Will Facebook Fan Pages Help Your Company's Promotions?

Social media is all the rage these days, even in marketing circles. And Facebook is gaining popularity with brands looking to further establish their online presence.

It's not hard to see why. The site boasts more than 750 million active users (as of March 31, 2013), 655 million of which are active every day.

But what can a Facebook fan page really do for your company?

It sends your website more traffic

Your fan page provides potential customers with one more means of finding you in the crowded online community. Placing a link back to your main website from your fan page can help deliver more targeted traffic to your business -- which can translate to more sales.

Your Facebook page also gives you a boost by improving your SEO ranking.

Google's social search feature helps customers find you through your social media profiles. These customers can then follow your link from your fan page to your website, generating even more traffic for you.

Better insight into your customers

Because Facebook is a social site, your customers might be more willing to chat with you and each other about products they love, good or bad customer experiences they've had with you or your competitors, and other information that will help you focus your marketing efforts.

You can help this process along by using the discussion tab on your Facebook page to encourage conversation with and between customers.

Improves customer engagement

Your branded Facebook page encourages customers to talk to you directly -- and gives you an easy way to respond. You'll be able to participate in conversations, address questions or problems quickly, and run special promotions on your page.

Your fan page also lets you form deeper connections with customers than the one-way communication offered by your company website.

This deeper connection will help build customer trust and loyalty, and can help earn you more word of mouth sales.

Facebook's analytics help you identify your target market

Each Facebook fan page comes with analytic tools that will give you information about who your followers are and which ones are actively participating.

You'll learn things like how many are male or female, their age range, and where they live -- valuable insights that help you tailor your marketing message.

Building a winning fan page

While there are no hard and fast rules for building your company's Facebook page, here are a few tips for what to include:

* Company information. This includes a company overview, website address, contact information, and your company logo;

* Apps. A variety of Facebook apps are available to help you enhance your page and help increase customer engagement. You could also hire a developer to come up with your own app that will have your business's branding and customers in mind;

* Posts. This should go without saying, but you need to post to your page regularly to keep fans interested. Tell them about breaking news about your company, interesting trivia and humor about your industry, and other information that keeps them informed, entertained, and engaged.

While a Facebook page may not be a great fit for every company, most businesses can benefit from one with a little creativity.

If you take the time to properly brand your page and interact with its fans, you may be pleasantly surprised by the boost to your bottom line.