Facebook is the second most popular site on the web according to Alexa. With over 350 million members you would think that a lot of companies and individuals would be leveraging it by creating fan pages, but they aren’t.
About a month ago I decided to create a Facebook fan page, so I enlisted Jeff Widman to help me out.
Within the first few days of inception I thought I would have hundreds of fans because I have over 2000 friends on Facebook. Sadly, it wasn’t the case. If you want to get friends over to your fan page, you have to do a lot of manual work, such as inviting all of your friends.
The harsh reality
So I decided to invite people to become a fan of “Quick Sprout”, but what I learned is that less than 5% of my friends joined on as a fan. My guess is that they get too many fan requests so they just ignore them all (like I do), or that they didn’t know Quick Sprout was my blog so they didn’t join.
After making a few tweaks, I played with the concept of changing my fan page to be a “Neil Patel” fan page instead of a Quick Sprout fan page. And through that fan page I would be able to promote my blog as well as any of my other companies.
Within hours my Facebook friends were getting emails like the one below.
Because the message was so entertaining, roughly 36% of my friends signed on to become a fan. In addition to that, many of these fans were so amused with the message Facebook had sent them that they even sent me an email.
The first big lesson I learned is that if you want people to join your Facebook fan page you either have to offer something or do something so silly that people want to join.
Communication is your key to success
At this point I had hundreds of fans, but my Facebook fan page wasn’t doing anything for me. Luckily enough, one of my fans called me out for not interacting with my fans.
After noticing that I wasn’t responding, I started to follow up with every fan that left a wall post. In addition to this, I integrated my blog’s RSS feed into my Facebook fan page.
I also started posting on my wall to create conversations with my fans. For example, I asked my fans what they were going to be doing for Thanksgiving, which lead to 14 new comments and 15 fans marking that question as “liked”.
Once I started to get the ball rolling on my fan page, I noticed that Facebook started to drive a decent amount of visitors.
Over a 3-day period, I received 356 visitors from Facebook and they averaged 2 minutes and 43 seconds on my blog. Which isn’t too shabby considering that 8000 Google visitors spent only 1 minute and 16 seconds on my blog.
The real value in having a fan page
Getting extra traffic to your business from a Facebook fan page is great, but it isn’t the best thing that a Facebook fan page provides.
The real value that I get out of having a fan page is the stats that Facebook shows me.
By analyzing the stats above, I learned that:
- The majority of my fans are males. Roughly 81% of them are males and if I want to start attracting female fans I have to write more content on my fan page and blog that is targeted towards females.
- Although the majority of my fans are males, a higher percentage of females interact on my fan page, so I should start targeting them.
- Most of my fans are in the age range of 18 to 44, so I need to start tailoring my content to that demographic and not worry too much about teenagers or senior citizens.
- If I want to grow my blog faster, I should ideally target 18 to 34 year olds because they are more likely to interact with me and read the content on my blog.
- Although a lot of fans are from the U.S. it seems that a good portion of them are Indian. I need to start embracing my culture more so that I can grow a larger Indian following.
- I also noticed that simple questions tend to have a better response rate and they help build the community. When I post complex questions on my fan page (I have deleted them now), very few people interacted and I started to lose fans.
1000 fans and counting
After a month or so of having a fan page, I have finally reached 1000 fans and I have learned that having a fan page can be very valuable. Not only does it help drive traffic to your business, but it can also give you a good understanding of who your customers are.
If you want to learn about your fans, friends, or even customers, I highly recommend that you create a Facebook fan page. It will not only allow you to interact with these people, but it will also help you get to know them on a personal level.
And as for the next steps for me, I am going to try and grow my fan page to 10,000 people. I have added a Facebook fan widget in the sidebar of my blog and I am going to start buying Facebook ads.
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Kick ass tips! Never even thought about the benefit of really seeing the demographics of your audience or the email thing.
Would love to hear about your results buying Faceook Ads once you test it.
I don’t know when I will start buying ads, but I will let you know how it goes.
This is mention from Shoemoney.com also. Facebook Ads will help you growth business and brand yourself and make popular path.
It definitely will so it’s a great way for you to allow yourself to grow bigger, faster, and stronger as a website.
