Facebook | Crystal Light

More brands are beginning to incorporate a piece of Social Marketing into their traditional advertising. As you can see by the image above, Crystal Light is running display advertisements on Yahoo! and ask you, the consumer, to become a Fan. As of 3/21/2010 Crystal Light has 7,131 fans.

Will display ads increase the number of fans on their fan page? Most definitely! Recently, Nissan had a similar strategy and increased their Facebook following a great deal. Click here to read the Nissan article.

As with Nissan, Crystal Light is hoping to stretch their ad dollar a bit further. Every person who becomes a fan, will now have a chance to interact with the Crystal Light brand in addition to seeing the display advertisement.

Fun Fan Pages

With Facebook Fan Pages becoming more and more creative, I wanted to make a list of Fun Fan Pages to look at:

Gyms:
-24 Hour Fitness
-Bally Total Fitness
-LA Fitness
-Golds Gym
-Planet Fitness

Pizza
-Pizza Hut
-Domino's
-Papa John's

Other Brands
-Pringles
-Starbucks
-Adidas
-Victoria's Secret
-Best Buy

As you can see, the businesses currently taking advantage of these custom designs are larger brands. That doesn't mean you, as a small or medium size business can't get involved. Coffin Media Works can help you design a custom Fan Page for an affordable rate.

Whether you've had a following on Facebook for a while now and the content feels stale or stagnant or if you are new and want to encourage people to become fans, custom Fan Pages are a great way to put your brand head and shoulders above your competitors.

How to Get People on Your Fan Page

So you have created a brand new fan page for your business and you want fans to interact with. If you have had your fan page for a week, a month or even a year, you know that just setting it up doesn't guarantee fans. This is a quick guide to increasing your fan page, whether it is new or old.

Tactic #1: Email Lists
Many business have been updating their customers via email since the beginning of email. This can be done through Constant Contact, Sales Force or any number of CRM's that can send an email to customers who ask to receive them. So, with Tactic #1, you should use your email lists to send out an email that will ask people to become fans. This is easy, and can yield immediate results.

I have seen this be very successful. This was because the business I was working with, didn't abuse their original email lists and sent only important emails, so the value of the Facebook Fan Page Update email was high and yielded a high conversion rate.

Hint: Also, put a link to your Fan Page in the signature of your email.

Tactic #2: Website Promotion
As a business you probably already have a website. Facebook allows you to promote your Fan Page via your website with a "Fan Page Badge." The results will depend on the traffic to your website. If you have a lot of daily traffic, you can see a lot of new fans. This Fan Page Badge promotion also works for your blog and I suggest putting the badge on both.

How To: Go to your Fan Page. Under your business logo/profile picture, click 'Edit Page'. In the Right column click the 'Promote with a Badge' button and follow the steps from there.

Tactic #3: Invite Your Friends
If you are on Facebook, I'm guessing you have a network of friends and colleagues to tap into. Click the "Suggest to Friends" tab that is again under the logo/profile picture on your Fan Page. From there, click away and invite all or a select few friends to become fans of your page.

Tactic #4: Promote with Twitter
If you have immersed your business in social media, twitter is a great way to connect with you customers on a personal level. Remember to mention and post links to your Fan Page regularly.

Tactic #5: Promote with Personal Facebook Profile
Make sure to post a link to your personal Facebook Profile. Friends and Family will click on your status update out of curiosity.

Tactic #6: Point of Sale Marketing
Do you have a retail business? If so, you know to put your most extravagant and popular items in the window and up front. If you have sales, you advertise them on the windows or on A-frames outside your store. Include your Facebook URL on all these: Window, at the register, on the menu, ect...

Helpful hint: To get a vanity Facebook URL visit www.Facebook.com/username and follow the steps to get a short and branded URL..

Tactic #7: Business Cards/Out Bound Marketing
Most businesses have business cards with information as to what you do (Title) and how to contact you (Address, Phone/Fax numbers, Email, Website, ect.) It would be smart to include you new Vanity Facebook Domain (www.Facebook.com/username).

Tactic #8: Targeted Ads
A targeted ad campaign can be a great way to reach your niche audience. Whether you want to reach Jazz fans in the Bay Area or Padres fans in San Diego, the tools are there to target a VERY specific audience.

Helpful Hint: Coffin Media Works provides all inclusive, start to finish managment of targeted ad campaigns and at this date has run over 20,000,000 ads (Thats a lot of zeros!)

Tactic #9: Traditional Media
This tactic has taken shape over the past few months. In the past, Radio ads, TV commercials or Print Ads listed websites as the place to go for more information. Some advertisers are beginning to change that, siting their Facebook domain as the place to go for more information.

To me, this makes all the sense in the world. Why would you not want to try to acquire new fans and stretch that traditional ad dollar a bit further. Because once someone is a fan, you can update them via Facebook about your brand throughout the year FOR FREE!

Tactic #10: Word of Mouth
Last and certainly not least, tell people about it! It's called social media for a reason. Get out there, be social and talk about it with friends, co-workers and even strangers you meet with.

If you implement these strategies, your fan page WILL see an increase! And if you are wondering what to do once you have a fan base, REWARD THEM or THANK THEM for their support! Contests or coupons are a great way to engage your fans. Contact Coffin Media Works to run the most successful Fan Page promotions!