Scenario: You followed the official steps and created a Facebook page for yourself or your business. If you scan through popular pages with tens of thousands (or more) fans, ranging from glamorous Victoria Secret’s Pink to glitzy Harley-Davidson to simple Barack Obama–and if you keep in mind their Facebook pages did not sprout overnight into popularity, the concept is easy to mimic.
Note: I don’t refer to profiles nor groups. See the breakdown here.
Kristi “Kikolani” Hines recently questioned Facebook page promotion:
I am creating a page for a business, so I don’t want to befriend people on my personal account just to be able to “suggest” the business’ Facebook page to them. I’m not into spending my own money to advertise there either.
I manage three pages on Facebook. As of today, there are 27 fans of my business, 54 supporters of my political campaign, and 994 fans of the city of Newburyport wherein I live.
1. In the top right corner of Facebook, type in keywords relating to the business to search for related groups and pages. Focus on product and geography. Join the groups and fan the pages and add a quick blurb with a link back to the Facebook page you want to promote. Include that if anyone has a question, they can message you directly. Then, leave the groups and de-fan the pages.
2. You’re allowed to send Facebook messages to anyone, even if you’re not friends with them. Do it. All groups (and most pages) include a line in one of the sidebars indicating the creator or administrator. Message that person to promote your page, especially if there is cross-relevance. You can also message the person for their tips to emulate.
3. Cross-pollinate your Facebook page everywhere. Create a short URL for it; use http://bit.ly or http://tinyurl.com as an example. Include it in your email signature, on your blog, on the back of your business card, on a flyer tacked at the local Starbucks.
That’s the crux. The 994 fans of the unofficial Newburyport page I created did not sprout overnight. I created the page 11 months ago–and quickly posted the link on every geographical-relevant group and page in a 30-mile radius, regardless of the number of their members. I shared the link by Facebook mail and email to everyone I knew who lived, worked, or played in the city. In time, people shared the link with each other…and it went viral.
Oh yeah, I didn’t spend a penny on Facebook page promotion.
About Ari Herzog
Good tips; I’d add that garnering a vanity url is important as well (facebook.com/YourName). The trick is that for Fan pages, Facebook requires 100 fans before you can register for a custom url. Check out “100 Network” or other efforts on Facebook to help you reach that number; even if joiners don’t remain fans for long, getting your desired name is much better from a branding purpose than just relying on url shorteners.
One question, and one suggestion:
1) Why do you suggest a URL-shortener? Any facebook page can now set a custom URL, so you could promote <a href="http://www.facebook.com/denverrollerdollshttp://www.facebook.com/denverrollerdolls anywhere you wanted.
2) You can now add a “Fan box” to other web properties. That way, on your blog or web site you can display a list of your fans and even your news stream, and encourage people to “fan” your page right from there. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/developers/wizard.php?page_id=36886424669.
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As Steve comments above, pages require 100 members before a custom page name is allowed. That’s why I suggest a shortener. Also, consider the Twitter perspective where character length is important. Would you prefer to tweet http://facebook.com/denverrollerdolls (37 characters) or http://bit.ly/denrd (19 characters)?
Thanks for sharing the fan box.
Good tips, a little evil in some sense but good either way. Trying to expand my group as well. May try to hold a promotion where you have to respond on the facebook page to enter to generate people to join. Costs a few bucks but hopefully through networking can have someone sponsor the contest.
“2. You’re allowed to send Facebook messages to anyone, even if you’re not friends with them.” - if too many people do this, especially from non-friends, all you are doing is spamming other facebook users in order to promote your site.
Is there something we can do to stop UNWANTED Facebook spam messages?
Gotta love FREE information that works. Thanks for the info…
Thanks for answering my question. Those are some good ideas that I didn’t think about involving the Facebook Pages. I have done blog post promotions via groups, but now will have to give it a go with the pages too.
Thanks again!
~ Kristi
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With the pshing and hacked account problems going on with facebook these days, I think the moment people ready their facebook mail and notice a short url they’re more likely to close it rather than click on it. Even though the url may be longer, noticing facebook.com in the url gives the reader some sense of security.
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Thanks for this advice. I’ve been working on a Facebook page for the private school that I teach at… and I hope this will help us in getting some friends and support from the community.
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I presume you’ve informed your school parents (and kids and alumni) about the page?
These are some great steps to attract fans to your Facebook page. I’m going to keep them in mind when I start promoting my page. Do you manage any Myspace pages or have any tips for promoting them?