Facebook 'Fan Pages' are effective advertising
Monday, 02 February 2009
90 out of 100 of the world’s biggest brands have ‘Fan’
pages on Facebook as the social network proves to be an effective advertising platform after all.
Despite the spectacular failure of Facebook’s Beacon advertising platform, brand Fan pages were one of the biggest social media success stories for brands in 2008.
Fan Pages were launched in November 2007 to give brands an official presence on the social network. One of the fastest growing Fan pages not surprisingly belonged to Barack Obama fan page in the lead up to the historical US presidential election, attracting more than 4.5 million fans. The Obama fan page grew virally but was supported additionally by social ads on Facebook to extend its fan base. The President has been dubbed a ‘man of the digital age’ for his internet savvy strategies to recruit younger voters.
Fan pages are a brand’s official presence on Facebook and therefore to the World. It is therefore critical that these fan pages are professionally set up, designed and promoted to reflect brands values in order to represent a credible and authentic point of contact between the brand and consumer.
Facebook fan pages can be a highly cost effective way of creating and empowering positive brand ambassadors in a fun and easy way, especially in the current economic climate. The best fan pages need investment to ensure that the page has interesting, relevant content which is updated on a regular basis. Fan pages should also offer added value to fans through sneak previews, downloads or interesting news.
Here is the latest top 25 Facebook Fan Pages:
Still need convincing? Here are 6 reasons why you should consider creating a Facebook fan page and the search engine marketing benefits it can bring:
1. Pages are public.
Most of Facebook is behind a login, preventing search engines from indexing. However, some Fan pages are not behind a login and thus search engines can index the page. Hopefully, people will stumble on the result in SERPs, visit the Facebook page, and then get to your site via the link (see reason #2).
2. Pages include links.
Because the pages are public, you can get some nice facebook.com link credit. You can’t use an anchor text, but hey, it’s free.
3. Send “updates to fans”.
One of the greatest features is that you can send “updates” to fans whenever you want. It’s a nice way of building a database of interested users. Send messages about new products, updated website, etc.
4. You control the page.
Making the page before a Fan or a competitor is critical. You want to be able to send the messages, edit or remove sections, and control the information to an extent.
5. News feed.
When a someone joins a Fan page, it’s published in their News feed for all their to read (unless they have turned this off). It makes someone joining your Fan page somewhat viral.
6. It’s free and easy.
Making a Fan page takes just a few minutes – add some information, URL, and upload the logo and you’re done. You can make your page here.
Finally...
PR is currently one of the few forms of marketing thriving during the recession so 2009 will inevitably see Facebook fan page activity increase as companies compete in the current climate. We will check back in 6 months time to see how the top 25 Facebook fan pages have changed, if Obama is still leading the way or Homer can steal the crown...keep you posted!
Interesting article and informarmation to be fair.
It helped me a lot because i have been thinking about creating a facebook or twitter page for my free flash clocks blog, which i am sure i will have some fans there to support my project, so i must thank you for this.
Posted by: Lyon | Wednesday, 04 March 2009 at 12:13 AM
thanks very much. undoubtedly these facebook fan pages are a great for seo. I will be setting one up for our business. does anyone know if the facebook groups can be indexed by search engines?
Posted by: gaz-j | Monday, 16 March 2009 at 08:51 AM
Hi,
Nice article. Relating this point "5. News feed.
When a someone joins a Fan page, it’s published in their News feed for all their to read (unless they have turned this off). It makes someone joining your Fan page somewhat viral. " I'm trying to know how Facebook Fan pages are.
I created a fan page but when fans publish in my wall or I publish any content in the fanpage wall it doesn't appear to my contact/fans. I did some test with some friends of mine and I don't understand why publishing comments in others Fan Page it appears in their contact newsfeed.
There's anyspecial option or something similar to know?
Thanks!!
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