Yeah, I am agree that. Because Facebook is world no 2 website, it have got 3 billion registered users.
Actually it’s 300,000,000 users… still not too shabby
Google, Bing and Yahoo search engines are usually what comes to mind when one thinks of Pay-Per-Click ads. However, there is another huge market for PPC ads that is often overlooked by online businesses: Facebook. That’s right, Facebook ads are offered in the PPC format, allowing online businesses to take their targeted marketing to the next level.
They definitely have an interesting setup with how they do ppc. Imagine building you fan base by a per fan cost.
You can gain more visitors in many ways. You just have to take advantage of everything that offers even the smallest chance.
There are several different opportunities available, you just have to be willing to make the effort in finding them and then focusing on building it.
Great article Neil – Thanks so much! It took me a few minutes to figure out where the link is to the stats, but I finally got it. You’ve also given me more inspiration to create dialogues with the page.
That’s great too hear. You’d be surprised at everything you’re able to track with fan pages.
Adding a facebook fanpage to my site was something I should have done from the start. Just 2 months in, I’ve got over 2200 fans, and it’s growing by an average of 25-35 new fans per day. Besides getting a feel of what the demographics on my site are, I really enjoy the community that is building up. People are interacting with each other, and suggesting the page to more friends.
Have a look at what I mean here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Watch-Missed-Episodescom/133760354362
That’s great Bob… what are you doing to market the page? How are you leveraging it for your business?
The only thing I do at the moment is have the widget, which shows the fans, on the sidebar. The ’social proof’ seems to trigger a snowball effect. And I am running a little contest, where people get entered into a draw for a DVD box set of their favourite TV show, simply by becoming a fan.
Obviously I’m getting a lot of return traffic from the fan-page, and the fans themselves slowly increase my sites presence on the web. It is a great tool to communicate with the visitors, asking them for suggestions to improve their site experience. It also acts like some sort of mailing list I guess. With a press of a button, I can send out a message to over 2200 people.
In the long run, I think that if the day ever comes that I’m selling my site, the attached value of a massive active and accessible fan-base will certainly increase the price.
That’s fantastic. Also, great job on the personalized contest… I agree, by having that much marketing power, you leverage you site to have much more value.
Hi Neil,
Great post. I do have one question. How were the Facebook email notifications generated and sent to your friends? Do you have an app for that? Let me know, thanks!
It’s just an email that’s sent out… go into your Facebook notification settings.
I am your fan after reading this
Awesome!!
Hey Neil,
Get post! Even though I’m already a fan, I am now a Fan on your Facebook page as well. Awhile ago I was reading Nick O’Neill’s AllFacebook.com’s article How To Develop A Facebook Page That Attracts Millions of Fans. Number 2 on the list really jumped out at me, it is: Don’t Let New Users Land on the Wall. While looking at some other Fan Pages I came across these two http://www.facebook.com/gap and http://www.facebook.com/doggettstudios I love your work and look forward in learning more from you, cheers!
Jorin.
Right and most of those pages provide very intriguing ads and give aways that help those company immensely.
@ Bob Jones
I visited your fan page and it’s awesome. Well, why don’t you take benefit of Facebook fan page Vanity url as you have more than 2000 fans?
Hi Neil,
Awesome post, quick question though. You show your stats above, which web analytic are you using? Google?
P.S: I became a fan too!
Those are the analytics from the Facebook Fan Page
Those statistics are amazing. You can control everything that way and improve in many ways. Awesome!
The statistics are great because by using them, you can target your niche more carefully. It’s really a win/win for you.
Pretty good tips Neil! I have debated on starting a fan page but not sure if its deemed worthy for a smaller blog like mine.
Hey Aman, you never know when you’re small blog will go huge… so better to start building that page now.
Start making a fan page because it can’t hurt you. Like Neil said, you can’t predict how your blog will evolve so is better to be prepared. Good luck!
Exactly… for all you know, your blog can go on digg’s front page and bring you 30k visitors in 1 day… you want to be prepared.
