Starting a Facebook Fan Page: Best Practices for Success

Facebook marketing is big and it's only getting bigger. It's estimated that more than 350 million people are active on Facebook and that each user spends about 55 minutes a day on the site. By using Facebook fan pages, you can expand your reach and connect with members of your market who may not be exposed to your other marketing channels. Facebook pages are the most effective way for you to get your message out and create an active hub to grow your leads, increase your presence and make more money.Starting a Facebook page is very simple. You can add one branched off of your personal Facebook account, or create a new Facebook account just for your business and launch a Facebook page off of that. In order to make your Facebook page stand out, try out the following tips.1. Update content frequently.Facebook allows page owners to use several different methods to share content. Adding fresh content on a regular basis is the best way to keep people coming back for more. Keep in mind that you should be using your wall, notes and other areas of your page to display content. It doesn't take much for you to keep the content fresh. You can make double use out of the content you post to your blog, the content you distribute and any other content you produce. Use it on your Facebook page for extra mileage.2. Engage your visitors every step of the way.New Facebook fans and old should be encouraged to participate in your Facebook fan page. As you consistently update your page, they'll have new opportunities to interact with your content. Rather than just posting "one sided" content (such as an article or list) try to engage them in the conversation. Send new visitors to a welcome landing page so they know where they are. This will give them information they need in order to become familiar with your product or approach to the market.3. Promote a contestFacebook is a terrific platform for promoting contests and contests are a great way to get people involved. Adding a contest to your Facebook fan page will also help increase your fans. Your fans will naturally tell other people about your contest and bring other fans in as well. Contests can be terrific incentives to get people to participate more with your fan page. Traffic will surge and you'll get more chances to connect with new members of your niche. 4. Give fans an interesting experience.Entertainment value reigns supreme on Facebook. If your Facebook fan page isn't entertaining, it isn't going to last long. If you can't manage to be entertaining, you need to at least give them something that they can't get from others. Creating an interesting experience for your user can be something as simple as giving an exclusive discount, or having a hot weekly tip that they can use. With the right approach, Facebook can be a major part of your online marketing approach. Use your Facebook fan page to attract more visitors and make more sales.