5 Key Ways to Engage your Facebook Business Page Fans

We've all heard that if you are in business, you need to have a Facebook Business page or Fan page.
Now that you've gone ahead and built your Facebook fan page, what's the next step?
If you build it they will come, or will they?
If you now do nothing with your Facebook page, it will do nothing for you. Congratulations, you have a cyber-slug!
If you don't have the time to spend keeping your page updated, or you don't have the cash in your business to pay someone else to keep your page updated, you are wasting your time. It's that simple.

We're a fickle crowd. If you are not keeping your page current and populated with new and interesting bits and pieces to read, you won't be top of mind with those that have liked your page.

Without posting on your wall, your fans are not seeing your page in their news feed. Your fans will have to remember to find and revisit your page. They won't.

When was the last time you actively visited a page on Facebook purely because you thought of it?
Or did you see a post or comment in your news feed from a friend that caught your eye and you clicked through to find out more.

My guess is option 2. Most of us operate that way. We see what others are doing or talking about and then go and have a look see.

With that in mind, how can you apply the browsing habits of most online users to your Facebook page strategy to ensure people continue to visit your page?

1. Post 2 to 3 times per week

Yes, per week. Be on your wall posting articles, comments, questions, videos, photos, etc at least 2 to 3 times per week to keep your page fans engaged.

If you are not talking to your page visitors, someone else will be.

2. Post at different times of the day / different days of the week

Unless you know exactly when your page fans are online, make an effort to post at different times of the day and also, post on different days of the week.

By posting at different times of the day, you can make sure you are appearing in the newsfeed of your fans at differing times. People are online at different times of the day. Some like to early morning browse. Some jump online after lunch. Others do a quick catch up on what's happening at dinner time or when they've finally put the kids to bed and have a few moments to themselves.

Likewise, some people are more active on weekdays. Others browse on the weekend when things have slowed down at work.

Know when your target market is online and post specifically to tap into their peak browsing times.

3. Repost your content

It's perfectly fine to write one single article and post the same article to your wall 2 or 3 times. Just make sure you spread out the time between the posting.

For example, you may post an article at the start of the month and repost it at the end of the month. Why? No one can possibly be on Facebook 24 hours a day. There will be fans that would love to read your content but were not online when you first posted it.

Reposting gives people the chance to catch it on the second time around.

4. Post Content from other Sources

Be seen as in information disseminator. As well as sharing your own information, source material that you know will appeal to your target market.

If you read an article that was helpful to you in business, chances are, it will also benefit others. So share it.

Your Facebook page visitors will appreciate the gesture and may even "on-share" it, citing you as the reference point where they found it.

This is where the ability to tag in Facebook can be really useful. An article you found and posted can easily be shared as a link by someone else, with a tag to your page as a thank you for sharing. Win-win!


5. Respond to Comments or Questions

If someone posts a question or a comment on your page, reply. Sounds simple, but I'm amazed how many people don't even bother to visit their own page to see what is happening on the wall.

Engaging with your visitors is an ideal way to establish rapport and build up a following of loyal fans who will love to hear from you.

If you do this, chances are next time they have a question in your field of expertise, they'll ask you. Their friends will also see that they've posted on your Facebook business page wall and some will click through to see why.

Why Did you Build a Facebook Business Page?

Your aim when building a Facebook business page should be to generate traffic to your page, as a source of potential leads, clients and customers.

Your challenge is to keep them interested when they get there. Keep them engaged. Keep them coming back.

That way they'll see you as the expert and seek your advice and opinion when they have an issue to solve or question to ask.