Facebook Fan Page Best Practices

Configure your Page’s “Settings” to allow more participation.

The new Facebook Pages that launched in March 2009 were designed to encourage more action and participation by your fans. The old design had very little wall posts or discussions. People became a “fan” and sporadically read “Updates” and that was it. The new Pages have demonstrated to be a much better at inspiring online conversations around your company’s event and programs.

The capability to build community is vital in order to have a return on your investment when via social networking sites, and you cannot build community on Facebook if you don’t allow your fans to participate on your Page.

To allow maximum participation on your Facebook Page, go to “Settings” on the home view under the “Share” button and:

View Settings:

1. Default View for Wall :: Posts by Page and Fans
2. Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else :: Wall or Custom Tab
3. Auto-Expand Comments :: Check

Fan Permissions:

• Check :: Fans can write on the wall
• Check :: Allow fans to post photos
• Check :: Allow fans to post videos
• Check :: Allow fans to post links

Use your company’s logo as your Page picture.

Your company’s avatar has never had more worth than it does in the Era of Social Media. People will recognize your logo from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, and Flickr before they even they even see your profile name. Make sure the use of your logo/avatar is consistent on all your social networking profiles. Facebook’s lets you display a rectangular image no wider than 200 pixels while showing avatars of 50×50 pixels elsewhere. Recommendation: bearing in mind how profile-heavy Facebook is, use an image of 200×200 pixels for maximum recognition.

Put “http://” before all Web sites in “Updates”.

“Updates” are similar to e-mails that you can send to your fans inside of Facebook. Make sure that you have the “http://” in front of all Web site URLs [such as http://www.apple.com] that you list in your Update so that the link is automatically hyperlinked so that individuals can visit the website with one simple click. You’d be surprised how few Page Admins know this little trick. People will not copy and paste www.apple.com into their browser for example, thus you are losing a valuable opportunity to increase your Web site traffic via Facebook Updates.

Add and use the “Links” App to get your company to show up in “News Feeds”.

For your comapany to show up in the primary News Feeds of your Fans, you need to add the Links App to your Page and post links when updating/sharing “What’s on your mind?”. Once you add the App, you will notice the ability to add/post links (to your web site, blog, MySpace Page, Twitter profile, etc.) when communicating what’s on your mind and these links will show up in the News Feeds of your fans.

Ask questions to spark conversation and activity on your Page.

The new Facebook Pages were built to inspire more activity on the part of your fans. A good strategy is to use the “What’s on your mind?” function to post questions. People will then reply answers on your Page giving it more dynamic, community-driven look and feel. Make sure you have configured your Page’s Settings to allow more participation!

Add the “Notes” App and feature it as a Tab if your company does not have a blog.

This Notes App essentially allows you to run a blog on your Facebook Page. Like a blog, notes are listed chronologically and fans can comments and give thumbs up. I use “Notes” to announce the “Nonprofit of the Month” on the Nonprofit Companies Facebook Page and feature Notes as a Tab. Just in case you haven’t noticed, Tabs can be dragged and dropped.

Add the “Static FBML” App and learn basic HTML.

The Static FBML App is one of the most important Apps on Facebook. It allows you to add new boxes to your page that can include text, links and images as long as you have a basic working knowledge of HTML (View Basic HTML Tutorial).

Select a vanity URL that matches your companies website.

In June 2009, Facebook started allowing Page Admins to select vanity URLs for Facebook Pages, such as www.facebook.com/companyname. At first there was a 1,000 minimum requirement, but no longer. Grab your vanity URL ASAP at www.facebook.com/username if you have not already. Ideally it should match your company’s website address or other social networking vanity URLs.

Add the Fan Box Widget to your website or blog.

To grab a Fan Box Widget, login as an Admin to your Facebook Page and under the logo on your home view you will see the link “Add Fan Box to your site”. On that page you can grab code for a widget that you can embed on your company’s website or blog that will display the status updates on your Facebook Page, thumbnails of your fans, as well as a “Become a Fan!” button. If your company is investing time and energy into building your Facebook presence, then a Fan Box widget is a must.

Use the “Favorites” function to build partnerships on Facebook.

Each Facebook Page has a link under the logo on the home view named “Add to my Page’s Favorites”. Use this functionality to build and foster partnerships on Facebook. If a foundation recently gave your company a grant and they have a Facebook Page, then “Favorite” them on your page and post a comment on their wall letting them know that you made them a “Favorite.” If your company has numerous chapters throughout the country, then favorite each one on the Facebook Page for the national office. On the Companies Facebook Page, I use the Favorites function to highlight the Nonprofits of the Month.

Have more than one administrator for your Page.

Protect your company by making sure that you have at least two staff as Admins for your Facebook Page. If a staff person or volunteer leaves, and there isn’t a second person named as Page Admin, then you have essentially lost access to your Facebook Page and your hundreds/thousands of fans.

