The first thing you need to know about the new Facebook Fan Pages is that they are open to the public. People no longer need to be a member of Facebook to be able to see your business / organization’s fan page. This, in my opinion, is a fabulous upgrade. If you do not have a web site, or have a static web site, the Facebook Fan page now offers you the opportunity to create a dynamic space on the web.
Image via CrunchBaseNotice how much fan pages now look like personal profile pages. The tabs, a wall, an info tab and the ability to add other tabs at your discretion (four more tabs will be visible). The Wall Tab, Info Tab and remaining tabs all have their own unique URL, which allows you to promote a section at a time. If you are holding an event and post it on your Facebook Fan Page, you can send people to that link if you do not have a calendar on your own site.
The Stream Tab contains only information that the you (the administrator) has posted. The Wall tab is a time line of activity from the administrator and fans. The info tab gives you the ability to add detail. Be a little creative here, expand on your “why” for doing business. Give your fans and visitors greater insight into who you are and why you do what you do.
If you upload photos (hey why not) you can now tag them. This gives you the ability to “touch” your fans like you’ve not had before. Personalize the experience for them as much as possible by adding your fans names to any photos you post. You can also post notes, links, add events and a discussion board (much the same way you do for groups), and video. The exciting part is, when you post any of the above items, it does not show up on your personal profile, but rather under the business profile. That means that you can now create activity on your Fan Page that will get listed in your fans’ homepage, thereby constantly putting your brand in front of them!
One of the biggest changes is the status update for the fan page. You can update your Fan Page’s status the exact same way that you update your own. Word of caution here…. avoid being spammy. Since fan’s can comment on your status, use it as a conversation starter…. ask questions, offer tips and insights – remember the ultimate goal is to engage, educate & share to create advocates, those who talk about your brand and investors, those who feel they are a part of the brand (they have a stake).
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I have a page for my client’s business. I used to be able to post links to an event as an administrator. My client’s business page wall would say that the “business” posted a link to the event. Now when I try to post a link to the event, it shows up on my PERSONAL facebook page. Yikes! My client & I don’t need that kind of transparency! These are 2 totally separate personalities and doesn’t work with the new interface. How can I manage the client’s page ONLY as that pages’ admin?
Hi Ann –
I ran into the same problem. Make sure the events app is installed on the page.
If you continue to have a problem – feel free to email me the link.
I’m trying to figure out how to add an “email sign up” box on a fan page, similar to how Sephora has. Anyone know details of how to do that?
Check out my post on using the Facebook HTML Application http://www.newward.com/articles/?p=93
The main disadvantage I see in the new Facebook fan pages is that as an admin you can’t comment back to your users comments on your status! This to me makes it more one-sided and will make the interactivity with the consumer very short-term. After a while they will not think that you are listening. Anytime you try to comment back to a user, it disappears into thin air. I sure hope this is a bug that is being worked on.
I agree – I wanted to thank a client who posted a nice comment on my fan page and could not.
Try going here http://www.facebook.com/facebook?ref=pf#/facebook?v=app_10531514314&viewas=675796115 Leave FB feebback.
hi Melissa, thanks for the valuable sharing.
Facebook management has their heads so far up their (you know what’s) that they are driving this, once awesome, platform into the ground.
Facebook is useless for me now….
Does anyone know if its possible to post a link to your fan page on your personal page. When I try to do so it says it can not be posted on the wall
Sure – it can be posted like any other link… can you show me the error?
So I have a Fan Page for my djing and a personal page as well. If I am djing an even that I personally am not throwing, it usually is created by someone else. And 1000’s of people who are my fans are invited.. I do not want to have to recreate the same event and reinvite them, but i do want this even on my fan page. Is there any way to do this?
does anyone know how to change the url of your fan site on facebook. say for eg facebook.com/thechrismoylesshow for The Chris Moyles Show – this is a specific url, as opposed to http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stephen-Nolan-Show/91379563382?ref=mf# for The Stephen Nolan Show. Any ideas?
Fan page URL’s are auto generated by Facebook based on the name. My suggestion would be to purchase a domain name and use it as a referring URL to the page.
Tyler – Create your events in your fan page and post a link to it on your personal profile. You can invite both friends and fans by doing it that way.
When I try to be someone’s fan from my business page it makes me a personal fan — can I fix this?
Jill – the short answer is no. But you can make that page a “favorite” of your page.
There is a FB app that allows you to change the URL to http://www.profile.to/whatever. It makes it much easier for people to find you.
Can you create a sep. url and do a redirect? If yes,how would you suggest>
Thanks,great post
Rosie – You can purchase a domain name at Godaddy for under $10 and have it redirect automatically anywhere – including a Facebook fan page. The profile.to app works as well – only for fan pages it is company.to
I put up a fanpage yesterday, someone wrote on the wall and it ended up on my personal profile and not the wall of the fanpage. Has anyone else had this happen? does anyone know what to do about this?
