Developing a Facebook fan page from scratch is difficult. Not the actual page setup, but the aspect where you actually have to get people to care about and "Like" your page. WSI Online Marketing has created a number of techniques that will help you to increase your Facebook fan base.

1. Embed Widgets On your Site: Facebook has several social plugins which you can place on your website and blog. The Fan Box widgit is now the "Like Box" that works to display your up to date fan page stream and a selection of actual fans.


2. Invite Your Email Subscribers: If you have an opt-in email list you msut definitely send out an invite to your subscribers via email letting them realize that your fan page also exists.

3. Add To Your Email Signature: It's the small details that count. Promote your page via a Facebook link which will appear in every email you send!

4. Generate a Powerful Welcome Tab: The more attractive your landing tab, the more engaged people will be in what you're trying to "sell." Make it appealing! What sets you apart from each other Facebook fan page?


5. Use Facebook Apps: There are a lot of Facebook apps out that make your page interactive whether it be utilizing promotions, polls, surveys, video feeds, etc so. Get your fans involved. Doing so can help create a word of mouth. An example of app integration is National Truck Rental “€100 euro IKEA” campaign. National Truck Rental offered their fans a €100 euro IKEA voucher and free rental of one of our vans or trucks to get the purchases home. By filing out a form, a post goes out onto your Facebook wall and into the News Feeds of all your friends, thus providing National Truck Rental with valuable exposure. (For custom apps, see companies like Promoboxx, FanAppz, Wildfire Apps, Involver, Virtue, Context Optional.)


6. Integrate The Facebook Comment Feature: A fantastic instance of this is a T-shirt brand called Threadless. On their landing tab, you can browse and buy t-shirts as well as "Like" and comment on any of the items and choose to have that comment published to your own, personal profile.


7. Get Fans To Tag Pictures: Take pictures of everything! Load these photos and encourage your fan base to tag themselves. This is excellent exposure!

8. Insert Videos And Embed On Your Site: It is easy to load video content to your fan page and then take the source code and embed it on your website/blog. Once you do this a button to you fan page loads next to the video!


9. Facebook Ads: You should be able to increase your fan base employing Facebook's own social ad feature. This is true even if you're working with a limited weekly budget.


10. Connect To Your Twitter: Connect your Twitter to your Facebook and your Facebook to your Twitter. Doing so will make your life so much easier!

11. Use Print Media: Look at each and every piece of print advertising you use in your business. Is your Facebook fan page clearly displayed? It should be...

12. Display At Your Business: If your business is run from a physical store (not e-commerce) put a placard on the front office letting your potential customers know you're on Facebook. Have a straightforward and memorable URL.

13. Use The Share Button: Share posts, links and photos from your fan page on your personal page. Share it with friends. By doing this you are connecting with a completely different group of users than those just on your fan page.

14. Use the @tag: As long as you’re a fan of your own fan page, it is easy to “@ tag” it on your own personal profile wall. From time to time, it is easy to let your friends know about| something taking place on your fan page by creating a personal status update that includes tagging your fan page with an @ tag. Basically begin typing the “@” symbol and the first few letters of your fan page name this works whether you have your username registered or not, and it will appear from a drop-down list to select. This then helps make it a nice, subtle hyperlink that your friends can choose to click on.


15. Suggest To Friends: On each fan page is a "Suggest To Friends" button where it is easy to send invites to you personal friends to become fans of your page. It's vital to monitor who you invite. Sometimes you may possibly be doing yourself more harm by just inviting people to invite people.