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.
John,
The idea is not to actually pull in an RSS feed but us an RSS app in Facebook as it doesn’t add Nofollow.
What you need to do is create an XML file with a list of optimised links pointing where you want them to go – This will be your feed, so no real content on it just a list of links. Upload the XML onto your web server.
Add an app to to Facebook called Simply RSS and then point the feed to the XML file you’ve just created – this will give you a list of optimised, followed links.
Adam,
OK, what does the XML file look like? Can you give a brief example. BTW, what is an “optimised link”. Sorry if I don’t get the SEO terms.
Thanks!
Have a look at this:
http://www.noporkpies.com/testfeed.xml
copy source code and change the information as required, then save it as an .xml and upload it onto your server. Then link to it with simply RSS
By optimised link i mean optimised anchor text – so the text you want your site to rank for. For instance in my example above i have used ‘search engine optimisation’ so that text will help my landing page – noporkpies.com rank for that search term.
Just so you are aware this isn’t going to give you site a massive boost unless you build up and get links to your Facebook page as well
Good info, thanks for sharing. I just set up a page for my company, Optimum Body Sculpting. It is still in progress, but I think that it gives my business some good exposure.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Woodstock-GA/Optimum-Body-Sculpting/49291533554
this was the most helpful. thanks
Dave – thanks for the ideas! I recently set up my page under “Jane Hunt Art” and now realize it’s not really searchable in my catagory (art). Does anyone know if it’s possible to change or add info to the name? I’ve searched everywhere and e-mailed facebook but never heard back.
Thanks,
Jane
http://www.janehuntart.com
I am still trying to create a fan page for our site. Look at our group.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=50309786558
awesome article man…i got many awareness from it. then i look back to facebook to know many about it. it’s really cool…
found that many big brand trying to meet their fortune on facebook today…hope i can do so soon.
Had a page for a short while now and it’s been great for connecting with people interested in my paintings:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kristi-Taylor/35515736231
become a fan on my page and I will do the same
The big problem with the fan page is creating awareness of it. You can’t request or invite fans – which to me completely limits the possibilities of reaching new people.
I think Facebook needs to reconsider that – I know they get complaints from people saying they’re getting spammed – but a friend/fan request is up to them to confirm or deny – so I fail to see the problem.
Guys I need your help, I created a page on facebook, called Bob Baker Subaru. I cannot figure out for the life of me how to create a direct link to that page? I am looking at the above links and they directley to the facebook page that is what I want mine to do. I have tried everything, what am I missing?
Is there something in settings or what I need your help Please.
Alvin,
You can buy any available url (the is the address ie http://www.something.com) I like godaddy ($6-10 a year depending on address you choose). You can then use their wesite forwarding feature to have it go directly to your facebook page, or you can buy a hosting credit ($6+ a month) to build a wesite that you can then have a link to your facebook fanpage on.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Princeton-MN/Northwoods-Animal-Hospital/155110637610?ref=ts
Love your article! Is there a way to post your email address as a link on a Facebook Page? I can’t quite figure out how to do it? Or perhaps that isn’t supported just yet?
http://companies.to/careergenie/
If you visit my page, I’d love to have you join as a fan! I’ll be posting articles and podcasts on everything career related.
Thanks!
I think I have seen 4 people post the same question but no answer. The question is how do you add a link on your website to your Facebook fan page? Help Please
One thing that I have done is taken the HTML code from my Blogger.com widget that the service offers when you want to put up a Facebook fan page banner onto your blog site. But you can actually use the code anywhere on your own web site! Simply adjust the Facebook fan page URL and title to your own fan page…and viola! Hope this helps!
Here’s the HTML code:
FB.init(“1c2b7ea5918581fa37785ed8df5cf32d”);NAME OF YOUR FAN PAGE GOES HERE
The HTML code won’t paste into this window…I saw my response and it is cut off…so sorry.
Another suggestion is to find a web site that has a fan page banner (or any banner that you like) and change the information to your own and paste the HTML code wherever you want on your site. It will show up beautifully and with a live feed from your Facebook fan page. Just a little trick I use!
it’s really a good post.i wish if the facebook were follow link site.but,it ca still make one’s site to a extream popular site.
Can you clarify this for me? Will I need to setup a profile first before I create a Page?
thanks!
Amanda
In order to create a Facebook fan page, you do not need to have a Facebook profile of your own. Simply go to their home page and click on the little link that asks you if you want to create a fan page for an organization, band, or company and get started!
The only thing that is difficult about the fan pages is there is no way to get friends right away unless you have a personal profile and can share your fan page with your existing group of friends so they become fans.
To promote your fan page, however, you can blog about it and link back to it, do Web 2.0 sites with links to it, or pay Facebook for a small ad on their site.
One of the advantages of having a fan page over a group is that Facebook offers fan pages a free banner/promotional box to post on their blog site or web page to promote it. If you were to create a “group” instead, there is no way to get that from Facebook all nice and pre-made for you unless you pay for advertising.
