons It’s Time for a Facebook Fan Page

A recent invitation by a friend and vendor to become friends on Facebook, again, prompted this post. You see, we were already friends, so I asked her why the second profile she replied, “I’ve been getting requests by clients to be my friend on Facebook, so I set up this profile for business clients.” That is when I suggested another approach, a fan page.  The truth is, as many invites to fan pages you might get (mine are on the rise) in Facebook, many people aren’t aware they exist or why they might need one.  Here are some considerations:

Look At Your Competition

If others in your market have fan pages, you should have one too.  If they do not have fan pages, perhaps it isn’t a place where your market hangs out (Facebook), or this is a great opportunity to get ahead of them.  If competitors do have fan pages, what is happening on their fan page?  What can you do with yours to stand out, and add value to your market?

Consider Your Facebook Personal Profile Page

If you are a soloprenuer, or home-based business,  are you attempting to use your personal profile page for real personal friends and family, to extend your business and brand, or both?  A Fan Page is a great way to draw a line in the sand between personal and business activities.  You can do both (and many did, way before fan pages became popular), but you need to go over your Facebook Privacy Settings with a fine tooth comb, as Alison Driscoll describes well here.

facebook-fan-pagesAre customers asking? Like my friend, are you being prompted by those in your market for social connections?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place with them in mind?  If you or your company has an established brand in the market, a fan page is a great way to extend it, engage your market further, and gain customers.

Your Facebook Fan Page- Have a Plan

Depending on your market the level of management and maintenance of your Facebook fan page will vary.  If you had a fan page, do you know what you will do with it?  Does it fit within an existing Facebook marketing strategy?  In order to maximize the success of the page, consider your objectives for it, and have a plan to seed it with meaningful content, so that your fans have a reason to return.  It could be as simple as adding a status update to the page on a daily basis, updating it with blog content via RSS, or having someone manage the fan page for your company or brand full time.  Hint: Avoid having a stagnant fan page, as that could work against your marketing initiatives.

Chime In? Certainly there are other thoughts surrounding creating a Facebook fan page for your business, are you wondering if a fan page is right for your brand?  What are your top concerns? What are your considerations for fan pages? Other thoughts on Fan pages?

facebook apps, facebook for business, Facebook Marketing Strategy, social marketing strategy

About Travis Campbell

Husband. Dad. Marketing automator. Author. Educating and coaching others in their online business endeavors. Here's his Google profile.

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  • Carter

    Interesting idea…I’m not a big fan of mixing my business page with my personal page, so this is a great way to avoid that! Thanks for the tip!

    • Travis Campbell

      Carter-

      You are not alone, were you aware of the fan page that Facebook offers? If you haven’t created one yet, are there other reasons you are delaying that aren’t mentioned in the post? Inquiring minds want to know :-).

  • Dave Rigotti

    I like the Facebook marketing plan. Too many people are taking on social media marketing without a plan or a clear vision as to how it should fit with current marketing efforts.

    Dave Rigotti’s last blog post..Personal productivity

    • Travis Campbell

      Dave-

      I agree, although it is normal to have a ‘getting familiar period’ to better understand the capabilities of a service like Facebook. Problem is, business minded people can get stuck in that period and not move to strategy quick enough.

  • http://www.rkstudio6.net Rachel Krage

    Travis, thanks for the post! Glad I could be an inspiration. :) I had never considered a fan page for my business before. Now that you’ve alerted me to the idea, it is one I will consider. I could see a fan page as a great way to allow conversation to occur regarding topics in my industry and inadvertently market my brand at the same time. Again, thanks for the tip (and possibly simplifying my Facebook life!)

    • Travis Campbell

      My pleasure Rachel. Facebook can be overwhelming to say the least, your move to segment with different profiles is ahead of many. Be sure to stop back and let us know how it is going with that Facebook page. Next for you, Twitter! :-)

  • http://egoist.blogspot.com Martin Lindeskog

    Travis,

    I was first thinking that a fan page was meant for celebrities, artists, etc. I have some kind of fan page for my EGO blog with an external application called NetworkedBlogs.

    I will mention this fan page post for a business contact called “Charlie Bloom” and his new blog venture called NetZpider.net. I think you could use a fan page feature for this type of business.

