The Facebook Fan Page Recipe — 0 to 1000 Fans In 35 Days
Posted November 16, 2009 in How-To, Social Media 41 Comments »
If you are a regular Freelance Folder reader, then you already know we recently created a Facebook fan page for Freelance Folder. Our fan page has been live since October 6th, 2009 — and on November 10th, about 35 days later, we reached the one thousand fan milestone. In this post we’ll show you how we did it (and how you can do it too).
Before I share some of the things we did to grow the fan page at such a rapid pace, the FreelanceFolder team would like to thank all of our readers for your support. The biggest reason for our success on Facebook is your interest and participation, and we definitely couldn’t have done it without you — Thanks!
Okay, let’s start with a quick guide to creating fan pages for anyone who doesn’t already know how, and then we’ll move on to some of the more growth-oriented stuff.
Getting Started With a Facebook Fan Page
To create a Facebook fan page you can simply visit the public page that allows you to create ads and pages. Click on Create a Page. You will be given three options:
- Local
- Brand
- Artist, Band, or Public Figure
Choose the category that suits your business the most and follow the instructions.
Creating a fan page on Facebook doesn’t take more than two minutes, but building it and creating a thriving community within that page can take months.
Now that you’ve created a fan page for your business or site, let’s start growing it.
Get Your Closest Contacts Involved
Now that your Facebook page is ready to roll, it’s time to give it a little push.
The first thing you want to do to grow your fan page is utilize close friends on Facebook. I am not talking about online acquaintances, I am talking about people you probably have met or have interacted with on Facebook quite a few times.
Let your close friends know that you have created a fan page. Ask them to be a fan. It’s almost guaranteed that they will become a fan without hesitating.
This step really depends on how many of your close contacts use Facebook. The more the merrier. At this point, do not use the Suggest to Friends feature to contact random connections. Save the first few days for the close-knit group and then extend invites to a larger group.
It’s Time to Send Some Invitations
Now that you have asked your close friends to become fans, it’s time to send out invites to your acquaintances.
If you have a few hundred friends, do not send out invites all at once. You don’t want a spike of fans one day and be dead in the water the next day.
My approach to sending out invites for our fan page was to choose a set of first letters each day and only send out invites to those people. For example, the first day I sent out invites to people whose name begin with the letters A, B and C and the second day I sent out invites to people whose name begin with the letters D, E, F and G and so on and so forth.
This way you don’t end up getting fifty fans one day and nothing the rest of the days. The Suggest to Friends feature is on the left right under your fan page profile picture.
Make sure to spread out your invites. You want your fan page to grow faster, but you don’t want it to spike and die off suddenly. Send out a few invites each day for a couple of days to keep new fans coming to the page.
Now that you’ve sent out your invites, you need to decide whether to run an ad campaign to promote your fan page.
Run a Facebook Ad Campaign
I know that many freelancers are on a shoestring budget, but if you can spare $5.00 to $20.00 I highly recommend running an ad campaign. Facebook allows you to target your ads and gives you the option to pinpoint who sees the ad. You can target ads based on age, gender, location, profession, etc.
You can either pay for impressions or for clicks. I usually go with impressions because my main goal is to get the page seen by as many people as possible. Even if they don’t click and sign up when they see the ad, there is a possibility that they might come back later. It’s just one of the ways to take your dollar further.
To create an ad, go to public page that allows you to create ads and pages.
At this point, you can start promoting your fan page through your website.
Cross-Promote Your Fan Page
Now that you are done asking for help from your close group of friends and sending out invites, it’s time to kick it into high gear.
When we launched the FreelanceFolder fan page we didn’t announce it on the site for a couple days. We knew once we announced it, we would get a lot of freelancers signing up. Although we wanted to grow fast, we wanted it to be a gradual growth and already have some kind of community active on the fan page.
Once you have some activity going, talk about your fan page on your blog or your site. Grab a fan page box (like we have in the sidebar) and embed it on your blog. Anyone who missed your announcement post about the fan page can still see that you have a community rolling on one of the hottest social media platforms.
By now, if you have been active and updated your fan page regularly, you should already have a few hundred fans. (Please note that for these tips to work efficiently you need to constantly update your fan page and stay on top of the tasks.)
After you are done implementing the above tips, the main thing is to engage your fans. You can only ask so many people to become a fan. After a certain point, people need to come to your fan page organically. They need to find you without you having to call them.
Above all, make sure your fans are interacting. There is no point in having a fan page with thousands of fans where no one really interacts. So let’s see some of the ways to pull in people without really having to ask them to become fans.
You should follow the tips outlined below as soon as you get your fan page up and running.
Your Updates Should “Call For Action”
If you are a popular celebrity or a big brand, you won’t have a hard time getting your fans to engage on the fan page.
As freelancers, though, we often lack that sort of popularity. It is necessary to take measures to make sure there is interaction.
The key of having a fan page is to create a thriving community on a different platform other than your blog. Once again, the more platforms you can utilize, the better.
You will often see fan pages that have huge number of fans, but they often lack participation. Numbers alone won’t do the magic. We need people behind those numbers that are willing to engage and interact on your fan page with you and the rest of the fans.
