Why You Need To Have A Facebook Fan Page

Facebook has dominated the news as of late. In fact, the site has become so popular that it is now the #2 site for traffic, second only to Google, and its popularity has even spawned a movie, "The Social Network". This being the case, many business owners have steered away from the site, mainly because they think it's a fad, a toy, or perhaps they aren't familiar enough with it to see the business benefits. Additionally, there have been many stories in the news about privacy issues and not a large amount of business success stories to date. So, why as a business owner would you want to venture into the wild west of social media marketing?

Reason #1 - Reach and Audience

According to Facebook, they currently have over 500 million users. 50% of those users log on daily, giving you, the business owner, the opportunity to interact with these potential customers!

Reason #2 - Viral Marketing

If you have a Fan Page on Facebook, your posts appear on your fans' pages, giving you exposure not only to your fans, but also to all their friends. This can lead to many of their friends becoming fans of your business as well, without any additional marketing on your part.

Reason #3 - List Building

If you build your Fan Page with a Welcome tab and an e-mail capture, it becomes a great way to build your marketing list! Think about it. If someone is interested in becoming a fan of your page, chances are they are a good prospect for you. Having said that, wouldn't it be great to be able to capture their contact information and have their permission to market to them?

Reason #4 - Target Advertising

Facebook has an ads system, similar to Google Ads that allows you to do target advertising. You can use this system to drive traffic to your Fan Page, where you can "double up" on your marketing efforts. If you think about this, potential consumers are much more likely to "like" your Fan Page than they are to want to visit your website and sign up for something there. So, when they arrive at your Fan Page, and they "like" your page, and also sign up to your e-mail list, you now have two ways to market to them, one by building your brand indirectly, and one by directly marketing to them, through your e-mail list.

Reason #5 - Cost

The great thing about having a Facebook Fan Page is that it's relatively low cost. You can start your page without spending a dime, and upgrades like branding your page and adding a Welcome/Landing page with an e-mail capture are relatively inexpensive. You can even outsource the management of your page to an outside marketing company, at a relatively low cost.

There are many other great reasons to have a Facebook Fan Page in addition to the ones that I have listed above. The key thing here, like any other marketing tool that you use, is to understand what you goal and objective is, track and measure your ROI, and make sure that you are getting the most out of your efforts!