Tonight I spent just under an hour upgrading the Facebook presence for one of my favorite sites, Kayaking.org. With over 200 fans now it was time to really take the Fan Page to the next level and this is only the beginning. In most cases this isn’t something I’d share on my blog, it’s just things I’m doing behind the scenes. Lately I’ve seen a lot of interest in Facebook-related posts so I thought I’d throw this in.
First let me be clear with my goals for my Facebook Fan Page. The goal of a Fan Page is to drive more traffic to your domain and engage and interact with a targeted audience online. There is no reason to think that at fan page would ever replace a domain, it can’t, won’t, and really isn’t intended to so get that out of your mind. The fact of the matter is that there are tons of people who love kayaking on Facebook and while some of them find my site through other means many of them wouldn’t know my site existed without Facebook.
Before I give you my three tips I thought I would show you the actual Facebook Fan page I worked on today.
I have used FBML to create two pages – one that is the initial page people are greeted with and the other announcing my new contest.
Immediately I have more to offer than just about 90% of the Fan Pages out there. Rather than just a boring info page with information about who I am and what my site is about I actually have a basic webpage. I thought it would be a good idea to allow people to easily access some of the most-used features on the site so included these on the landing page as well.
This whole process just under an hour and as long as you have some basic HTML skills you’ll be ready to rock! Follow these three steps below and you can have a Fan Page that stands-out in a crowd:
- Pick a Good Username – We’re all Domainers so this step is easy…unless of course someone has the name of your dreams. There is no .com, .net, or .org in Facebook land – if you get the name you want, it’s yours forever, or as long as Facebook is around. If you’d like to assign a username to one of your pages (do it quickly, more are disappearing by the day) you can simply go to Facebook.com/username.
- Create Custom Pages – FBML may sound intimidating but it’s not. All you need to do is select “Apps” from the “Edit Page” section and you’ll see FBML right there. By adding a preview of your site and popular links that go directly to your domain you are not only building you brand but creating a new traffic source.
- Run a Contest – There’s no better way to get people excited online or offline than free stuff. I’m giving away an iPod once I reach 1,000 followers and this encourages Kayakers to check-out my fan page and join in the fun!
So if you’re still trying to figure-out this whole Facebook thing, stop trying and start doing. Facebook is actually quite easy to use and a Facebook Page can help you capture more traffic which means more money, and we all like that right?