How do i find out who created a facebook fan page?
Is there any way to contact that person?
I HAD AN EX-EMPLOYEE START MY BUSINESS’S FAN PAGE AND NEED TO TAKE HER OFF ASAP AS THE ‘ADMINISTRATOR”– HOW CAN I DO THAT???
HELP!!!
Elizabeth – are you an administrator of the page? If so you can remove them. If you need more help, please provice the link – I’ll take a peek.
Hello : I administer a fan page and want to make some of the fans TEMPORARY co-administrators; one for 15 days at a time, then the next, etc.
Is this possible? Will they need the email and password to sign in? This part is easy as I can change passwords…Thanks for ANY input
You can email me directly at lian@tempestentertainment.com , Lian
Lian – thank IS a great question… so far as I know the ans. in no – there is no way to create temporary admins or fans. Fans opt in or opt out, the admin has no control over that. You have to manually create admins, or remove them.
I inadvertently installed an important username to my facebook profile but I thought I was installing it for one of my fan pages. If I change my profile username to a new one, can I then select it as the username for one of my fan pages? Both are in my account there and I am the admin of both.
Frank – once you have your username, you can not change it 🙁
Melissa – Is there any way to directly contact the administrator of a Fan page? I’m working with a group of nonprofit associations who’d like to discuss acquiring an established Fan Page… but the Fan Page admin hasn’t posted since March and thus far hasn’t responded to a request posted on the Wall to contact us. The associations are trying to Report it to Facebook itself, but so far haven’t had any luck getting a response. Suggestions? Thank you!
Eva –
You can not see who the admins of a page are nor can you transfer the page away from the original creator. Facebook may not be much more help unless the page is violating a copy or trademark of some sort.
I wish you luck – but unfortunatelly, your best bet may be to start a new page and hope the fans follow.
Same question as Frank above about changing Profile username so that the previous username can be used for a Fan Page. Your responseis noted, however it now appears that facebook allows you to change your profile name once. Would this work now?
We have a fan page thats controlled by one of our employees that created it. My question is how to not lose this page, as we have many fans, but be able to convert it to its own e-mail and username. The owner and myself have twittter and want to connect it to our fan page but cant as it only shows under his personal account not the fan page as needed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Clint –
The page owner can not be changed. Admins can be added – but once a page is created under a personal FB account, that account remains the owner forever.
I am working on a fan page for our local library. Looking for a way to disallow comments or any postings from fans. I was able to change the settings so that fans can’t post, but they are still able to comment on the library’s statuses. Is there a way to disable this? Thanks!
I have a Facebook fan page for my website. So far it has built up 73 followers in the 3 weeks it has been going.
Now I would like to have the new user name for the page that FB are offering. Obviously I will need to change the link on Facebook button on my website. But will I lose contact with all my current fans? What do I have to do to avoid “dropping off their radar”?
Hey There – One of our employees created a fanpage and we cannot figure out who it is (I’ve asked all the possible people to look and no one seems to be attached to this page). Currently it sits idle and I’d like to give the owners administrative privileges. Is there any way to find out who the own or administrator of a page is? Can you message them or do they get any alerts? That may help me figure out this mystery.
Thanks!
Margaret –
Fan pages are not the tool to use if you want 100% lock down on comments. Status messages can always be commented on. As far as I know there is no way to disable this.
Lin –
No worries – once you get your custom page name, adding a new widget to your web site will show the existing page and you will not lose your current fans.
Kirsten –
I have a client with a similar issue. The most straight forward tactic is to simply post a message on the fan page asking who the admin is and requesting they contact you. If you do not get a response, you can contact Facebook to remove the page (if it is a trademark violation) and recreate the page yourself giving admin access to whoever you need to.
Unfortunately there is currently no way to see who is an admin of a page unless you are an admin also.
I am looking at creating either a group or fan page on behalf of a client. I am leaning towards a fan page but need to know whether any fans comments can be approved by the administrators before they are posted on to the fan page?
The short answer in no. Having said that… you can “hide” fan comments if you want to. Fan pages are public… but best for marketing. Groups can approve members… but comments posted are still seen by group members.
Whenever I get a new fan, I like to click “See All” so I can see who the new fan is. I noticed you cannot do this anymore. Is there a way you can set it so you can click “See All”?
Hi I created a fan page
example
Fashion Looks and Username is http://www.facebook.com/fashionstyles
now i realize i want to change the fan page name to fashion styles the same as the username… so I plan on deleting my fan page and recreating it.
Will i be able to use my username again being i deleted the old one.
You can not use the same user name twice. The link above goes to a personal profile, not a fan page. You do not want to delete your facebook account to rename a fan page. Consider using a hyphen or a variation of the name Fashion-Styles, FashionandStyle, etc.
I like the new fan pages, theirs a few “celebrities” i like to follow on their fan pages and its a great way to interact with other fans and the people themselves. I love this addition to facebook.