Neil,
Great post as always. I’m a big fan of fan pages (pun intended?). I for some odd reason was successful by using my company name and suggesting to friends (”The Rise To The Top” We have about 1,250 fans Facebook/risetothetop) and then using other platforms to drive traffic there including:
1. My website (easy button to get you there).
2. Blog.
3. Occasional posts on Twitter. (Here is what we are talking about on the Facebook page-type posts)
4. Suggesting to friends.
And a couple of mildly unfair advantages:
5. Using my TV show to draw Facebook fans
6. I was an early-adapter on Facebook which is more of being in the right place at the right time.
I’m also going to dabble in a little advertising as well and I think 10,000 is good goal.
One thing I would hope Facebook would introduce is instead of simply suggesting to friends to also allow a reason why.
For example: Neil Patel became a fan of Neil Patel and suggests you should become one too because Neil is freaking awesome and you want to stalk me and love me.
Hypothetical
Hey David, thanks for that great insight. You have something really awesome going on there. Also, I love your idea on “why”… I think that’ll help a lot of the high quality fan pages to get more fans.
Anytime, Neil. Keep bringing the awesome as usual
2010 is going to be a big year full of surprises.
2010 should be the best year ever!
yess
It’s just around the corner… let’s make it happen.
I have followed your Facebook Fan page in this blog a few weeks ago. I think so and agree with you mention that above. Another that, we can not neglect Twitter follower pages also. I will make it myself one fan page coming soon.
Good for you Kevin. Have your twitter, facebook, and blog all integrated!
Hey Neil, great post (as always) and just the medicine I need. I’m the founder of Walker Corporate Law Group, a boutique corporate law firm in California, and I hired a marketing guy a few months ago who set me up on facebook — both under “Scott Edward Walker” and a fan page “Walker Corporate Law Group” http://bit.ly/6OZYWe. The problem is that I’m an old man and didn’t even know how to use facebook – so everything just sat there until a couple of weeks ago when I friended some of my contacts. Now that I have read your post, I finally understand how to promote my fan page. Thank you, Scott
p.s. I friended you and became your fan.
That’s exactly what I love to hear Scott. I’m glad I can help. Let me know if you have any other questions for me.
My first comment here, but I’ve been reading your blog for a long time, Neil. I really (REALLY!) like your posts, and I absolutely love (LOVE!) this one.
Thank you for sharing so much!
Absolutely Alfredo! I’m glad you REALLY! love what I talk about
The demographics that Facebook shows for the fans is great. Almost like quantcast for facebook.
I agree, you really get some detailed information for free.
Hey Neil,
So you have to Neil Patel accounts – a profile and a fan page. How much of the content overlaps – ie do you post your new blog post on both your fan page and on your profile ? Or is your profile just for personal non-work status updates ?
My profile is more nonchalant compared to my fan page which is about my work and projects.
OK so this is really good stuff. I like how you find out what kind of people you have going to your website so you can target stuff to those readers.
Sounds awesome but I have one problem. How do I know what they like? Do I just research on google what that age group likes or is it written somewhere?
It requires a ton of research in your market to figure out what you need to do with that data… that’s why knowing it is so powerful.
I just read a topic on starting a FB fan page at OnStartups, i think some of you may find this useful;
http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/1960/why-start-a-facebook-fan-page
Anyway, you must first have a brand that people are familiar with.
Nice post Neil, some things never change I guess
Thanks for sharing that Kemal… It doesn’t have to be a brand, it could just be some catchy phrase or slogan. http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=3.14&init=quick#/3.14PIE?ref=search&sid=547899913.383783102..1 this fan page went from 0-300,000 within a month.
How do you maintain you site since so many of your videos are removed due to infringement. Also, great idea Dhvanesh!
I’m assuming that comment was for me, since you also replied to Dhvanesh
A lot of videos do get removed, but I have a VA that checks in all the time, and when people let us know that one of the videos is missing, she replaces them.
I also have several sources for one episode. Most of the time, it’s only the new episodes that get removed, a few months down the track, and the studios don’t really care that much anymore.
Besides, broken videos means more download sales for me
lol… very awesome Bob. Glad to hear you’re doing well.
Nice job Neil, great analysis. How you find the time to interact with all the social outlets still eludes me.
