Social Media Marketing: Facebook Fan Page Promotion Tips

Many businesses have created Facebook Fan Pages, and perhaps you are one of them. But has your marketing team been having trouble coming up with ideas for content? Here are some suggestions for beefing up your Facebook Fan page in order to increase the number of fans, repeat visitors, interaction and lead generation:

1. Coupons: Many companies have started offering coupons or discounts via their Facebook fan pages. National brands have been doing this for some time. I will often “Like” certain brand’s Facebook pages in order to print coupons for free samples, foods that I would like to try, or discounts on products that I already buy. The viral marketing effect of this can be exponential. For example, my favorite breakfast food is my ZonePerfect chocolate almond raisin bar, and on their Facebook page recently, you could request a free sample of their newest flavor, Cookie Doughlicious.  Nabisco Cookies’ Facebook page also offered a deal where you could print a coupon for free cookies when you purchased cookies and milk. But you don’t have to have a national brand to offer coupons or discounts. The Indianapolis Zoo recently
   

   Indianapolis Zoo’s Facebook Fan page

   offered a discount admission through its fan page, which actually got me to take my kids to the zoo last month, since I hadn’t done so all summer (beware of the added $6 parking fee 😉 Simply paste a graphic or link to a file with your coupon so fans can print and redeem your coupon. Make sure to include a code so that you can track responses. And also make sure that you don’t lose your shirt on coupons or samples, and are able to keep up with the demand that the new business might bring.

2. Make Important Announcements: Pampers used their Facebook page to announce their new line of designer diapers by Cynthia Rowley. This also allowed them to gain feedback via comments regarding the acceptance of the new line. Your company announcement could be as simple as welcoming a new member to your team, highlighting a recent client win, or promoting your company’s involvement in a local charitable event.
3. Survey your Customers: Want to know what’s on the mind of your customers, partners or prospects? Create a poll in Facebook and find out! The poll could be a simple one about which flavor of your product they like best, which topics keep your customers up at  night, or what they think of a given subject. As long as your survey ties back into your business somehow, you have unlimited options. You can also simply ask a question of your fans to solicit feedback on any topic of concern.
4. Event Promotion: Companies can announce special events or workshops they are hosting through their Facebook fan pages, and encourage attendance. One Internet Service Provider hosts monthly high-tech happy hours, along with customer appreciation nights, and promotes the events through their Facebook Fan page. They even post pictures of the event to drive traffic back to their fan page following the event. Facebook shouldn’t necessarily be your main source of event promotion, but it can definitely be one good avenue for event promotion.
5. Photos of Customers Using Your Product / Brand: Companies also do this by encouraging fans to wear their logoed T-shirts and post a photo on Facebook, where it may appear on their fan page. This encourages both employees, partners and customers to keep your brand visible, and puts a little fun into the mix too. Both Huggies and Pampers do this by allowing their customers to post photos of their babies wearing their products. Restaurants could have customers post pictures of their dishes, or eating at their restaurant, or posing with their mascot. Domino’s Pizza has done this with its “ShowUsUrPizza” tab, and offers customers $500 if a winning photo is displayed on their fan page. Domino’s promotion also has a goal of educating its customers on its promise not to artificially manipulate the pizzas shown in their advertisements (just “honest to goodness pizzas”). How about showing before and after photos of clients (example: local hair salon or car repair shop)? How can your customers showcase your brand or product/service in use on your Facebook fan page?
6. Articles or Blog Posts: Facebook is also a good way to promote recent blog posts, as the goal is to share relevant content with your fan base. You can share articles you or your team have written, or link to other reputable articles which might be of interest to your fans. I do this a lot on my AimFire Marketing Facebook Fan Page, which, by the way, you should become a fan of if you haven’t already! 🙂
7. Videos or Advertisements: Online videos are a great way to interact with your fan base. My friends over at 12StarsMedia post a lot of videos for clients as well as for their own promotional efforts (plus, I suspect they have a ton of fun producing them). Your video doesn’t have to be a boring, company overview. You can interview or highlight customers at an event, survey random people on the street about a topic relevant to your industry, or feature a new product or service and show us how it works. 12 Stars does a good job with the Indy Children’s Museum and their Weekly WOW videos. They promote their YouTube feed through their fan page.
8. Talk about what’s new or relevant: Simply using your Facebook fan page as a conversation starter is a great way to make your fan page more interactive. Simply ask customers what they’re eating for lunch, what their favorite thing is about the Fall season, or some other relevant topic. If it’s something in the news recently, or on people’s minds, they will look to share the information. Just start the conversation and keep it rolling.

I hope I’ve given you some new ways to look at your Facebook fan page. Now you can be on your way to creating more relevant and compelling content for your fans and increasing your fan following. Let me know in the comments below if you have other ideas or examples of good Fan pages.