Like anything else regarding social media marketing, the key in having a successful Facebook fan page is engagement.  What can you provide your fans with that will keep them coming back and interacting with you and your brand?

Status Updates:  Update your status at least daily.  What is your company doing or working on?  Ask your fans a question or if they need help with something specific.  The status updates feed into your fans Facebook home page and helps you to create awareness by keeping you or your company / product name in front of them.

Discussions:  Ask questions; create a topic that will spark some feedback.  Don’t be afraid to make people think.  You can also help your fans to become stakeholders by asking their input on a new product or service you have in development.  Find out what attributes would be of benefit to them… and remember to let them know you are listening.

Wall:  Set your wall to include posts from you AND your fans.  I visit too many pages that hide fans posts, which gives the appearance that there is no activity or interaction on the page.  People will invest the time in conversing with you if you show them you care enough to share their thoughts with other people in your fan base.   You can always delete anything you consider inappropriate.

Notes:  If you write a blog, import the RSS feed into your notes so they are automatically updated when ever you post a new blog.   Notes also offer you the chance expand upon an idea or share your thoughts directly with your fans.

Media:  Include the photo & video applications.  Let your fans see who you are, what the office looks like or hear you presenting a seminar. 

Custom tabs and boxes:  By incorporating an application like Static FBML you can create custom boxes and tabs to showcase your services or products, provide links back to your web site or specific pages within the site.  You can see some samples here.

Note:  When you click on EDIT on your fan page – you will see a list of boxes.  Click on the edit (pen icon) and view the application settings.  Make sure that they are allowed to post to your wall, as that will bring them into your fans’ home page stream as well! 

Have FUN! :  Make your fan page fun and interactive.  Run a contest, spark people’s interest, keep them enthusiastic about interacting with you.

How do you use your Facebook Fan Page?

Related articles by Zemanta

• 8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page (mashable.com)
• 5 ways to Facebook success (publishingtalk.eu)