One of the best ways to “call for action” through your updates is by asking a question. If you look at our fan page, we ask a lot of questions. We do this not just for the sake of asking, but because we value what our fans and friends think.
People love to voice their opinion and share their expertise. Make sure your updates ask them to do that. Simply linking to each article you publish on your blog won’t help you much as far as growing your fan page goes.
Also when you update, make sure you are asking your fans to do something. Make them feel they are an important part of your Facebook community.
Two of the best ways for your fans to interact are through the Like and Comment features.
Like and Comment Are Your Best Friends
The reason I say you want as much engagement as possible from your fans is because you want them to take action. That action can be either clicking the Like button or commenting on your update.
These Like and Comment features are extremely important to growing your fan page. Every time someone comments on your update or clicks the like button it shows on their feeds. Your fans’ friends see their profile or feed on the main page. They also see that one of your fans have been commenting on or using the like feature on your fan page. This can creates a viral effect.
If the update is good enough and really thought-provoking, those users who didn’t know about your fan page might join because they saw someone they knew on Facebook actively using it.
The key is to make sure your fans are participating and using those Like and Comment features so that it shows on their feeds. This is one of the best ways to get your fan page exposed to as many people as possible.
Now that we have explained how to use Facebook features to promote your fan page we will examine the use of third party apps.
Utilize Third Party Apps
One of the reason Facebook is so popular is because of all the third party Facebook apps that are out there. I am talking about the apps that actually add value to your fan page.
If you look at our fan page, you will notice two tabs at the top that are not default tabs for fan pages — News and Twitter. If you click on the News tab you will see our recent posts. If you click on the Twitter tab you will see our Twitter updates.
In essence, these apps allow us to make our fan page a single stop information source for our fans (you can find these apps at involver.com for free). Our fans can quickly check our Facebook updates, see what’s new on our blog, and even see what we are tweeting.
I personally think one of the best Facebook apps is the FBML application, also known as FaceBook Markup Language. You can use this app to create customized tabs, etc.
If you are good with HTML, the possibilities are endless. For example, you could create a custom welcome page so that anyone who is not a fan yet will land on the custom page rather than the wall.
Here is a good example of a custom welcome page created by AllFacebook for their fan page using FBML.
Conclusion
Following the steps outlined above will definitely help you attract more fans. However, do keep in mind that numbers alone don’t mean a thing.
Your fan page can have 50,000 people, but if they are not interacting it’s not really a community. Without an active community, neither you nor your fans will get any benefit out of your fan pages.
There are many other ways to utilize the fan page to gain more fans and make it an active community, but we will cover those when we hit the next milestone :) .
Your Turn
We’ve given a quick guide to creating a fan page and we’ve show you how to build a community around your fan page.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Also, do share your personal experience regarding Facebook fan pages.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook fan page. Feel free to list your Facebook pages as well.
About the author: Ritu is a freelance writer who has been involved in social media for several years. At the moment he is working on a variety of projects, but is always open to new ideas. Contact him at email(at)ritubpant(dot)com or follow @ritubpant on twitter.
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41 Comments
Melek
November 16th, 2009 at 3:30 pmLOVE the tip on adding TW and YT to your tabs on FB. AWESOME! My client is going to love that.
BebopDesigner
November 16th, 2009 at 3:56 pmWow! This is some excellent piece of advice! Thanks a million for sharing.
Ritu
November 16th, 2009 at 6:16 pmI am glad you found it useful :)
Tracy
November 16th, 2009 at 7:40 pmThanks for your tips! Just started a page and am learning how to attract fans.
Chase Sanchez
November 16th, 2009 at 8:17 pmGreat article, good tips
website design
November 17th, 2009 at 1:30 amHey that was a really great advice… I work in a website designing company and appreciate it a lot…
Mike
November 17th, 2009 at 4:58 amI hadn’t really seen the advantage of using Facebook fan pages as a promotion tool, but now having read the article I can see that it has some great features that would definitely be advantageous.
Sachin
November 17th, 2009 at 5:13 amVery useful article & i have create the same News & Twitter tab for my Facebook page as well. I think this can also help me to find some good fans for my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/websudasa)
Thanks
Sachin
James
November 17th, 2009 at 6:28 amThanks for a great clear article. If you design a posh custom FBML fan page, then suggest it at over at our gallery at http://www.facebookdesigns.org and show it off. There are some really great looking ones out there to inspire you too.
Allen
November 17th, 2009 at 9:14 amNice article to read. It’s got me to think about customization my own fan page now.
adloussopy
November 17th, 2009 at 9:16 amGreat article…really it is useful to my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/SPACIFY/79444799925
Facebook Fan Pages
November 17th, 2009 at 9:20 amthat is really nice information about facebook fan pages it make too easy for the promotion of fan page
Debra Bacon
November 17th, 2009 at 11:21 amGreat tips! just started a Fan Page on FB a couple of months ago. Need to promote it and did not know what to do, specifically. Thanks!
