Twelve Reasons Why You Need a Facebook Fan Page

by Scott Jangro on October 15, 2009


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Have you created a Facebook Fan page yet?

If not, why not? Here’s twelve reasons why you should.

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Why You Need a Facebook Fan Page…

1. To many people, Facebook is the Internet. If you’re not there, you’re nowhere. (We need to help them.)

2. Social proof. Get a lot of fans and it looks good on you. (As opposed to me and my four fans, including myself. Help!)

3. People use Facebook. Every. Single. Day. Do you wish you had more interaction with your users? This is an easy way to get that. (The hard way is using Facebook’s API. Cue number four…)

4. It’s easy. As opposed to developing a Facebook application which is about as fun as performing root canal surgery on yourself. (And not nearly as well documented.)

5. It’s free. Next…

6. Fan pages have a great widget that integrates with your own websites. (If you’re reading this on AffBook.com, it’s over there to the right. If not, get over there.)

7. You can post messages to your fan base like a powerful mail list. People actually respond to Facebook messages in a creepy Pavlovian way.

8. A fan page is like Facebook for your business (or a website.) You can have an unlimited number of Facebook pages. You can only have one personal page. (Don’t try, they will get you.)

9. You can get all your website promotion and business off of your personal Facebook page and stop annoying all your family and friends from middle school. (They don’t get what you do anyway and they never will.)

10. Facebook fan pages are very customizable. You can add custom tabs and boxes in the sidebar, including FBML and HTML, drive visitors to your newsletter signup, websites, etc.

11. No walled garden! Your fan page is available to the world (including search engines. ahem!) Your profile page is private only to your friends.

12. You’re going to do it someday, you might as well do it now. Don’t be like me one year from now and be just starting out.

I’m embarrassed that it took me this long to set one up for our websites. I’m currently working on my Jangro Facebook fanpage. You can see it over on the right sidebar.

Seriously, fan me up! Do it. Now.

Want to create your own but don’t know where to start? Facebook can be really difficult to navigate for stuff like this. I’ll be following up with another post on how to create your own fan page, but you can get started here.

  • Great Post. I became a fan as well Scott.

    Jason Berkes
  • Hi,

    I disagree with this point.

    To many people, Facebook is the Internet. If you’re not there, you’re nowhere. (We need to help them.)

    Although Facebook is the hottest social media site other than twitter right now, it is not the Internet. At the end of the day you may think that its your real estate but its not, it belongs to the company, Facebook.

    Hence get your own site up, use Facebook as a feeder site rather than treating it like your own site. History will repeat itself. Myspace have been taken over, there will be a next big thing coming.
  • To say Facebook is the Internet was a bit of hyperbole, but it's not so far off for a large demographic, just as AOL was essentially the Internet for a big chunk of people 10 years ago.

    Of course, you should maintain your own sites, but it's not an effective play to think you can simply siphon the action out of Facebook.

    Those people want to be there, so expose them to your properties, but also engage them there in Facebook.
  • At last a "fools" guide to why!! Thanks
  • I created a fan page awhile back for a national contest I was in. I felt a bit strange creating a fan page for myself, but somehow, in a matter of days... I had about a 100... by the end of the contest, I had over 200 fans!

    I've still got the page, but I'm not entirely sure how to use it effectively. I've started blogging as of late, and I guess I could connect it all, but I also started another fan page for that because I'm kind of addicted. Ha.

    I manage the fan pages for my alumni chapter here in DC and then started (haven't really followed through) on another page for all the SEC alumni in this area.

    I tried the integration between WordPress and Facebook notes, but I want people to be directed to my blog, so they can comment there. I like the ease of posting that notes affords me, but I'd like the pictures incorporated... I feel that those are key to maintaining a reader's attention. I've used NetworkedBlogs, SocialRSS, and Facebook Notes. Have I missed something?

    Sorry for taking up so much space, dude. I'm intrigued by this affiliate marketing stuff.
  • I gave up a long time ago on trying to corral the conversations back to my blog. The conversations need to happen where they happen, whether that's on Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, or your blog.

    I've had some great discussions happen on the Facebook notes versions of my blog posts. And why not. There's no way all those people would have kept it going on my blog. That's just not where they hang out.
  • One thing that drives me crazy with conversations on Facebook fan pages is that there is no notification when somebody makes a comment.

    They've got it for Facebook profiles, so I don't get why it's not in the fan pages.

    It's resulted in my missing some comments by days.
  • Shawn, that's very true. If you enable SMS notifications, though, would that at least send to your phone?

    There are a number of sites I've seen recently who are extended the capability of Facebook Pages by implementing some pretty amazing features. My only problem is, which one do I choose?

    Ideally, I would love the spread of Disqus incorporated into a Facebook comment in that when someone posts, it's then available elsewhere, but alas, that would be part of my perfect world.

    Shawn, I tried to become a fan of yours, but I ran into some difficulty.

    By the way, do y'all like Disqus or no? I have it on my blog and not sure if it really helps? I use the Thesis theme, and I'm guessing that's all I'd need for SEO purposes?

    Liking this discussion...
  • Hi Stephen -

    I haven't figured out a solution to get fan page alerts, yet.

    Is it from on the Facebook site that you're having trouble with joining my page, or through the widget on my blog?

    I've tried Disqus and Intense Debate, but currently prefer JS-Kit for comments.
  • Hmm... I never looked at it that way.

    I guess you're right... Facebook is the new interwebs...

    I'll be a monkey's sister. Who knew?! :-)
  • Hey you have 8 more reasons that I do! :) I'm one of those ones that have multiple fan pages..hee! hee! Just became a fan of your page!
  • Hi Naomi, thanks!
  • Two thumbs up, Scott!!! Great 12 reasons, and kudos on getting your fan page launched!!! Btw, as soon as you're at 25 fans you can secure your own username at http://facebook.com/username. I just added you to my fan page faves, hehe!!! :)

    Cheers
    @marismith
  • Thanks so much Mari.

    I set up my own username url here on a subdomain, http://facebook.jangro.com. I already grabbed http://facebook.com/jangro for my personal facebook page. I guess I'll have to come up with something different for my fan page.
  • I would suspect that Facebook Fan Pages also can rank well for name-based searches. If you're comfortable with making your traditional profile page index-able (in search) as well, that's two more opportunities to control positive real estate for your personal brand in search engine results.
  • Yes, my fan page is in the top 10 results for my name in Google.
  • Another great post, Scott. Just fanned you up! ;)
  • Thanks Geno!
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