10 Tips To Having An Engaging Facebook Fan Page.

What does it take to build a successful Facebook Fan Page? In this post I’ll share 10 tips you can implement immediately to get the jump on your competition using this social media giant. Strategies I’ve been using to develop the loyal following I have on Facebook for CaribbeanPot.com.

These tips on managing your Facebook fan page is not listed in any particular order.

Reply to comments | Create two way conversations.

I make a real effort to respond to fans as best as I can, especially if it’s a recipe related question. Depending on the size of your fan base and the amount of time you have available to reply to comments, you may need to hire staff to help manage your facebook fan page. I cannot stress how important it is to create two way conversations, as it shows that you take your fans seriously and value their time as they value your input.

Descriptions to photos

Please provide a description to images you post as it will help in the overall conversation. However there are times when I purposely leave out a title or description to a ‘food’ photo I post as I want my fans to ask “what dish is that?” “do you have a recipe for it” and “where can I find the recipe?. This then opens up the door for conversation.

Use engaging copy, images and videos

Along with images and video content (see my tip below about cross referencing other social media platforms below) , it’s important that your copy is engaging. In my case I try to provide useful information about  recipes, culinary traditions and historical facts about food in general. In many instances my food related posts reconnect people to a time and place from their childhood, so you get that emotional connection as well.

Is your fan page for a business?  Give exclusive discounts and credits.

Make your fans feel exclusive and they will spread your message like wildfire. Something like “you get to order first” (before it goes on sale to the general public) or as a fan you get an extra 10% off, goes a long way in making your fans know that you respect their loyalty.

Give sneak peeks (upcoming projects or products).

A simple thing like posting an image of an upcoming recipe (video) or even listing the next 5 recipes I’ll be posting gets my fans hyped! While I was working on my first published cookbook, I gave fans sneak peeks of the inside pages, cover and some of the content. I was then able to presell over 5,000 copies.

Time related posts.

Consider postings centered around holidays, current news, events etc For example.. a week or so leading up to Thanksgiving I posted several posts relating to recipes which are featured during the holidays. How to roast the perfect turkey. How to make a killer stuffing? What’s the difference between a yam and sweet potato? To brine or not to brine.. your turkey! With topics on people’s mind, you’ll be able to better engage them and attract more ‘shares’ and ‘likes’ to your posts.

Link posts to drive people to your website.

For example. After posting a recipe on my website, I then take the most mouthwatering image I have for that recipe and post in on my facebook fan page. Then in the description of the image I mention the name of the dish and post the link to the recipe, so fans can get access to the recipe by simply clicking.

Unite all forms of social media.

In my case I embed links from my youtube videos so fans are aware of my youtube channel. Point posts to my website as much as I can. When I post trivia question I mention that the answer will be posted on Twitter – forcing fans who are interested in the correct answer to at least know that I can also be found on twitter. This way one social media platform helps to build the other by being inter-connected .

Ask for input.

There’s no better place to get honest opinions than from your fans. If you’re about to launch a new product.. ask for their thoughts. Will you buy it? At what cost? When I was about to do a Google hangout, I first asked fans if they would be interested in such an event. I then  got them to tell me what topics they feel I should cover. You won’t believe the overwhelming response we received. So much so that we have enough topics to cover for 50 shows.

Be yourself!

Fans can tell immediately if you’re genuine or not, so why try to put on an act that’s not YOU! Let you shine through and you’ll have life-long fans.

Are you using any of these tips currently? Maybe you have some you’d like to share? Leave your comments below.. and remember to share this post on twitter and facebook (smile).