by The Ibis Network

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Here’s the thing … Telling yourself that Facebook is child’s play and there’s no way you could benefit from setting up a fan page isn’t going to build your business or attract any new clients. In fact, businesses both big and small are finding new ways to generate leads and potential business through social media. Of course, some are more successful than others but all of them will see more success than they would if they just did nothing at all.

Here’s the what, why, and how of setting up a Facebook fan page for your business …

The What: This is the easiest part to explain. A Facebook fan page is similar to a regular Facebook page but rather than updating your friends and family on your whereabouts and personal life, you’ll be sharing information about your business and communicating with a network of potential clients and existing customers. Sure, you’ll need to build that network first but with a bit of effort and creativity, you’ll find there’s a good reason so many companies feel it’s important to be represented on Facebook.

The Why: The short answer is there are 250 million users logging into Facebook each day and it’s the website Americans spend most of their time visiting when they’re online. In other words, your business should be represented on Facebook because everyone is on Facebook and, in order to build business, you need to go where the people are. Fortunately, having a Facebook fan page also means better search-engine results as well. That means, not only will you be able to capitalize on the millions of users already on Facebook but you’ll also be more easily found through search-engines such as Google and Bing.

The How: This is where it gets more difficult. Unfortunately, you won’t have much success if you register a page and then don’t ever update it, login, or fill out the appropriate information. So here are some quick tips. Once you’ve got a page registered and filled out all of your business info, have a look through the available applications to get an idea of the ways you can maximize your fan page. Using the provided apps is easier than ever and can, for example, import your blog posts, set up additional tags for reviews, polls, and contests, in addition to helping facilitate contact between you and any potential clients that stumbled across your page. Also, take advantage of the available badges to place a link to your new fan page on any other online properties you have. The more you advertise your site, the more visitors you’ll have. And be sure to use Facebook as your fan page. In other words, log in as your business and “like” other pages, make comments, and participate in the online community. It’s a great way of spreading the word and getting your name out.