Jay Taylor, owner of Jay Taylor Photography, and a fan of The Marketing Spot Facebook Page, emailed me with this question about Facebook Pages:
I recently set up a Facebook fan page to promote my photography and I just have a couple of questions. Is there a way to have the status updates appear on my profile (the non fan page) so that my current list of friends will see them? At the moment I don’t have any fans on the page, but just a handful of folks who Like the page. What are some strategies to solicit fans to the page?
Thanks for your time and help,
Jay Taylor
First, you must know that Facebook’s terms of service state that you cannot use personal profiles for business. That’s why they created Pages. There may be a way to automatically feed your Page updates into your personal profile, but I don’t know what it is, nor would even recommend the practice.
Using Your Facebook Personal Profile
However, you can utilize your personal profile for an immediate infusion of fans. From your Facebook personal profile, just ask your friends to check out your business page. For example, I recently posted this status update on my personal profile:
“I only post personal stuff here. My business and marketing stuff is on my Business Page, which can be found in the link below. Please feel free to like my page.”
More ways to get Facebook fans:
- Ask your current fans – When I had about 340 fans, I announced “Project 500,” my goal to push my fan count to 500 likes. I asked all my current fans to suggest the page to their friends, using the Suggest to Friends link under your profile picture in the left-hand column. It worked. Within nine days I had 500 likes, thanks mostly to my current fans.
- Encourage your current fans to comment, share and like your posts (those little options at the end of each status update). You can do this by posting interesting stuff that make people want to share it with others. Ask questions, post cool links. For example, Jay Taylor is a photographer, he might encourage others to post links to their own pictures. He could also ask current fans to request a photo, and then you share one from his archive or go out and take that photo.
For more information on what to post, see: Facebook Posting Strategy - Advertise your page – Facebook advertising is relatively cheap and highly targetable. You can specify who will see your ad by geography, demographics, or personal interest. You can also specify if you want to use pay-per-click, or pay-per-impression.
- Put links on your website and blog and suggest that people also like your Facebook Page.
One more tip: When you have more than 25 likes, you can get a customized URL for your page. For example, mine is Facebook.com/TheMarketingSpot. While logged in to your account, type this in to your browser: Facebook.com/usernameFor more on ideas optimizing your Facebook Page, check out: Getting Your Business in the Facebook Game
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