What Makes A Facebook Fan Page Successful?

I've often been asked the following question: How do I increase my fanbase on Facebook? A couple of months ago, I shared with you my 4 Strategies for Driving Fans to My Facebook Fan Page. Increasing Facebook fanbase seems to be the most common challenge for many business owners who are on Facebook. I still continue to do the strategies I shared on that blog post. Initially, my focus was to increase my fanbase like most of you do. However, these days, I shifted my focus from quantity increase to increasing the quality of my engagement with my "fans".

I've experimented with that quite a bit and I find that whether you have a personal profile that you use for business networking or a Facebook fan page, my formula below is still the key to making your Facebook marketing successful:

Quality Content + Fan Interaction

Let me expand a little bit on this formula…

a. Quality Content
I cannot stress enough the importance of providing quality content to your fans. Whether it's a how-to, a little tip here and there, a motivational quote…anything that connects with the psychological, intellectual, and creative make-up of your "fans" or "likers." This applies to whatever industry you're in.

Here are Some Content Ideas:

- If you're in the fashion jewelry industry, provide some tips on what jewelries are best for what type of clothes.
- If you're on the Fashion industry, give some tips on what shoes, purse, and accessories may go with some clothes. Perhaps some make-up tips as well.
- If you're an author and are promoting a book, get some snippets from your book and share it to your fans.
- If you're a cook, share some recipes!
- If you're a work-at-home mom, provide some tips on how to become one.

Your content is what will draw fans to your page and what will compel your current fans to suggest your page to their friends.

b. Fan Interaction
Not only it is important to provide quality content but it's also essential that you interact with your fans. Social networking is not a one-way relationship.

With that said, here are some tips in engaging:
1. Get to know your fans. Ask any question that relate to something that they might do for a living.
2. Provide a quote and ask what their thoughts are on that.
3. On weekends, ask what their plans are.
4. Share your opinion about a certain topic in your industry and ask them to share their own.
5. Do not be afraid of sharing your personal stuff such as a pic of your dog (like I do!) or workspace, books you read, and other information that will make your fans feel a little closer to you. Do not be afraid to loosen up a little bit and open up a little bit. Fans appreciate transparency.
6. Always be energetic in your posts. If you're compelled to post a negative topic, try to shift the negative in a positive way (if that makes sense!) You don't want to send negative energy to your fans and prompt them to "Unlike" your page.

If you would like to get more ideas in engaging, I suggest that you pick two or three known brands in your niche and observe how they engage with their fans.

Take a look at Forever21 – a known brand in women's fashion. A simple question that triggered 324 likes and 316 comments!

How Do You Track the Success of Your Facebook Fan Page:

Facebook has provided a tool called Insights for Fan page admins. You can find this on the left hand side of your page (make sure that you are logged in as the administrator of your fan page). The Insights box gives you a brief overview of how many have liked your page and how many interactions you have.

When you click "See All", it takes you to an even more detailed statistics on your fan page. What I love about Insights is that it provides me with more information about my "fans" such as the age group, gender, location, and more!

By using this powerful statistics, you can improve the performance of your fan page and better direct your efforts towards things that do seem to work well with your fans. What does your Facebook Insights look like?

I will elaborate more on Facebook Insights on my next post, so stay tuned!

Until then!…

P.S: If you would really like to learn and master the strategies in Social Media Marketing to grow your business, I highly suggest checking out Mari Smith's Social Marketing Method.

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Comments (4)

Mary says:

September 14, 2010 at 10:21 AM

Excellent advice…I too find it hard to get new fans, and am always wondering what more to do. Looking forward to your next article!
my FB pages are “satisfy your senses” & ” The Diet Magic Lady .com” would love to have you stop by!

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michelle says:

September 14, 2010 at 9:10 PM

great post can’t wait for more to come
it’s always great to hear very obtainable goals and advice
thanks
michelle

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Chaplain Donna says:

September 15, 2010 at 2:40 AM

These are good insights. This is one of the areas that is challenging for me. I really want to grow my page, but it has been a slow process.
Chaplain Donna´s last [type] ..Using Your Suffering to Live a Life of Purpose- Part 2

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Kim@How To Manage Stress says:

January 30, 2012 at 6:03 AM

Lynne, I really like your ideas on this perplexing subject. I’m in the process of implementing your formula on my facebook page (www.facebook.com/laughsheal) and I just wanted to come back and offer my gratitude and testimony: my facebook page has grown and continues to grow, using your formula. Thanks!
Kim@How To Manage Stress´s last [type] ..Stress Management Through The Eyes of An Entrepreneur

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