    Martin Lindeskog’s last blog post..LISTEN TO NEW PODCASTS

    • Travis Campbell

      Martin-

      Indeed, I think that was the original intent, fan page for celebrities, one can also be a fan of an industry leader, or a product (my wife loves Trader Joe’s, a grocery chain here in the US). NetworkedBlog is good too, but geared for blogs, and found to be a good traffic source. Some of the NetworkedBlogs
      benefits are discussed here.
      If you want to build a brand, a Facebook fan page may make sense for you and your friend.

      The MarketingProfessor.com fan page can be found at:
      http://www.FacebookFans.com

  • http://egoist.blogspot.com Martin Lindeskog

    Travis,

    Thanks for your insight. I like your reviews and posts. I am interested to learn more about Trader Joe’s. I like the name. I have to check out Trader’s Joe in Dayton when I am visiting Troy, Ohio. You have another interesting grocery story in this area called Jungle Jim’s.

    Martin Lindeskog’s last blog post..LISTEN TO NEW PODCASTS

    • Travis Campbell

      Troy is not too far from where I’m at, keep me posted on your travels (Twitter). Not heard of Jungle Jim’s sounds interesting!

  • http://egosoletrader.com Martin Lindeskog

    Travis,

    Talking about the word trader, you are welcome to come up with up with tips on how I should roll out my new site called Ego Sole Trader. :)

    • Travis Campbell

      Martin-

      Your comment spawns some ideas for a possible future post. Ping me on Twitter with that one, I have some thoughts. (I don’t want to discourage others from sharing their questions when it comes to Facebook fan pages here)

  • http://www.rkstudio6.net Rachel Krage

    What Martin said brings up a concern that was on my mind – would a fan page look too egotistical for my business? Thanks.

    • Travis Campbell

      Rachel-

      You bring up a very real issue, and one I think others wrestle with too (myself included).

      2 Aspects Here:
      1.) Marketing… do people know who you are? Do you want to brand you, or your company (or both). How can you put yourself in the best position to be found both by prospects and customers so you can dialoge in a meaningful and engaging way.
      2.) Style… it is often more about the way you do the marketing than what you do. If you make it about your customers and prospects and how you solve their problems, that has more to do with them than you, and that is what good marketing is all about.

      Acknowledging your success is fine, but like all entrepreneurs the success wouldn’t have happened unless customers took a chance with us. That alone is humbling.

      That help?

  • http://egoist.blogspot.com Martin Lindeskog

    Rachel Krage,

    As a rational egoist, I have no problem with being “egotistical” in the true philosophical meaning, if you go back to the historical root of the word Ego, meaning I (am) in Latin. You have to understand the meaning of the word I before you could do business with someone else.

    I prefer to use the word egoist because egotist has a different meaning according to Britannica:

    “(from Latin ego, “I”), in philosophy, an ethical theory holding that the good is based on the pursuit of self-interest. The word is sometimes misused for egotism, the overstressing of one’s own worth.”

    http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/180345/egoism

    Martin Lindeskog’s last blog post..LISTEN TO NEW PODCASTS

  • http://egoist.blogspot.com Martin Lindeskog

    Travis,

    Please send me a DM on Twitter so we could continue the thread on things in Ohio, FAQ post, etc.

    Martin Lindeskog’s last blog post..LISTEN TO NEW PODCASTS

  • jkvirtualoffice

    Great post on the reasons for having a Facebook fan page. As a Social Media Virtual Assistant, I set up Facebook Fan/Business pages for clients, help them identify ways to make their page unique to their brand, industry or niche. While pages do have “Fans” they are really more of a business tool that allows businesses to connect with people in a social way. I completely agree that it's important to have a strategy for why and how you will be using your Facebook page before getting started so that you can design and set up your page accordingly.

    Another good reason for a Facebook Fan/Business page is that you do get some SEO benefits from it. Also, it is important to optimize your page with a few of your keywords so that your page can be more easily found within the Facebook search feature.

  • CA Karan Batra

    Very well drafted post

    Not only is the Content gr8 , the manner in which it has been explianed is marvelous.

  • CA Karan Batra

    Very well drafted post

    Not only is the Content gr8 , the manner in which it has been explianed is marvelous.

  • http://www.denikpolitika.cz/ Klara Cikarova

    Thanks for inspiration!

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