If you do end up creating your own Facebook personal profile, just know that your personal profile will forever be linked to that page and when you friend people, it will be in YOUR profile, not in the fan page’s profile. So think twice before going that route :-)
Hope this helped and enjoy your new fan page!
-Kim, social media marketer
Kim,
Read your response, im not a facebook user, and interested in it, and linking to my site. You mention the free blog on facebook page, how does this expose your company
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for your question! Facebook is super easy to get started, and for your business, it is an essential part of success. Twitter is something I recommend getting started on ASAP as well.
Blog sites that are free are nearly endless, but my favorites are WordPress and Blogger. You can go to those sites today and have a blog site up in less than 5 minutes after choosing a template you like and entering in some basic profile information. The best way to have a blog going is to buy a domain name with your keywords in the domain name and then simply point your blog to your domain (you need to buy hosting to do this).
What I like to do with Facebook and my blogs is to post my blog content (new blog entries) right into my Facebook wall. You can do this with any of a number of social media posting sites such as TrafficBug, Ping.fm…just to name a few. These sites make it easy to have one simple place where you paste in a short headline and your blog entry URL and it will automatically shorten your URL to make it fit into Twitter, for example, where a 140 character limit is placed on what you post to others.
Your facebook fan page will serve to promote your business when people search for products or topics related to your site’s business niche on Facebook and Twitter. From there, they can friend you (Facebook) or Follow you (Twitter) and get updates on everything you have to say (blog entry links, free giveaways, free shipping offers, etc).
This is how people find you…how to get them to buy from you is to consistently provide them with quality content and information, enticing offers (but not too many or you’ll be selling “at” them), and regular conversation with you friends and followers to engage them.
And that’s what social media is all about for a business!
Let me know if you have any other questions; I am happy to help!
Kim
Hi, i have a facebook page that I created a while back and was wondering if I can turn it into a fan page. Or do i have to shut down the existing account and create a new one as a fan page? that may be difficult since i have over 200 friends right now. any suggestions?
-Hudson River Orthodontics
I just built a facebook page, close to 100 fans in a few days – working well so far… check it – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zeduction-Photography/70445568485
great article!
Speaking of which I create this facebook fan page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Hate-Mondays-Club/73694282503?ref=mf
very good post
Very nice Post
Thx for the blog post
Good info. thx for this post
Hei, that’s great
great post. I’ve created a fan page for axlsoftwares.com
good post. Thank you
I wondered why I needed a Fan page or if having a regular profile for my page was better. I do have a fan page but I also have a personal profile page and I tend to forget about my fan page. It made me wonder if I should just put my business on a regular profile page instead.
You just explained the reason for keeping it the way it is. Thanks so much. Would you mind if I posted your article on my blog?
Great idea! Had a facebook page for a while, but could never really see the point of it. The fan page is great though, for both search engines, and the viral way it spreads through other people’s facebook feeds.
Been working on my fan page, adding pix, videos and events form my ongoing challenge to complete 100 goals in 100 weeks.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/100goals-Ian-Usher/94507724241
http://www.youtube.com/codythepitbull
Great post, I decided to get with the programme and create a fan page, I noticed some of my favourite shops had one but wasn’t sure whether to try it out initially, these testimonials both poisitive and negative helped me make my min up.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/JJs-Dolly-Rockers/89301179228
My photography fan page has been growing quickly since installing. I shoot weddings and using the word of mouth recommendations from the bride to all her friends to join my page has been WORKING. Plus tagging their photos draws people in. Weddings have a huge audience to draw from. You can see my page here: http://www.facebook.com/louisvilleweddingphotographer
Ive used my fanpage to promote my colourful abstract paintings with jamaican south coast sparkling black sand.
Exciting! I plan to cross link with my website. I would recommend it for others. I have even found business contacts on FB!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/G-C-Gunter/107618627195
is the page.
oh great.. thanks..
question: I created a facebook page, nearly immediately I received ‘friend requests’ only to realize what I needed was a ‘fan’ page.
Is there a way to change a pre existing page, new as it is, to a fan page???
Thanks
Nice Post… i’ll use ur advice for Ahmedabad Community‘s page…
Thanks
Two questions please –
1–Can I make a Fan Page and not “publish” it until I am finished with it?
2–Can I use HTML on the Fan Page?
Thanks
Great post! I’m trying to build my fan page for my handmade jewelry. I just need to remember to keep updating it. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlanta-GA/Jewelicide-Allysin-Jewelry/115698540473?ref=share
checkout my Breakit Group http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=117967972806&ref=ts
I’ve established a site for our business already. How do I have people become “fans”? The process is a mystery…
I have made a website for used cars and bikes http://www.motors.pk and its fan page at: http://www.facebook.com/motorspk. I have tried to implement best practices and its going good. Any suggestions and comments r welcomed. thanks..
@Fenton..
