10 Facebook Fan Page Tips for Creative Entrepreneurs

.

.

About a month ago I finally created a Fan Page for Creative Web Biz  on Facebook (if you aren’t a fan yet, head on over and check it out!). During the process I learned some things I would like to share, as I know that some of you will find this information useful.

1. Create a Fan Page:

First things first.  If you don’t have a fan page yet, go and create one now! Fan pages are a great way to promote your Creative web Biz.

2. Set Your Username:

Facebook finally implemented urls based on usernames. Most of you will have set the url for their private profiles already, but you might not have done it  for your fan- or business page yet.  Both can be set here. Please note that you need to have 100 fans before you can get your url. If you don’t have that many fans yet, proceed to step three first.

3. Page Badge :

A simple Facebook badge can be found on your page admin screen at the end of the right sidebar . Click the badge link and you will get a snippet of code to copy and paste. You can see an example in the sidebar of my Facebook profile. A second badge and guidelines on how to and how not to promote your fan page can be found here.

4. FanBox:

A more interactive way to promote your page is the new Fan Box which can look as simple as the one you can see in the sidebar of my blog (under ‘join me’) but it can also include your latest updates (pictures, videos and all) and also display your fans (see below). To get one go to your page admin screen and find the link in your right sidebar under ‘promote your page’.

5. Facebook Marketing Solutions:

Facebook Marketing Solutions is fan page run by Facebook employees that ‘helps (brand) marketers share with users and create movements on Facebook’ .  They provide news and info on how to market your brand on Facebook. Become a fan to get updates!

6. NetworkedBlogs:

NetworkedBlogs is a very useful application on Facebook. It will import your blog feed to your private profile as well as to your fan page  and into the news streams of your friends and fans. In has it’s own tab which shows your latest blog posts and will let people follow your blog right inside Facebook. See it in action on the Kabai33 Fan Page.

7. Twitter for Pages:

Another app I use is ‘Twitter for Pages‘ by Involver. It adds a tab to my page which displays my last 20 tweets. However, it does not update your status (unless you pay), so if you want to do that you should also get the official Twitter app which will do just that.

8. Live Stream Box:

During the 2009 US Presidential Inauguration, Facebook tested a new feature that let people share Facebook status updates and comments side by side with real-time streaming video on CNN’s website. Now this feature is made public. The  Facebook Live Stream Box is easy to install and takes just a minute to set up. You can include a Live Stream Box anywhere on the Web, or within your Facebook Page, or a Facebook application.

Both Justin.tv and UStream.tv have developed apps to help you do this. You will have to apply to use the one by UStream but Live (byJustin.tv) is ready and as easy to use as any other Facebook app. Check it out!

9. Find more apps for your page:

To find more apps that work on fan pages (not all do) go to the application directory,  click on ‘all apps’  and then on ‘pages’.

10. Facebook Ads:

Promote your page with Facebook ads. To do so you only need to go to your page admin screen and click the green  ‘promote your page’ button in the upper right hand corner. This will take take you to a screen where you can input a title, body text and an optional image (default is your page profile pic).  For more info go to the Facebook Ads Help Ceter.

11. Don’t forget to become a fan of  Creative Web Biz on Facebook 

12. Get a custom tab for your page (updated August, 16th 2010)

Add advanced functionality to your page using the Facebook Static FBML application. This application will add a tab to your page in which you can render HTML or FBML (Facebook Markup Language) for enhanced page customization. This way you can add a newsletter sign up form or any other special info.

.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 3:36 pm. It is filed under Tips and tagged with creative web biz, facebook, social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.