Get Huge: Promote Your Fan Page

So, you have a new fan page. It displays your brand graphics, has your company info, and you put up a few posts. But you have only 34 fans, and most of them are your own employees or family members or people trying to sell you something (how rude!). How do you get the word out to your target audience, cheaply and effectively, to jumpstart your Fan Page and tap into all that social media potential?

Happily, traditional outreach efforts are only half as important, because simply making your current fans happy increases the likelihood that they’ll recruit their friends as fans too. So, here’s an overview of the basics to get the process rolling. I’ll be covering more of these topics in detail in future posts.

1) Use SEO best practices to get your fan page to show up in the first fold when people google your keywords. Do it right, and this technique is easy, free, and ever-so-effective.

2) Use Facebook ads to help drive interested traffic to your spiffy new Fan Page.

3) Implement a holistic online strategy: Connect all of your other social media to the Fan Page, link to it in your e-mail signature, get domains that reroute to it – it’s your new online über-business-card.

4) Provide real value. Add informational content and apps that cater to your audience’s desires – coupons, interactivity, relevant news, etc. Make it exclusive, a great catching point for those online ads.

5) Make sure your content is fresh and relevant. Update frequently and regularly so that users learn that there will always be something new – large gaps in updates indicates you’re asleep at the wheel. Apps can greatly facilitate the updating process, so it’s easy, fast, and efficient.

6) Add apps that allow you to implement fun promotional strategies. Contests, fan lotteries, polls, giveaways, and other treats will boost engagement. Try a scavenger hunt on your page, or provide cool (branded) virtual gifts for your fans to share with their friends.

7) Be social. Your fan page isn’t a bulletin board or a soap box – it’s a soon-to-be-packed clubhouse. Respond personally to your fans, give them an app that allows fan-to-fan interaction through your page, and use the opportunity to immediately and positively address any non-positive feedback and turn it to your advantage. Remember, you’re establishing conversations with your fans to engage them and get them excited about your brand.