How To Increase Interactivity On Your Facebook Fan Page

Being able to manage a Facebook fan page effectively in order to make it a useful marketing tool is vital for your brand, company, online business or blog.  There are a number of different things that you can do to improve your Facebook fan page interactivity, which is what we will be looking at in this article.

There are many benefits that you can gain by creating a Facebook fan page for your brand, company or blog. Provided, however, that you use this tool correctly, in respect of Facebook’s guidelines.

Before we begin, let’s look at a couple of questions that you probably want answering;

1. How can I better communicate with my customers/readers on my Facebook fan page?
2. How can I increase interaction, involvement, comments, shares, on my Facebook fan page?

Essentially both questions have the same answer (which we will look at in more detail shortly).  By better communicating with people on your Facebook fan page, you will in turn increase interaction, comments, shares, etc. that you get.

How To Increase Your Facebook Page Interaction

The whole point of businesses using social media is so that they can interact with their customers more easily.  Customers themselves will appreciate it if they can feel part of a community that you have set up.  Therefore, you must have a goal for your Facebook fan page.  For any effective online presence, you must engage with your followers.  Share interesting content, relevant news and articles. In short, you need to offer to your users what they really need, what they are strongly interested in.

Facebook can be used as a great way to make users feel like they have a sense of belonging to a brand. If you can do that well, you have a better chance of motivating them to interact and to encourage them to share content and links.

Be sure to create original content that is exclusive for your fan page and update it often. If you don’t, it can give the impression that you aren’t that bothered about your fans.

Try to create a direct relationship with your fans. Avoid at all costs “business language” and “marketing jargon”, otherwise you will poorly be understood.

Let’s look at some of the individual things that you can do.

Page Profile & Timeline Images

Your Facebook fan page must immediately tell people what your business is about, both by what you are selling/promoting and what your brand identity is. That is a lot easier said than done in some instances, but the best place to start is your page profile and timeline images.

Take ‘Coca-Cola’, if for some bizarre reason you hadn’t heard of them before, you would instantly know that they are a drinks company just by looking at their Facebook page.  They use a clear profile picture of a bottle of Coca-Cola and have a nice timeline picture that includes their branding (logo and colour) and people from around the world drinking their drink.

Your Facebook page profile picture should be changed as little as possible, because it is an identification tag that people will see and recognise. Your logo would be a great image to use here. Just be sure to use a good quality image!

Your Facebook timeline image should be visually interesting, something colorful that attracts the readers eye.  Try to related it to your business as best as you can.

Publish Images & Videos

You should publish personal images and videos about your business. Show you and your staff, so that people can see that you aren’t some cold and distant company that they can’t relate to, but a group of real people.

Another example that you can use is to publish images and videos relating to your business.  You could post something that helps to illustrate the various stages of manufacture of your product, what you and your staff get up too behind the scenes or your workstation if you are a professional blogger.

Here is an example of Manchester United’s Facebook page.  They regularly publish photos of their players from the training ground, of which their fans usually wouldn’t get to see.

Facebook Tabs

Use the tabs at the top of the fan page, which allow you to highlight services that are useful to your fans.  Here you could include; upcoming events, photo albums, subscription to newsletters, competitions, links to Twitter or YouTube, etc.. You can create up to twelve tabs.

Organize Contests, Quizzes, Polls, Games

Creating content that can generate involvement is very important because it encourages people to interact with you.  It makes them happy and it keeps them interested in what you have to say, which then leads them to share your posts with their friends.  Maybe you could choose a fixed day of the week or of the month to launch a contest on your Facebook fan page, with different prizes and rewards.

Here is an example of a Facebook Questions poll that Starbucks published on their Facebook page.  It doesn’t need to be anything complicated.  Questions can be a powerful communication tool because they encourage readers to leave a response. Asking questions regularly is a good way to generate comments and fortify connection with your fans.

Also, ask people to leave you questions on your Facebook page for you to answer.  The is particularly useful if your business is a service.  Just make sure to answer them.

Share Your Achievements With Fans

Have you achieved any important goal? Well, share it on your Facebook fan page!  This increases the confidence and enthusiasm of your audience, because they realize that your business or activity really works!  Maybe you just got your 1 millionth customer, or your very first sale.

Ask Your Fans to Click “Like”

It seems counter-productive, but it works!

Asking your fans to click “Like” on your content or published links will get you much more Facebook interaction than if you do not ask. The request should be in general a very simple and persuasive communication. It’s a bit like using a call to action in a landing page.

Send More Traffic To Your Facebook Fan Page

In order for people to become fans, they need to first find your Facebook page.  Include a link to your fan page in your email signature, on your business card, on your blog or website, and in any other place you may find it.

Don’t forget to ask to your network of friends to click “Like” on your fan page. You can use the Facebook application “Invite your friends” to do this.

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy “fake” fans!!! The temptation may be strong and in many cases this is not even expensive, but it is a practice to be avoided like the plague. First, because you would be cheating and then, because Facebook is tracking this kind of fake “likes” and fans.  It will only end up harming your business in the long run.

Creating a community around a Facebook fan page is a task that requires time, patience, preparation, and professionalism. But it is only through the hard work that you will start to see the best results. Shortcuts are not as effective.

What do you think of these tips on how to increase interactivity on a Facebook Fan Page?  Do you have other tips that you’d like to mention? Please leave a comment below, with your suggestions and be sure to like the Online Income Teacher fan page!