Thinking about creating a Facebook fan page? Don’t just jump in | Social Media Answers

Thinking about creating a Facebook fan page? Don’t just jump in.

By: Kevin Palmer on 10/13/2009
Thinking about creating a Facebook fan page? Don’t just jump in.

Over the last few weeks I have come across multiple tutorials on creating a Facebook fan page. None of these tutorials were exactly groundbreaking and they all essentially said the same thing. (You can import your RSS feed! Integrate Twitter! You can have conversations! People can share your stuff!) Another trait they have in common is that they completely ignored the fact that different Facebook pages have different default settings that you can’t change once they are selected.

Here is a great resource on the different default settings available based off the type of page you are setting up.

So BEFORE setting up a Facebook page here are two things you should do.

1)      Look at other pages in and out of your niche.

Go look at your competitors, go look at other brands/people/artists that you like, and examine what you like about their page. Pay close attention to a couple of different areas. The first being what is in the information section of their profile, these differ based on what profile you choose.

Take a second to see what features beyond the standard page setups that you like. Take a few seconds to find out what applications are powering these features. Some applications you can determine just by looking at that section, you can also try searching for the functionality through the Facebook application directory, or if all else fails ask.

2)      Layout your desired page on paper first

Think about the desired applications you want to add and then draw out a sample page. Start thinking about the layout now to avoid total and utter application overkill and glut. What is the most important information that you want to share on your page? What is the best way to share it? How can you keep the focus on this information without people getting lost in unimportant bells and whistles?

Thinking about the layout before jumping in gives you a roadmap but also helps you think about goals. I find that a lot of the time when you just jump and start playing with the tool the idea of goals and strategy get lost in the shuffle.

excellent advice from kevin