Facebook is one of the hottest social networking sites online. Facebook pages literally give companies a social networking “face.”  Facebook pages show off your company, products and services to MILLIONS of Facebook users across the world.

Why You Need a Facebook Page
You can create a “Fan” page for any topic, group, business profile etc. It’s almost like a virtual “meeting” place for your fans to gather, share information and interact. You are the administrator and oversee what is shown and shared on your “Fan” page.

• Formal web presence – highly visible to search engines

• Works like your personal profile but more interactive – send wall messages, add applications, etc.

• Unlimited number of fans - build “mailing lists” from fan base (NEW business contacts!)

• Company name recognition/branding

• Allows you to research demographics about your “fans” (target markets) – interests, profile information, etc.

• Allows you to customize pages - create events, start discussions, add video content, post polls, etc.

• Link to your blogs and websites (company promotions, etc.)

• Pages tend to get more followers than “Groups”

How to Create a Facebook Page
It’s simple and easy to create a Facebook page – as long as you know how to navigate the in’s and out’s of Facebook. You can save your marketing dollars because creating a Facebook account won’t cost you any money!

1. Before you create a Facebook page, you need to sign up for a Facebook account.

2. Log into your Facebook account and go to Create New Facebook Page

3. Choose your “Category” (how your page will be shown up in Pages Directory)

4. Then choose the “Name” of your page. Remember that your name is permanent and will show up in the search engines accordingly to the name you choose (and shows up within the URL of your page).

5. Fill in the “Captcha Box” and you’re ready to go!

6. You can also customize your page with RSS feeds, page information (details about your page), images/photos, etc. The more information you have on your page, the more attractive it LOOKS!

7. Another trick is to choose a username that makes it easy for contacts to find you (you can also create your own). After you choose a  username, click on the link “Set a username for your Pages.” A blue dialogue box will open up with a dropdown menu of each page you created. You need at least 100 fans before you can create a “vanity URL.”

8. Make your pages creative and interesting – think awareness and information – make people WANT to become a fan of your page (and to pass along your page to others!) People will only become a fan if your page really captures their attention!

How to Promote Your Facebook Page
Facebook basically does all the work for you – your page will be listed in its Pages Directory which makes it visible in the search engines.

You can also take a few extra steps to give your page an extra promotional boost:

• Add your pages to other popular social networking sites such as Digg and Twitter

• Remember to cross-promote your Facebook pages on email signatures, forums, blogs and website

You just set up your brand new forum on vBulletin and you’re ready to take the online community by storm. So you have the forum ready to go, but where’s the traffic and members? A successful online community doesn’t happen overnight.

Your company can be on the online community map in no time IF you have powerful tools to build successful forums.

• Build FAST! – No one wants to sign up for a forum that only has four members. You need to build your community FAST. Don’t launch marketing campaigns one-by-one – blast them out ALL at once and watch your membership GROW!

• Choose ONE NICHE – Hone into a specific niche. Don’t choose broad niches such as “real estate agents.” You need a way for people to identify with your community. “Los Angeles real estate agents who sell to Hollywood celebrities” will reach more members compared to just “real estate agents.” By focusing on a specific niche, it’ll be easier to build your forum over time.

• Make it EASY and CREATIVE for members to spread the word! – Offer freebies and giveaways for people who sign up the most members. This will get people’s attention fast and grow your community quickly. Be creative – don’t use the same email marketing gimmick everyone else uses. When people send invitations to five friends to sign up for your community, you won’t get far with “Please sign up to XYZ Forum.” Think outside the box: “John Doe answered the question – what’s so great about Sally Smith? Check out his answer today!

• Keep it SIMPLE – Don’t clutter your site with unnecessary words and jargon. The fastest way to lose members (or potential members) is to have a site that’s not easy to navigate.

• Add FACEBOOK – Facebook is the fastest-growing and hottest social networking site online. You are missing the social media boat if you ignore incorporating Facebook into your community. There are over 100 million users on Facebook – potential members for your site! Add viral applications that imports Facebook contacts so people spread the word quickly about your site.

• Attract POPULAR PEOPLE FIRST – Attract the leaders to your forum and the rest will follow! So how do you find those leaders? Think back to your high school days. The football players and cheerleaders were popular and drew the crowds. Use that type of strategy when you attract leaders to your forum. Invite college alumni star football players (maybe they went pro?) – for X amount of sign ups, offer a big party with free food featuring alumni football players.  FREE food offers will spread like wildfire and people will follow “star” ringleaders!

• MODERATE your community – If your forum is jam-packed with spam, junk mail, and product promotions you will TURN OFF potential members. Take an active moderation role – stay on top of user requests, clean up abuses and keep forum topics on track.

• SHOW ME THE MONEY! – If your forum isn’t making money, then you are merely dabbing with a “hobby”. If you are serious about making a profit, look into monetization programs. Work with companies to offer targeted products and services that  members will buy (and love!) Make your forum work for YOU!

• Be ACTIVE – Don’t allow your community to become idle—a BIG mistake! Encourage activity and generate interest through contests that appeal to your niche. If you are appealing to college alumni football players, maybe an alumni beer mug or a picture with a bikini-clad model wearing their old football jersey might peak their interest. Find out what your niche wants and speak their language. WOW them constantly -  you want them to come back for MORE and participate in your community!