When Facebook announced the Fan pages, there were a number of mixed reviews. Some where hailing it and its integration to the new advertising platform and some hated it – claiming it was turning Facebook into Myspace. Whatever your stance is, here are 6 reasons you need to make a Facebook page for your website or company now.
1. Pages are public. Most of Facebook is behind a login, preventing search engines from indexing. However, some Fan pages are not behind a login and thus search engines can index the page. Hopefully, people will stumble on the result in SERPs, visit the Facebook page, and then get to your site via the link (see reason #2).
2. Pages include links. Because the pages are public, you can get some nice facebook.com link credit. You can’t use an anchor text, but hey, it’s free.
3. Send “updates to fans”. One of the greatest features is that you can send “updates” to fans whenever you want. It’s a nice way of building a database of interested users. Send messages about new products, updated website, etc.
4. You control the page. Making the page before a Fan or a competitor is critical. You want to be able to send the messages, edit or remove sections, and control the information to an extent.
5. News feed. When a someone joins a Fan page, it’s published in their News feed for all their to read (unless they have turned this off). It makes someone joining your Fan page somewhat viral.
6. It’s free and easy. Making a Fan page takes just a few minutes – add some information, URL, and upload the logo and you’re done. You can make your page
here.
Dave Rigotti is the owner of Freezing Hot, an internet marketing company which specializes in seo and paid search management for small businesses.
Comments
31 responses so far ↓
Mark on Nov 12, 2007 at 3:55 pm
good post, we are discussing it on (where else?!) the FacebookEconomy.com fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=8431870131&ref=mf
TJ Max on Nov 12, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Links are link condomed which is like having pagerank flirtations with a plastic Google Babe.
DJ Nelson on Nov 12, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Thanks for pointing out this feature as I hadn’t noticed it yet but I sure will be glad when marketers “get” facebook. Maybe one day they will but for now I’ll just sit back, watch, and shake my head.
CVOS man on Nov 12, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Excellent idea, I took your advice and started my profile. It was a simple process that took 5 minutes.
Link Building Pro on Nov 12, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Darn, I might just have to break down and do something on Facebook. Too many social sites, not enough time.
VitaiminCM on Nov 12, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Great idea. I just set one up for my site.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6870683599
I have to flesh it out a little bit, but I think it will be helpful.
Mark Fulton on Nov 13, 2007 at 12:35 am
Great news! This seems like it’s an excellent opportunity to promote a blog. I have set up a page for mine, DotSauce Domain News:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=20233591656
I don’t really like the link text “Add to My Products” as a way of being a fan on my page… but hopefully people will catch on.
Jab on Nov 13, 2007 at 5:54 am
With a little help of my friend Mark,…I made it through the setup process and started my own. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6284308996
Tuni&G on Nov 13, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Great idea thanks for the tips. already setup mine at
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=14198525061
3daysleep on Nov 13, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Thanks for posting this article, have created mine
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5731108429
The City Desk on Nov 14, 2007 at 1:44 pm
What’s better though? A group or a fan page? I went the group route, because I’d like the people who write for my weblog-fiction-type-thing to also be able to writer their own content over there-
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5350508753
Dave Rigotti on Nov 14, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Wow, thanks for the great response everyone.
I think pages and groups need to be ran together. Group is well, a group and a page is an endorsement/testimonial.
letrodectus on Nov 14, 2007 at 4:48 pm
wow! thats awesome, thanks for the info, gone making one for my blog :)
Seni Thomas on Nov 15, 2007 at 11:13 am
Dave,
Interesting thoughts. Personally I believe that the most powerful aspect of Fan Pages is to create conversation conduits with consumers. Although, I agree with some of your points I feel that you are still taking a destination stance vs. a conversation hub.
Here are my thoughts more fleshed out:
http://senithomas.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/facebook-fan-pages-guide-destinations-vs-collaborative-conversation-spaces/
Elpie on Nov 17, 2007 at 9:35 am
Working with the development of free, open source software brings challenges in community building. I wasn’t convinced that facebook would be a useful tool, but got talked into it.
Mambo, the CMS, has created its page (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=14050715716) and now also has a group. It will be interesting to see if the work involved in upkeep is outweighed by the advantages to facilitating community building. Of course, SE benefits are nice to have too!
mini.sid on Nov 18, 2007 at 2:43 am
Thanks for the advice, when I set up the company page, I wasn’t sure if it was the thing to do or not. Now I know it was.
Also, I wasn’t sure to make a company group page or product page, since we are manufacturers, so I did both.
Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5917908183
Product/Service: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5820397374
I’ve updated with photos of our products and links to downloads of free white papers. Great advice!
Essay for College on Nov 21, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Great article, but are you sure you get link love or does facebook no a No Follow on their code like Craigslist.
Rob
http://www.essayforcollege.com
Dave Rigotti on Nov 21, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Nice catch Rob. I had forgotten to check, but after doing so it is attributed “nofollow”.
To keep positive, hopefully someone will click the link or maybe the FB page will get indexed and ranked.
abhishek on Nov 24, 2007 at 6:32 am
check out mine at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5681154300
i have got few fans now but no commercial gain so far :) anyways i love facebook and will keep adding more and more to this page
Aaron Short on Nov 29, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Can you please tell me how to have a url for my facebook artist page. For example Dave Matthews Band are www.facebook.com/davematthewsband
Dave Rigotti on Nov 29, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Aaron,
Thank you for the comment. I’m not sure, but if I had to guess, it’s something you have to pay for.
Alexey on Nov 30, 2007 at 12:19 pm
There is a major drawback of these pages as they cannot be connected to existing groups. A lot of organizations already have groups and networks at Facebook but how can they be linked to their new profile pages?
Dave Rigotti on Nov 30, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Alexey,
Just have both!
jackliyn on Dec 14, 2007 at 9:08 pm
ChrisBrown is my number one fan.He is the fan above of every fan.
From
2cute
Adi on Dec 18, 2007 at 9:17 am
I’ve started a fan page for my environment portal and they offer some nice features but promoting it is quite tricky. With groups you can invite all of your friends but with pages this feature is disabled.
How are people promoting their pages?
Mungo on Jan 13, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I set up a fan page for my camping blog on Blogger - Mungo Says Bah! This is excellent, hoping to see some traffic to it…
Mungo Says Bah Fan Page
Thanks for this excellent post!
Mungo
Hammer on Jan 23, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I can’t say that I see a compelling reason anywhere in that list.
Mungo on Jan 23, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I’d say the only compelling reason I can think of to make a fanpage for your web site is to continually remind your ‘friends’ that you are a fan (of your own page) and that way when they sign up, it spreads the word.
Mungo
Search Engine Optimisation Jobs on Jan 24, 2008 at 5:23 am
Fan pages could bring a lot of traffic to your site or genearlly raise awareness. However from an SEO point of view, the links in Facebook are “not followed”.
Dan Bishop on Feb 15, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Great post! thanks :)
Peter on May 8, 2008 at 6:07 pm
This is almost the same conversation that I found on the other site. Ah well, too bad about all that Facebook stuff, but I like what this guy said:
also has a group. It will be interesting to see if the work involved in upkeep is outweighed by the advantages to facilitating community building. Of course, SE benefits are nice to have too! http://www.blowjob-milf.com
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