Turbo Tommy's Takeover List: Steps to a Sucessful Facebook Fanpage

There are over 350 million Facebook users worldwide. It is no coincidence that more businesses, large and small, are actively reaching and engaging customers through Facebook. Global conglomerates all the way down to the local dog walker are building social marketing strategies that leverage the strengths of Facebook to drive traffic to their pages and most importantly to their business.

So then why are so many business owners intimidated by Facebook?  Is it the magnitude of Facebook as a whole or is it simply they don’t know where to start? Just like we did with our friend Tom, LMS Agency Inc is here to help guide business owners and marketers through the process and get you on the road to Facebook Fame.

We compiled a list of the top 10 ways business owners can more effectively leverage Facebook to reach their target audience and drive more business. What started as the "The Turbo Tommy Takeover Tasks" has now morphed into a check list for business owners of all types. Named after our Doubting Thomas of a client who thought that Facebook was a fad, this brief overview will help you find your niche both personally and professionally on Facebook...just like Turbo Tommy.
Turbo Tommy's 10 Takeover Tasks

1. READY, SET, GROW!   
We all have to start growing our business somewhere and according to Facebook's business model you can't make a personal page into your business page. Always remember: Profiles are for people. Pages are for businesses. You must first create your Personal Facebook Page and then grow your Business Fanpage. Some people have skirted around this rule only to be shutdown by Facebook for not playing the game right. Start right from the beginning and avoid losing a lot of time and effort you put into gaining Facebook Fans. Who knows you may even personally reconnect with people that could benefit you professionally. The world is a much smaller place with Facebook leading the way.
Still think you are going to make your personal page your business page? Here are some distinct differences between Business Pages and Personal Profiles that will make you think twice:

• Pages allow you to have numerous administrators. This means that more than one person can manage the account. If one of your administrators leaves the company, you can still have control over the Page. 
• Pages are public and will start ranking in Facebook and public search results. 
• Pages are split into different categories (local businesses, brands, musicians) that help you get listed in more relevant search results. 
• Personal profiles have friends which requires your approval whereas anyone can become a fan of your Page--no approval necessary

2. Slow and Steady Gets You Ready   
Many people start out their Facebook marketing with no plan, no direction and no patience. Unfortunately they start pumping out status updates like they are going out of style and can't figure out where they went wrong. If there is one thing that you can take from this entire list is this: start out building your fan base steadily. You have heard the phrase 'you can't rush a good thing' and this rings true for Facebook. Invest the appropriate amount of time for your business goals and slowly watch your fan base and efforts pay off. Rushing into anything, including Facebook, has never proven beneficial. Stop, listen and engage in conversational interactions with your fans. They will appreciate your approach and it will show in your fan base and your traffic.

3. Reach out and Touch Someone
While business conglomerates may have millions of fans, most small businesses don’t end up with nearly as many fans, especially small, local businesses. When you first start growing your fan base I recommend interacting with each fan individually and let them know they are not just a number. Here is an example of light-hearted "thank you for following us" generated by none other than LMS Agency Inc.
LMS Agency  Inc: Hi Suzy- Thanks for following LMS Agency Inc! We appreciate all the "buzz". Hope all is well in your world. xo LMS Agency Inc.
Seattle Suzy: Not a problem--my pleasure. After all it only took a "click"
LMS Agency Inc:-Well your click is much appreciated!
Seattle Suzy: Well hurry up and make your millions so you can give me some props! BTW can you handle website design? My sister is looking for someone. Her current website is terrible...
LMS Agency Inc.:Too funny Suzy. Well of course we can--send her our way and we will do whatever we can to help her out and get her on the right track!
By adding the personal, conversational touch you have now just successfully interacted and further gained the trust of your fans and your fan's friends. Who want's to just be a number? Interact with your fans--they are after all who got you there.
4. SPAM--(THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SLICE IT...)

No matter how many times we preach this it seems to unfortunately fall on deaf ears. Do not spam your fans. Period. No one likes being broadcast to over-and-over again. In fact we are pretty much desensitized to the whole experience. If you insist on continually spamming your fans you will most likely be "blocked" by your fans and you may even get a visit from the Fanpage Facebook Police who do not take the topic very lightly. Constantly overloading your audience with links and frivolous posts that don't engage conversation will cost you and your brand/business traffic and credibility. You may think you thought of the best way to disguise your spamming but give up now--your audience is on to you.



