Below are the Top 10 Recurring Questions I’ve been asked about Facebook For Business and Fan Pages. You’ll notice that almost all of the answers below contain a link to a blog post I wrote previously where the question was answered. I wrote this particular blog to make it easier for you to get all the answers to the Top 10 Questions in one place.
Q: Can I unlink a Facebook Fan Page from my personal account?
A: No. See my blog post Unlink A Fan Page From Personal Account for what you can do.
Q: Can I delete my personal account without deleting my Fan Page?
A: One of our blog readers, David, tested this. See the comments for Unlink A Fan Page From Personal Account to read what David discovered.
Q: How do I automatically post my Fan Page activity to my Twitter account?
A: Read Post Fan Page Status Updates To Twitter With Facebook Application and then go to www.facebook.com/twitter to set this up.
Q: How do I obtain a Facebook vanity URL or username for my Facebook Fan Page?
A: Currently you need 25 Fans before you can obtain a vanity url for your Fan Page. Go to www.facebook.com/username to claim your username/vanity url once your Fan Page has met the minimum. Choose your Fan Page username carefully because you cannot change it once it’s set.
Q: How do I delete a Fan Page?
A: Login to Facebook, then go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/. If you are an administrator for more than one Fan Page, find the name of the Fan Page that you want to delete from the list on your screen. Click the “delete page” link which appears directly underneath the name of your Fan Page.
If you only administer one Fan Page, the “delete page” link will be toward the top of your screen under the name of your Fan Page.
Q: How do I set up a Fan Box Widget?
A: Go to the Fan Page that you want to create a Fan Box Widget for. Click “edit page”. You should see a section called Promote Your Page just above the photos of the Fan Page Admins. In this section, click on Promote With a Fan Box. Create your Fan Box and then copy and paste the generated html into your website or blog. (If this is not something you can do on your own, email the html to your web/blog designer and ask them to do it.) See Facebook Fan Box Widget: You Will Love It! for additional info but follow the instructions above because Facebook has changed since I wrote my original post.
Q: How do I deactivate or delete my Facebook account?
A: See Deactivate, Reactivate or Delete Facebook Account for instructions on how to do these things and why you might want to.
Q: Can I migrate or move my fans from one Fan Page to another?
A: No. But read How To Migrate Fans From Old Facebook Fan Page To New Fan Page for what you can do to get many of your Fans to become a Fan of your new Fan Page.
Q: Can I run a contest on my Fan Page?
A: No. If you do, you run the risk of having your Facebook account or your Facebook Fan Page disabled without warning. See Warning: New Facebook Promotions Guidelines for an explanation on how you can publicize a contest on your Fan Page as long as you administer it off of Facebook!
Q: How do I promote my Fan Page outside of Facebook?
A: Here is a blog post that covers Facebook’s Guidelines For Promoting Your Fan Page and here is one that covers 5 Ways to Build Your Online Network Offline & Increase Your Conversion Rate.
I hope you have found this Top 10 recap useful. Feel free to share it with your Facebook friends that administer a Fan Page or are interested in setting up a Fan Page.
If you have questions that weren’t covered above, please post them in the comments below.
Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow
P.S. - I am a Facebook consultant & trainer and I help businesses get found on the internet. Subscribe to this blog via RSS Feed or Email so you don't miss any free Facebook For Business Tips! @KimberlyYow
I can’t even explain how happy I am about this! Just this morning Hootsuite announced that they added Facebook Fan Page integration.
I have been using Hootsuite, a web-based tool, for managing my Twitter activity. In the last week or so, Hootsuite added integration with LinkedIn and Facebook Personal Profiles. This made it possible for you to update your Twitter accounts, LinkedIn status update and Facebook profile status all from the Hootsuite dashboard! (You can pick and choose which social networking sites you want a status update to be posted to.)
As of this morning, Hootsuite has added integration with Facebook Fan Pages meaning you can now update your Fan Page status from the Hootsuite dashboard. But, the most exciting part of all this is that Hootsuite allows you to “schedule” your status updates.
Scheduling updates to social networking sites does not in anyway replace the need for real-time interaction however I do believe there are times when scheduled updates can be very useful. One of these times is when you come across something on the internet that you want to share with your fans/followers/connections…however you have come across it during the middle of the night or on a major holiday…times when your target market is probably not on social networking sites making it less likely that they will see what you share.
Hootsuite to the rescue! Now you can craft an update about the web page you found, add the URL link to the update AND then schedule it to post whenever you want. This is personally the reason I am so excited about Hootsuite’s integration with Fan Pages as I tend to surf the net at odd hours of the night and often find web pages that I would like to share. I typically either just forget about the idea or I send myself the web page link via email and then try to remember to share it on my Fan Page the next day.
