“How to” get your vanity URL and why it’s important

Just like any www website having a defined URL to your Facebook Fan page is important!
Here’s how: Once you have a minimum of 25 Likes to your page go to http://www.facebook.com/username -

Click on the Page you would like to Name, and check for the Availability! Please note, once you set your Vanity URL you can’t go back! SO make sure it is a name that you are willing to keep and share!

How to give true “Like” credit

To make sure you are giving true credit, be sure you are “Liking” pages as yourself NOT as your business page. A Like from a personal page counts, a Like from a Fan Page does not. Here is an article explaining the difference and why you should be engaging personally.

Do They Count or Not? That is the Question

How to engage with your new likes

So you’ve “Liked” them… now what? It’s vitally important to keep the connections that you have made. It’s not just about the numbers, but also about keeping them coming back. You could have 3,000 Likes, but only 3 engaged customers writing and posting on your wall, not so great.

We suggest asking questions, posting blogs and articles that will intrigue your Fans to comment and keep coming back for more. Run contests (please read the Contest section, this must be performed in a certain way to maintain your Page from being shut down), fun and inspirational quotes, facts and helpful tips to your industry or customers. All of these are interesting and engaging, if done correctly.

You may also want to create a marketing calendar and schedule these posts out to your network. We use SendSocialMedia.com to schedule all of our posts for up to three months at a time. Then we can sit back and watch over the posting and engage with the audience every day.
Remember: Social Media is a two way street, make sure you are talking with your fans not at them.

How to run a contest on your Fan Page

Contests are a great ways to create engagement with your fans and customers; however, Facebook has a very strict policy against contests being run on their turf. Don’t worry, there are ways around this.
The application we prefer to use is called WildFire, http://www.wildfireapp.com/, through this application you can set the dates you’d like the contest to run, and what you are offering. As well as collect vital information on your participants: email address (great for newsletters), City and State (if your offer is area specific), and the ability to enter questions to give you information you would like (How did you hear about our company). Images can be uploaded into the contest, lets be honest, pictures get people to read. As well as your company logo, terms of use, and privacy policy.

Don’t forget to set the age to 18 because to run a contest on Facebook participants must be 18 or older.

How to ask questions

“Are you hungry?” – “What do you think of my new shoes?” – “Why are you people not posting to my wall?” Fail. All not so great questions to be asking your Fans, faithful or not.
The objective is to ask questions to get them engaged and want to answer, not roll their eyes. (We’ve all seen those pages before)
Asking questions to your Fans is “Undercover Marketing Research” (no degree required). What do you want to know from your fans, what do you want to know about your business from the outside, etc. Remember: Even negative feedback can be positive, as long as you know how to respond and work with it.
Always answer with a smile (no need for an emoticon) and know that the feedback is being used for improvement. Two way street, people LOVE to tell businesses what they think, let them!
Take advantage of the Question Option in your status to gain insightful feedback in a fun way!

All my best,

Stephanie