Facebook fan pages (a.k.s Public Profile Pages) are a special space within Facebook that is dedicated to your business.  It acts like a small, but very powerful web site. 

These pages are easily shared among members of Facebook.  Public profiles are also indexed by the search engines and easily viewed by anyone on the Internet.

Through the Insights, you can drill down and see the demographics of your fans.  What percent are male vs. female, age groups, what cities are they located in and predominant language.  You can also see what your post quality score is.  Post quality measures how engaging your posts have been to Facebook users over a seven-day window. 

Your Post Quality is determined by the percentage of your fans that engage when you post content to your Page. It is calculated on a rolling seven-day basis. The number of stars depends on how your Post Quality compares to similar Pages (for example, Pages that have a similar number of fans.)

Engaging fans through your page entails providing relevant, engaging information that encourages participation.  Ask questions, offer the opportunity for your fans to provide feedback.  Allow fans to post questions and interact with your business.   Status updates, notes, wall posts, photos, videos, all flow into the news feed, keeping your fans abreast of the latest updates to your page.  Providing engaging content is the best way to get fans to interact with your page. 

Custom tabs and boxes can be created to further engage your fans and encourage new fans to join.  You can offer Facebook only promotions, fan only specials or simply show your fans the goods and services you offer through a custom tab or box.  Using eye catching graphics and incorporating them into the custom boxes and tabs is a sure fire way to get fans attention. 

While a fan page will not replace your web site, it is an excellent supplement.  If your business does not have a web page yet, this is a viable way to get your feet wet.  Customizing the public profile allows you to further engage your fans and differentiate you from the competition.