You can put your facebook page link in your website with a title “follow us at facebook” or something like that.. Also invite your friends to your facebook fanpage.. and if you are willing to spend some money, then you can use facebook ads to promote your fan page..
1. you create a link to your facebook fan page like you would any other hyperlink. throw an “a href” in.
2. the fan page helps when you have over 5000 friends… the limit on a regular page
I have created a fanpage for my wedding photography business http://helencawtephotography.com and http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Helen-Cawte-Photography/159834936072?ref=ts BUT how do I make a facebook logo link that I can put on my website linking back to my fanpage??
Hi All,
Thanks for the many good comments and questions. We have a FB page for our children’s eco-band. (My personal name is Monica, by the way.) It seems so weird to me that the page won’t let me “see all” of the fans. I mean they are our fans, right? I know I can’t search for people (like a personal page can) but why can’t I even see our fans?
Any ideas? Or ideas of how to change this?
Thanks so much.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Banana-Slug-String-Band/161689565850#/pages/Banana-Slug-String-Band/161689565850?v=wall
Wil create one for my blog right now..
The link to my business Facebook page is lengthy and drawn out with numerous characters. How do you get the link to be simply: “www.facebook.com/mybusiness”? I see a lot of businesses have them, but if I cut and paste the URL from the browser, it’s about 100 characters. Looked all over and can’t seem to figure this out. Thanks!
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has figured out how to see exactly when a fan joined your Facebook page.
Thanks & God Bless!
http://www.facebook.com/nubranchliving
I couldn’t get a single site offering assistance on how to add customize Fan Page badge to integrate to my webpage..Can anyone help me out..
Thanks
Cheers!
There's an APP for that,,,, go to Applications in Facebook and Look for the Like Button ( or do a search) you aren't allowed to have a Fan Box until you reach a certain number.
Is there any way to know who created a specific fan page? For example in groups it’s clearly stated who is officer, admin etc. However that is not the case with fan pages – but is there a way to find out anyway? Withouth asking on the discussion board and hope that he, or she, reveals himself?
Additionally, it is important to consider the keywords you post in your updates. Indexing and ranking for your most highly targeted keywords is something you’ll want to do.
does anyone know how to get the BECOME A FAN LOGO on their business facebook page
I also need to know ASAP if there is a way to turn my existing page (almost 5000 friends!) into a fan page so that I DONT lose my existing ‘friends’! Is there a way????
It is very difficult for me to increase friends on my fan page. But i am trying.
Hope i will complete 1000 friends.
Hi,
Thanks for the informative article. It inspired me to create our fan page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soni-Motors-Thailand/268547739016. I would love any feedback on how to make it sticky so customers and fans can attract other fans. Are there any other auto dealer fan sites that have been done well.
Thanks,
Regards,
John
I also need to know ASAP if there is a way to turn my existing page (almost 5000 friends!) into a fan page so that I DONT lose my existing ‘friends’! Is there a way????
Unfortunately, there is no way to “migrate” your personal profile friends in one fell swoop to your new fan page. That would violate people’s ability to pick and choose which pages to become fans of…and Facebook is all ,about “friending” and “fanning” right?
That said, the best way for you to go about doing this is to create your fan page and once it’s done post a message on your personal profile wall to your 5000 friends inviting them to join. You can also follow up in a week by going to your inbox and sending a mass message to your 5000 friends, inviting them to join your new fan page (don’t forget to include a link to your fan page in every communication you send). If this is a special interest type of fan page, don’t expect every one of your friends to be interested enough to join. However, you can entice them to see what it’s all about by offering something for free (a free eBook, written “report” or video) to peak their curiosity.
Hope it works out well for you! Let us know how it goes :-) Oh, and don’t forget to make a fan badge for your blog site and web site so that others can click in and join your fan page from those places! It’s free and Facebook provides you with the HTML code and everything!
This is completely true. Facebook and SEO for Facebook is becoming a bigger factor in success of a business.
Hi,
I’m trying to create a link to my business page on facebook, from my website. You cannot create a “badge” on a business page. How do I do this?
thanks,
Lana
Nice piece David great synopsis of the reason to have a Facebook Fan page, I have emailed the article to a few friends and added it to my websites social networking news. Thanks Niall
great stuff… does anyone know a way to automatically have stuff written on my personal wall be sent to my fan page?
Great post. I’m now realizing the importance of social media in promoting my business despite earlier resistance. Thanks for this post and the link to make it easy. I literally clicked the link, and came back to post this comment. Thanks
How does one acquire fans expeditiously, without imposing on folks?
How does one add more information to the info panel on the left of a Facebook fanpage. When I try to edit the info area, I’m only given the option of adding a ‘founded’ date. I would like to add more details like a web address, contact phone number etc.
http://www.thefitnesscentral.com *Where Fitness Is Easy*
“Facebook for Dummies” is really a helpful book and includes chapters relating to Facebook for businesses and Facebook pages.
I just set up my page. I'm still learning, so any tips are much appreciated (as are new fans):
http://www.facebook.com/pages/puci/71234733824