Sue Anne
November 17th, 2009 at 2:06 pmIt’s great that you were able to get fans so quickly. I’m interested to see if you are able to keep them engaged and active on your page. That seems to be the longer issue. The fans are willing to click the button to become a fan, but don’t often revisit the page to engage.
@Sue_Anne
Ritu
November 17th, 2009 at 2:09 pmHi Sue, you are very right. However, you can check our fanpage at http://facebook.com/freelancefolder . We have a very active community and we are lucky to have such awesome people as our friends on Facebook :)
Orange County Photography
November 17th, 2009 at 3:38 pmI have to admit I have a FB fanpage that has a whopping 0 fans! I posted it a few times on my regular FB profile where I have around 100 connections. Nobody bit. I ran an ad for a week or two but only got a few clicks and no takers. Hmmmm… Maybe my topic was boring, (computer tech advice) but some of those same people ask my opinions all the time. I thought about putting up a fan page for my fledgling Orange County Photography effort but I’m not sure if I’m spinning my wheels. Any advice?
Thanks!
Orange County Photography
November 17th, 2009 at 3:43 pmForgot to ask… My facebook fan page has a bunch of numbers appended to it. Is there a way to get the name without the numbers? IE, facebook.com/foo and not facebook.com/foo/2941728288?
Ritu
November 17th, 2009 at 3:54 pm@Orange County Photography : You can choose a vanity URL one you have 25 fans on your facebook fanpage. You can go to http://facebook.com/username and choose the name you want for your page once you cross 25 fans limit
Jennifer Woodard
November 17th, 2009 at 5:16 pmThis is an absolutely wonderful post and congratulations. Your blog always posts such wonderful information. Now if only I had enough time to implement all the wonderful suggestions that you give.
Jenn
Char (PSI Tutor:Mentor)
November 17th, 2009 at 5:32 pmWow! Thank you. Have bookmarked this page to print later~ need to read it again!
RackWire
November 17th, 2009 at 6:42 pmRitu: Very well written and great screenshots! For branding reasons & recognition getting your company name and Vanity URL is a big plus.
NewBloggerTemplates
November 17th, 2009 at 8:46 pmvery good .. because you have a very good article and interesting every day to read so many people like you in all the social networking site..thank’s
Luke Jones
November 19th, 2009 at 5:22 amThanks for the tips. Going through a re-design at the moment and I’m going to be very active in the social media department. I’m a little intimidated by Facebook, however. Sometimes when you’re posting frequently and have few fans, it’s a bit of a put-off.
AffirmingSpirit
November 20th, 2009 at 11:49 pmFYI: When I got my fanpage, it required 100 members before I could get a shortened facebook.com/AffirmingSpirit URL. While building my fan base, I used a shortened link on my own website (affirmingspirit.com/fanpage) that redirected them to the longer URL. Actually, that shortening script has many good uses, not just for Facebook.
I learned how to do this from Biana Babinsky, a social media networking expert. The link to how to do this: http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/marketing/c/2009/07/27/793/how-to-create-your-own-short-url.html
Many blessings,
Nancy
ShaggyMac
December 5th, 2009 at 10:00 pmGreat article and good pointers. We are starting our company facebook @
http://www.facebook.com/shaggymac
Oliver Jones
December 7th, 2009 at 8:37 pmI tried adding twitter to my page but it didnt work. Any tips http://www.facebook.com/socialexplosion
Ritu
December 8th, 2009 at 3:27 amHi Oliver, visit http://www.involver.com and click on the link that says “Twitter” and follow the instruction. If you still can’t get it to work, let us know.
Wendy
December 10th, 2009 at 4:49 pmSWEET! Thanks for the tips. I just launched my page last night and am at 17 fans today. Gotta get busy and get the word out. My goal is to beat your record. No offense…just a little friendly competition:)
http://www.travelgonewild.com
Stay Sexy,
Wendy
GameZone
December 10th, 2009 at 11:39 pmA very good sharing! Anyone who love to play games, come and join my fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bluehyppo-GameZone/164146209659
Miley Fan
January 18th, 2010 at 6:10 pmhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Bet-I-Can-Find-1000000-People-Who-Like-Miley-Cyrus/291135179895?ref=ts
Facebook Developer
February 25th, 2010 at 5:23 amFacebook Fan Page provide you total marketing strategy on facebook. All facebook page need is users. The more fan page got user the more publicity will be deliver online. Nice info
Gutscheincode
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:26 amWe’re at 3k+ followers now, I’m wondering if you know if you are growing faster behind a certain amount of fans. What if you have like 10K+ fans, will it be a lot more easier by then?
Anita Koppens
March 10th, 2010 at 7:20 pmI really appreciate the good advice and your generousity in sharing. Posing questions to fans makes sense to get them to interact. I am excited about trying out the FBML application.
iPhone Application Developer
March 11th, 2010 at 2:17 amI agree these ways are really effective to get 1000 fans in just 35 days. But Facebook is becoming a market place because when you join any fan page so your friends get news feeds that you joined “PAGE NAME” page. So if the page you created is having something so good so it can be marketed easily.
Rabatte
March 14th, 2010 at 8:18 pmI prefer paying for clicks. What payment methods do you prefer?
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