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Creating and Optimizing a Facebook Fanpage For Success
By Robert Roundtree

Just about everyone and their mother is on Facebook. Last count had the total number of users somewhere around 300 million plus. The number of Facebook users is expected to continue to grow rapidly. A great way to further extend your network and engage your audience is through a Facebook fanpage. Facebook fanpage's allow users a place to go and interact within a brand that they like. Having a fanpage that provides a lot of quality content and that is easy to navigate will help improve your status as an expert and create value. It is really easy to get a fanpage started just go to Facebook dot com/pages/createdotphp and follow the steps to create one.

Creating a fanpage will further your status as an expert in your field. Fanpage's are great ways to let fans know about what is going on with your brand. There are no limitations on how many people you can email at once from your fanpage. You use the update fans feature to automatically send out a message to all of your fans. Building trust among your following is a key for success and a fanpage is the beginning of this. Having a place where people can go and voice their opinions is a great way to build trust. Learning how to start a Facebook fanpage can be somewhat hard if you do not know where to go. Just remember to follow the link that I provided and you will be well on your way to a fanpage that succeeds.

So your fanpage is up. Now what? Well there are literally tons of ways to extend the functionality of the page. I would like to start with something simple like a discussion. Discussions allow users to actively participate in an ongoing discussion that you start directly on your fanpage. Why is this great? It means that while people are talking about a topic that interests them they are constantly seeing your brand. Click on the discussions tab at the top of your fanpage and a new window will open. At the top right there will be a button that says start a new topic. Click on the button and a new screen will open. You have the title and comment section. Discussions are great ways to talk about a controversial subject or idea. Use discussion topics as a way to gauge the pulse of your network and keep up with their latest ideas and concerns. Be very open with your discussions. Discussions are also a great place to ask fans on your fanpage what they want to talk about. A lot of times you will be surprised to see that the topics you felt were so hot, were in fact cold as ice. It may take some time to figure out you're your audience likes and dislikes. Trust me no one hit it out of the park the first time, and if they did it was beginners luck. It will be a process of trial and error, after a while you will have a good grasp on the topics that will get a great response from your following. Just because someone else is talking about it and their followers like it does not mean the same will be true for you. Pay attention to your fans and you will reap the benefits. Another great way to extend the functionality of your fanpage is by adding a poll.

A poll is a great tool that should be used to filter out the stuff your fans don't want to talk about. I once ran a poll to see what my fans felt the best topic of the week was. Guess what? It was not the one I spent three hours writing and rewriting. Fans want their voices to be heard and there is no better way than a Facebook fanpage. It provides a central location for people to go and discuss topics that are relevant to your brand. Pay attention to what people are saying, and never ever hide a comment that someone leaves no matter how bad. Why am I telling you to not hide a potentially damaging comment? It's real simple. If someone leaves a comment about a bad experience within your fanpage only to see it disappear they will certainly let everyone know. Your brand will come off as untrustworthy and in a matter of days, sometimes hours your fans may begin to flock elsewhere. The new web 2.0 era of the internet has put the power where it belongs, in the end users hands. People have the choice to go where ever they want and read whatever they want. Being a trusted expert in your field will only help attract people. Having polls that your fans can vote on will help build trust with your brand, especially if you are unafraid to take polls that may shed yourself in a not so good light. For instance a poll "Which article should I remove Immediately" will probably get a good response, and should you follow through with the fan suggestion it will instantly give you credibility. A lot of people on the internet are scam artists and will say anything to get an initial sale. What we want to do is create value, and trust, and the sales will come. Discussions and polls are great ways to get fans to interact on your page, and build trust. Other great ways to involve your fans is through the use of a custom tab created using FBML.

FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language. It is similar to HTML and will allow you to create highly customized sections of your Facebook fanpage. I recommend using this section to have an opt-in offer for a free product. This is great because it will allow users to access a product that you created for free in return for their email information. Having free stuff for users to download, read, view etc.. is key to building your brand and authority within your niche. If someone downloads what you are offering for free and likes it there is a high likelihood that they will be interested in any paid products or services you have. The possibilities for using FBML are endless and can be explored in more depth here. If you are not familiar with any type of coding then have your developer create something for you. You should have all of your website's content linked to your Facebook page. You can do this by simply adding the link to your status update. Also any videos you have should be added to the videos section. Having a lot of relevant content on your page will only increase your value and the likelihood that people will follow your links to your website. The last thing we need to cover is how to get people to be your fan on Facebook.

The easiest and most effective way is by suggesting your page to your current friends. The first thing to do is send a suggestion to your friends and ask them to join your page. Also anytime you are offered suggestions on Facebook for friends check the users profile and add them if they look like a good match for your network. As your following increases so will the amount of suggestions you receive. Do not always add every friend suggestion because Facebook will start to think you are up to no good. A good number is about ten at a time. You can do this a couple of times a day without arousing any suspicions. Also make sure that you have a fanpage badge displayed on your blog, and on your twitter backgrounds. This will allow visitors to either page an easy outlet to join your fanpage. You may also promote your page with an ad on Facebook, and this can be highly effective. Make sure that your advertisement has a great call to action that would encourage people to follow. If your advertisement does not make you want to click on it then toss it and come up with something that does. Use these steps that I have outlined above and your well on your way to a Facebook page and a great following.

About the Author:
Robert Roundtree. Check out my blog with more articles at http://www.gainesvilledetailing.com