FBML Wizard

Tips for a Great Facebook Fan Page

Now that you've got a Facebook fan page, there are some best-practices and optimization tricks you should know to make sure you're leveraging it properly.

Make the Most Out of Your Fan Page Profile Image

Facebook fan page profile images can be up to 200 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall.

If you upload an image larger than 200x600, Facebook will automatically resize it down proportionally so that it is no larger than 200x600.

Use the template included here as a guide.

You'll notice the top 200x200 pixels is sectioned off. This is because Facebook will automatically generate a 50x50 thumbnail for inclusion with your wall posts based off a 200x200 square of your current profile image, so you want to make sure your entire logo/company name will fit into that small thumbnail cleanly, without any of your additional messaging getting squished in there as well.

Be Respectful of Your Users' Time

The relationship with your users is a precious one. By "liking" your page, they are voluntarily giving you permission to communicate directly with them. If you flood them with marketing offers and overly sales-y posts, there's a good chance they'll abandon you as quickly as they signed up.

Plan your status updates and posts in advance, so you can make sure they are checked for typos, and that they are scheduled well. Slamming your new fans with three or more announcements in their news stream is a good way to alienate them and make them decide you're too noisy for them.

Make every posting count, and don't overdo it.

Links, Video and Status - Know the Difference

If you embed a link or video in your status update, it will automatically switch from being a status update, where the user sees what you've written at the top of your fan page, to a wall post, which will become visible on your fan page's wall.

Facebook lets you segment post visibility based on fans' country/state/city, and based on language. If your posts relate to regional events or announcements, consider using this option to make sure only the folks who can actually act on it are bothered with it.

"Send an Update to Fans" As a Last Resort

One of the tools you have as the owner of a Facebook fan page is the ability to send a Facebook Inbox message to people who have "liked" your page.

We strongly recommend against using this as a communication device unless absolutely necessary. Sending inbox messages triggers an email to the user's primary email account, and can be considered pretty intrusive. Once a month is reasonable, but once a week is probably pushing it.

Facebook gives you the ability to segment this list based on user's location, age and gender. Examine your messages before you send them out and see whether or not segmentation might make sense for each announcement.

When Posting Local Events, Consider Segmenting

Unfortunately, the Events application in Facebook doesn't offer Facebook fan page managers many options for posting to only a segment of their users. Fortunately, with a little extra work, this is still possible.

Before creating your event, be sure to turn off the ability for the Events application to post to your wall:

Then go to the Events application and create your event normally. Once the event is created, you can post it to your wall using the same segmentation options mentioned above. This can make it easier to display important events in a user's news stream, but only when they are local to the user. Imagine if you were a fan of a popular rock group, and they sent every single show on a multi-national tour to the wall. It would get pretty frustrating. Using this technique, you can target events towards people who are likely to be able to attend.

Note about segmentation: As a page administrator, you will see all of the wall posts and events posted to the page, even if they were segmented.