To add a Fan Page, LinkedIn account or Facebook Personal Profile to your Hootsuite account, click “Settings” at the bottom of your screen and then click the “Social Networks” tab. You will then be able to select which social network you want to add, etc…
In the screen shot shown above, you’ll see that I’ve added my Facebook personal profile (Kimberly Yow) as well as three Fan Pages and my LinkedIn account.
What do you think about Hootsuite’s integration with Facebook and LinkedIn? Will it change how often you post status updates or the type of information you share?
Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow
Become a Fan of our Fan Page: Social Networking 4 Biz
Have you ever started a new Facebook Fan Page and wanted to migrate Fans from your old fan page to your new fan page? Unfortunately there is no automatic way to do this. BUT, here are my recommendations for what you can do to get some of your old fans to become a fan of your new fan page.
Do these steps BEFORE you delete your old fan page:
- Send an “update” to all fans letting them know that you have set up a new fan page. Provide them with the URL of your new fan page and invite them to become a fan.
- Post a status update on your old fan page that announces your new fan page. Attach a link to your new fan page.
- Add an FBML Tab/Box to your old fan page and post a notice on it that invites people to your new fan page. Make the FBML Tab the default landing tab for non-fans.
- Use the “suggest to friends” feature and the “Share+” feature to invite your friends to become a fan of your new fan page.
You can repeat Step 2 more than once but don’t overdue it or your Fans will feel like you are spamming them and then they’ll never migrate to your new fan page.
You will probably never get all of your fans to move to your new fan page, but by doing the above you will get quite a few of them. If this isn’t what you wanted to hear, then perhaps you should reconsider whether or not creating a new fan page (and deleting the old one) is the best thing for you to do.
If you’ve been in this situation before, please post a comment and let us know how you handled it.
Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow
Become a Fan of our Fan Page: SocialNetworking4Biz
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:
- 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.
- 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
Based on what I’ve heard and seen in forums and Facebook help sections, many people want to know how to remove themselves as a Fan Page Administrator so that the Fan Page is unlinked from their personal profile.
There are several reasons that someone might want to do this:
- they no longer have the same job role within the company and someone else will be administering the Fan Page
- they no longer work for the company whose Fan Page their profile is linked to
- they set up a Fan Page for a client assuming they could turn the Fan Page over to their client once it was set up
- other…
The bottom line is that it makes sense that people might want to unlink their personal profile from a Fan Page that they created. Unfortunately, Facebook does NOT allow this at this time! I have personally tried to find a way to do this so I could provide you with instructions via this blog. All I found was the following on the Facebook website:
How can I transfer Page admin rights?
There is currently no way to take away admin status from the creator of a Page. However, Page admins can add or remove other admins by following these steps:1. Click the “Edit Page” link below the Page’s photo. .
2. On the right hand side, click the “Add” link in the Admin section.
3. Select the friend you would like to add as an admin.
In my mind, these are the alternatives you have if you already set up a Fan Page that you will no longer administer.
If you are still with the company or are on good terms with them:
- Add one or more admins to the Fan Page so they can take over the day-to-day upkeep of the page.
- Have the person now responsible for the company marketing set up a new Facebook account (using a generic email address like marketing@yourcompany.com) and then set up a new Fan Page. Invite the current Fans to become a fan of the new page. Once most of the Fans have migrated to the new Fan Page…you can delete the original Fan Page.
If you are no longer with the company and are not on good terms with them:
- Delete the Fan Page.
If you set up a Fan Page for a client using your own personal account:
- Start over. You will need to set up an account for your client using a generic login such as marketing@theircompany.com. (Using a generic login will enable anyone authorized to administer the Fan Page to log in in the future.) Set up a new Fan Page. Once the page is set up, your client can log in and maintain their own Fan Page.
Hopefully in the future Facebook will see that there is a need to unlink Fan Pages from personal profiles and they will make it easy to do. Until then, you will need to use one of the above suggested alternatives or come up with your own creative solution.
If you have dealt with this issue, please leave a comment below and let us all know how you handled it.
Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow
Facebook Fan Page: Social Networking 4 Biz, become a fan today!
I was recently asked if I knew of an “automated” tool for getting a lot of Fans for a Facebook Fan Page quickly and easily. The answer is “no, I don’t”. And if there was one I’m not sure that I would even use it.
I truly believe that for a Fan Page to be effective, the page administrator needs to provide content that has value. Depending on the administrator’s business and their target market, valuable content could be how-to tips, before & after photos, event postings, links to resources and articles about industry trends, etc… Valuable content could also be things that are funny or inspiring. It really all depends on what your target market wants. If you give people what they want, the number of Fans on your Fan Page will organically increase as will the level of Fan interaction.
What is your target market looking for on a Fan Page? Think about how you can give it to them before your competition does.
Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow
Facebook Fan Page Feedback
Facebook Fan Page Set Up
Have you seen a Facebook Fan Box on someone’s website or blog? This blog uses the Fan Box Widget in the right hand column. I also placed an enlarged, customized version of the Fan Box Widget on my website. Click the link to see what the customized version looks like.
I love the Fan Box Widget! It allows you to promote your Facebook Fan Page anywhere you can place html code. When you set-up the Fan Box, you select whether you want it to show a live stream of YOUR status updates (it will not show posts originated by your Fans or comments) and/or icon photos of your fans. I think choosing both are good because it allows your website/blog visitors to see a sampling of the posts on your Fan Page AND how many fans you have. If they see good content and a decent number of fans, they are more likely to visit your Fan Page or click the “Become a Fan” button at the top of the Fan Box!
Facebook Fan Box Widget
To create your own Fan Box, click on “Add fan box to your site” underneath your fan page logo/photo. You can add the Fan Box to your website/blog yourself or send the generated html code to your web designer so they can add it for you.
I love my widget, how about you?
Kimberly Yow
Marketing That’s Easy.com
Did you know that Facebook has a new Twitter application which allows Fan Page Administrators to update Twitter directly from their Facebook Fan Pages? The application allows you to determine which type of updates you want to “automatically” post to Twitter: status updates, links, photos, notes and events or all of the them. See example set-up screen shown below:
Linking Facebook to Twitter
You’ll see from the screen shot that it shows which Twitter account your Fan Page is linked to and gives you options that say Edit Settings and Unlink From Twitter. If you have multiple Fan Pages, you can link them to the same Twitter account or link them to separate Twitter accounts.
I already have this application set-up for my Fan Pages and it makes it very easy to post additional tweets without logging into Twitter. If you are importing a blog into Facebook through the Notes application, you will NOT want to post Notes to Twitter if you are also importing your blog into Twitter. This would result in duplicate tweets.
This Facebook application can be accessed at http://www.facebook.com/twitter.
Another time saver…thank you Facebook!
Kimberly Yow
Facebook Fan Page
Marketing That’s Easy.com
The new tagging feature recently announced by Facebook looks pretty awesome! Here are a few things I learned by using it.
Does the new Facebook tagging feature work from a Fan Page or a Group?
It works from personal profiles AND fan pages. It does not appear to work from a group at this time.
How does it work?
You simply type the @ symbol in your status update and then select the item you want to tag from a drop-down menu that will appear. It’s fast & easy! You can tag friends, events, groups, fan pages, etc…
What happens if someone tags my Fan Page?:
If someone tags your fan page from their personal profile, a post will be created on your fan page wall that’s identical to what the person posted. You’ll also see a link that says “view post”. Clicking the link will take you to that person’s original post and you’ll be able to see any additional comments that were attached by other Facebook users. (The same scenario happens if someone tags your personal profile.)
How can I use this new tagging feature from a business stand-point?
A couple of ideas: 1) If you practice the “givers gain” attitude of helping others, use the tagging feature to tag your friend’s fan pages, groups or events. 2) A couple of times a month, post an invitation from your personal profile for readers to join your fan page (or group) and be sure to “tag” your fan page/group so they have easy access to it. 3) Tag your own events.
So what do you think of the new Facebook tagging feature? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks!
Kimberly Yow
E-book: How To Promote Your Business On Facebook…Without Alienating Your Friends!
The history of the Facebook Fan Page Vanity URL – Fan Minimum:
June 13th: Facebook started allowing users to claim a Fan Page Vanity URL if they had a minimum of 1000 Fans.
Facebook announced that the 1000 fan minimum would be lifted on June 28, 2009. (I thought this meant the new minimum would be zero.)
June 27th: I noticed that the Facebook website said there was a minimum requirement of 25 Fans.
June 28th: Facebook suddenly changed the Fan minimum from 25 to 100…just minutes before Fan Page administrators would be logging on to claim their Fan Page Vanity URL! Here is the exact text from the Facebook website as of June 28th:
All Pages created after May 31, 2009 or that had less than 1,000 fans on that day will be eligible to claim usernames on Sunday, June 28, 2009 if they have more than 100 fans.
I’ve checked the Facebook website numerous times since June 28th and the Fan minimum was still 100 Fans. I think I even checked on 8/31.
September 8th: OMG! I checked again today and the only info I could find on Facebook said the Fan minimum was 25 Fans!! I have a client who has a new Fan Page with 52 Fans. I tested the fan minimum with his Fan Page…and guess what…I was able to claim a Fan Page Vanity URL for his page!
If your Fan Page has 25 or more Fans, go to www.facebook.com/username to claim your Facebook Fan Page Vanity URL before someone else does!
Sometimes vanity can be a good thing…LOL.
Kimberly Yow
Marketing That’s Easy.com