5. PATIENCE GRASSHOPPER

Look at Facebook as a long-term learning experience. We are all learning along the way. We have never promised you instant results and we aren't going to start doing it now. Instead of thinking 'instant' think 'investment'. There will most likely be trial-and-errors along the way and these should only be regarded as a learning experience. No two audiences are alike. The Facebook Fan Page that is strictly business-to-business interaction may not be as laid back as Shelby's Surf Shop Fan Page and their approaches are going to be completely different. Find your niche in the Facebook world your efforts will not go unnoticed. Most importantly learn how patience will persevere and leave you more educated on your own business model and your audience.




6.DON'T PUT ALL OF YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET

Contrary to what the general public may think "she who dies with the most fans/followers does NOT win". On the same note spending more dollars on any one advertising medium does not equate to more revenue. Less can sometimes mean more in the Facebook world and you need to share the love across all traditional and non-traditional marketing efforts.  For your Facebook marketing strategy start off with a small budget to test out Facebook’s highly targeted advertising system; $20 dollars a week can go a long way. Facebook’s Social Ads platform makes it easy to target your spend to a very specific age, gender, and geographic audience.  Purchasing Social Ads ignites the organic viral process and the best part is: you only pay for performance. Most importantly make sure that if you are spending money that you’re investing a long-term goal that supports your business goals. As your performance improves and you figure out which ads work most effectively you can begin to steadily increase your ad spend.

7.NORTH-SOUTH-EAST-WEST..... LMS AGENCY IS THE BEST!
Engaging your fans and potential fans is the best part of the Business Page experience. People love fun ways of being engaged and feeling like they are contributing to your businesses direction and decisions. Why not create a poll and let your fans vote? Hop on the campaign wagon with your users in the driver seat. Let them vote on your new product or hold a contest to the best entry submitted for your new campaign slogan. Code Specials are always a winner with Facebook Fans. Sprinkles bakery campaign in Beverly Hills, California is flourishing from simple posts for free cupcakes for the first 35 people that "whisper" the code of the day.

The first 35 people to whisper "off-the-menu" at Sprinkles Beverly Hills receive a free caramel cake with brown sugar frosting dipped in chocolate ganache!" 

Whatever your approach, it is important to allow your fans to have a voice and a choice. If you have a good product and/or great service building the relationship with your fans will push you to the next level.

8. CONNECT THE DOTS
Facebook can be compared to a big black hole. Personal and professional Facebook maintenance can be time consuming and suck up a lot of your valuable time. If you find yourself not following your Facebook schedule as closely as you should, implementing time-saving tips like Facebook Connect will make your life easier. Consider the Facebook toolbar for Firefox which will notify when you have a reason to go check the home page. You can also work with Facebook from your mobile phone, so think about visiting/maintaining your pages when you are taking the train, waiting for your oil to be changed or otherwise bored. Bringing all the components together into one strategy will save you time and efforts allowing you to sit back and watch your marketing machine become a direct channel to you and your business.
9. TOOT YOUR OWN HORN

You can use your Facebook Page to not only share your company information, but you can also use it to post photos, videos, applications and messages. Any activity that you perform on your Facebook Page is then broadcast into the mini-feeds of your followers.Use applications like the discussion board and YouTube video box to add more interesting and engaging content to your Page. Give users a reason to become a fan of your Page and engage in conversation.  Whatever the approach you choose having an engaging Page gives you a direct pipeline to your Fans. Send messages to Fans all at once or target specific individuals or groups by country, state, city, gender, and age. Using the Events App, you can even schedule special events or promotions and then send invitations to only those Fans who live in or near the town where the event is scheduled to take place. Once you build a connection there’s a good chance the user will tell their friends.  The point is each new fan can be considered a new lead for a small business. Selling on Facebook though is subtle and should not be done in an overly aggressive way. Once you start tooting your own horn (respectively) your fans will be rooty-toot-tooting your brand/business all over town.  
10. TEST YOUR WATERS

There is no sense in diving into a campaign without analyzing your efforts.  You’ve created a Facebook fan page, followed protocol and people are frequenting your page.  But do you really know how many people visit your page, what areas are popular and what parts of the world your visitors come from?
Facebook Analytical tools shows some demographic information on your page but unfortunately it is limited to information about interactions with your fans.  The free Google Analytics tool offers sophisticated and comprehensive data on visitors to your website but until recently could not be applied to fan pages. One of the limitations of Facebook fan pages is they can only run limited JavaScript and Google Analytics needs JavaScript code included on a page to correctly track visitors in the traditional way.  Fortunately for you there is a new solution.  Using the free Facebook Google Analytics Tracker, now allows you to track visitor statistics, traffic sources, visitor countries, and keyword searches on your Facebook pages. We never promised you would achieve instant success but we are telling you that there are ways to track your efforts.
Now you know our tricks of the trade why don't you tell us what your tips are for building a successful business fan page on Facebook?