Add a Twitter Tab to your Page.

Make sure you are logged into Facebook and designated as an Admin for your company’s Facebook Page. Go to Involver’s App Gallery [You can install two of the basic Apps for free]. Click the Facebook Install button for Twitter. It will ask you to choose which Facebook Page you want to install the App. Select your page and then click the “Add Twitter for Pages” button. You will then be prompted to enter your name, email address, phone number, and Twitter User Name. All four fields are required.

Click “Save & Continue” and then “Continue to Fan Page”. The final step is to click “+ Add a new tab” on your Facebook Page, then Select “Twitter”. The Twitter Tab will automatically appear. You can then drag and drop your Tabs in the order you think it most important for your Facebook Strategy. Keep in mind that the default settings are that the “Wall” Tab is first, the “Info” Tab is second. [See the Involver Twitter App live]

Add a YouTube Tab to your Page.

Simply repeat the steps above! You will not be prompted to enter your contact information again, however you will be asked to enter your YouTube User Name (www.youtube.com/username) and whether you want only your uploaded videos or your favorited video displayed, or both. That depends on how you use your YouTube channel. Most companies would likely only want their uploaded videos displayed. [See the Involver YouTube App live]

Drag and Drop your most important Tabs.

The default setting on facebook is that your Wall and Info Tabs must remain and be in the first and second position on your Page’s Tabs, but the remaining four Tabs can be dragged and dropped to feature your most important Apps. For the Nonprofit Companies Page, I currently feature Twitter, YouTube, Notes and Links in my Tabs. A month from now I may move them around again. Keep your Tabs fresh and change them around every once in awhile!

Limit your Status Updates to one per day.

It’s a good thing that there is no way to sync Tweets to Status Updates on Facebook Pages or nonprofit companies would be losing a lot of fans on Facebook. The fans of the Nonprofit Companies Facebook Page have made it quite clear that more than one Status Update a day from your companies, and you’re in the realm getting defanned, or at the very least “Hidden”. View Poll.

Add the MyFlickr App.

The MyFlickr App will post your most recent additions to your Flickr stream to your Facebook Wall and News Feed. It is not done automatically though. You do need to update the App in your Page’s backend for the new photos to show up on your Facebook Page. This App is best for the Boxes Tab and simply for integrating your Flickr stream into your Facebook Wall and News Feed. Not recommend for a Tab itself.

Use TwtPoll to engage your fans.

Every once in awhile create a poll on TwtPoll and post it as a link in a Status Update. Most everyone now understands that successfully using social media for your company means engaging your fans, followers, and friends. In addition to asking your fans to take the poll, ask them to share their thoughts on the issue of the poll in the Status Update thread as well. TwtPolls work great on Twitter too!

Add Share Buttons to your blog and website.

When it comes to communications on Facebook, 90% of the power is in the News Feed. The more often you can get your content to show up in the News Feed of your supporters on Facebook, the more ROI your company gets from utilizing Facebook. Thus, integrate Facebook Share functionality into your blog and website by going to your Fan Page Home > Edit Page > Promote with a Fan Box (on the right) > Share (on the left) and then copy and paste the code. Such as:

Share198

Create Customized Tabs.

Advanced Facebook strategies requires advanced tech skills. If you know HTML and have a good graphic designer, then you can use the Static FBML App to create and completely customize Tabs on Facebook Pages. For example, the “Get Involved!” Tab on the Special Olympics of Northern California Facebook Page and the “Of the Month” Tab on the Nonprofit Companies Facebook Page were created using the Static FBML App.

If you don’t know HTML and want customized Tabs for your Facebook Page, then you have two options: 1) Pay for a service like Sprout.com or Involver.com. Neither publish their fees online for customized Tabs which usually means they are too expensive for most nonprofits. It doesn’t hurt to ask for a nonprofit discount though. Many of these new services want exposure and buzz. 2) Hire someone who knows HTML and Facebook.

Create a customized Tab for your default Landing Tab.

On Tide’s inside of Facebook page it has customized Tabs. First impressions are important on social media sites, and this page sends a clear message that Tide gets Facebook and is taking it seriously. Compared to other pages by companies of their size, they are definitely doing much better in terms of number of fans. My guess is that this strong first impression is making a significant difference in building their fan base.

Once you have created a customized Tab for your default Landing Tab, simply go into “Settings” on your Facebook Page and under “Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else” select the Tab you want for your default Landing Tab in the pop-down menu.

Tags: App, Best Practices, community participation, custom tab, Facebook, Facebook Fan Page Best Practices, Facebook strategies, Fan, Fan Box, Fan Page, maximum participation, profile name, rectangular image, social networking sites, Tab, Twitter