New feature added to Fan Pages that allows you to target an individual Status Update so only specific fans see the update.  If you have a drop-down menu next to your Status Update “Share” button, click the arrow, select Custom and then enter the area you want to target.  Only fans in your specified geographic area will see your Status Update.

You may be asking “why” you would want a Status Update to be visible to only specific fans.  I thought of two reasons right off the bat.  You can:

1. Target a status update that applies to a local seminar, workshop, meetup, etc…so that only fans in that geographic area see the status update.
2. Target a status update that applies to a holiday that is only celebrated in a specific region.  For instance, I plan to post a Happy Thanksgiving message on my Fan Page and target it to United States Fans.

If you have Facebook Fans in multiple countries, and you post status updates that frequently only apply to a specific region, be sure to use this new feature.  Your fans will be less likely to unfan your page if you target messages so that they aren’t seeing a lot of posts that don’t apply to them.

I’d love to have you post a comment below to let me and readers know what other ways you think you might use this new feature.

Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow

Become a Fan of our Fan Page on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/SocialNetworking4Biz

Facebook has published guidelines that you must follow when promoting your Facebook Fan Page outside of Facebook.  The guidelines cover:

• Use of the Facebook name
• Use of Facebook icons, logos, visuals, screen shots, badges, etc…
• Use of the registered trademark symbol (and legal copy to use)
• When a Trademark License Agreement is necessary

As stated in Facebook’s guidelines, “Please note that Facebook reserves the right to remove or disable access to any Facebook Page that violates our Terms of Use or our Promotional Guidelines below.”

Click to read Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines.

Facebook also has guidelines for running promotions, contest, sweepstakes, etc…on your Fan Page.  These particular guidelines will be discussed in a separate blog post.

Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow

If you are going to use Facebook for Business, you need to establish some guidelines to maximize your efficiency.  Answering questions like the ones below will help you establish a plan for using Facebook for business:

• What do you want to accomplish with your Facebook Fan Page?
• Will you maintain your Fan Page & Facebook Profile or will you have an assistant or freelancer handle it for you?
• How much time per day or week are you willing to devote to managing your Fan Page and building relationships through your Profile?
• What kind of things will your target market be interested in reading on your Fan Page?

What I have learned is that if you stick to the basics of building relationships and promoting your business, you can experience results on Facebook in 10-20 minutes per day.

Below is the suggested Daily Plan I give to my clients:

1. Scan the Live Feed on your home page.
2. Update your Status at least once a day.
3. Interact with friends.
4. Interact with Fans and/or post something new on your Fan Page.
5. Check your Inbox, Notifications and Fan Page Updates.
6. Respond to friend invites.  Respond to other types of requests and ignore or block those that are not business appropriate.
7. Send friend invites to any new business contacts (as appropriate).
8. Invite new business contacts to become a Fan of your Fan Page.
9. Check the Events section for upcoming birthdays and post birthday wishes on your friend’s profile wall.

Never fear, there will be many days that there will be nothing for you to do regarding items 5-9.  If you are unable to devote time to interacting on Facebook and maintaining a Fan Page, consider outsourcing some of the tasks to a social networking freelancer or to an employee.

If you enjoy playing games on Facebook and answering quizzes, consider setting aside a separate time to do that.  This will allow you to concentrate on building relationships and promoting your business during your “Facebook for Business” time slot and you will be a lot more efficient.

Your Facebook Informant,

Kimberly Yow
Facebook Fan Page:  Social Networking 4 Biz