Being a small biz owner, I find myself engaging in social media in weekly “bursts”. More often than not after work hours.
When you started to interact on your fan page, what was the frequency of your updates?
Hey Neil,
You should also take a look at Involver, our apps are on over 20,000 fan pages and can help you add that extra level to your page.
BTW, both Jeff and Hiten have given us product design feedback in person, would love to hear your experience in kicking the tires as a user.
Also, when you run ads, explore the target friends of fans option. Closest thing to a silver bullet that exists in that system.
Wow, great input Tyler…. thanks. There are a lot of interesting things to be explored with it.
I didn’t know about the stats page. That is pretty cool. Of course a little traffic never hurt anyone either. It does sound like a lot of time. Is it really worth the effort?
The stats page is VERY interesting… you should definitely play around with it some more.
isnt it actually kind of boasting urself.. when u have ur own fan page.. and u havent explained why ur quick sprout fan page did not attract as much people as ur fanpage did..
More people know of me and what I do then just my blog.
Facebook fanpages are a great tool for businesses. They offer opportunities to connect, and engage clients, prospects, and joint venture partners. The trick is knowing what you need on your fanpage to make it all work.
Be different than everyone else by providing some kind of unique value.
They can be FANTASTIC tools for businesses… if used properly at least.
Facebook paid-ads work much the same way that PPC ads in Google and Bing work. However, the subtle differences between the two methods of paid search may make all the difference to some industries.
They are very targeted to fit the demand of the user which is a very big plus.
Neal, thanks for sharing so openly. I am impressed that you responded to my question through Facebook in less than two hours, then though you had no clue who I was. I set up my fan page last Tuesday and have more than 260 fans so far. I am responding to all comments as you suggested and I believe it is making people feel special. Little Things Matter!
That’s great Todd… you’d be surprised with how many people neglect their fans.
Impressive tip. I have many fan pages for my company, client etc now I’m going to take it up as a challenge and focus on generating more fans, referral traffic. I’m sure this would increase our branding to the next level.
It would definitely do that and more… don’t get carried away with multiple sites than just focusing on one powerful one.
Great post as always Neil, I’ve set a facebook profile a while ago, and couldn’t take times implementing a strategy to gain fans and motivate them to participate, these tips are great, I’ll implement them asap, means next.
That’s fantastic Charly, just make sure you jump on your ideas because every day you don’t, it just becomes harder and harder.
If you’re going to integrate your Facebook page with your web site, you might want to consider creating an Application instead. Application Profiles are basically the same as Pages, with Fans and everything, but can integrate more deeply with your own website, using Facebook Connect.
That’s true, but it depends on what you’re looking to do… Facebook Connect isn’t always the best fit for people.
I agree, but there’s a lot of advantages to using an Application over a Page, and only a few downsides.
An application isn’t something most people will do though… anyone can easily create a page.
Very interesting write up Niel. You taught me how to use the fan page. Now I know how to manage the page. Thanks a lot for inspiring me.
Great deal Basant, I’m glad you found it valuable.
Wow Neil, let me become a fan of you right away because this Facebook case study is exactly what I was looking for a client.
Love ya!
Glad to hear it was so useful for you!
Thanks for the tips Neil. I’ve just released the latest version of Traxor Designs and along with this I’m embracing social media a lot more. The next logical step for me is to set up a Facebook page. The only worry I have is that it’ll make me look like a fool if I have no fans!
I’m placing a link to your blog on my blog links by the way. I visit it often enough and your articles are always fantastic.
Well you will definitely have at least 5 minutes to maybe an hour + of having no fans… everyone goes through that phase in the beginning.
BTW.. Neil it will be interesting to see how many fans you add because of this post. Do keep us posted.
I will… but the number is growing every day!
Care to share some examples of simple questions versus advanced questions?
And 36% is pretty impressive. I’ll have to see what % I get when I make my own fan page too.
Sure that sounds good, let us know your growing percentages.
Simple questions like “What are you working on today?” compared to “People that work hard see amazing results. If you work hard everyday consistently, you’ll build wealth. Are you on track to making that happen?”
Upon further thought, I can can see how “What are you working on today?” would be far better than “Are you on track to completing today’s goals?”.
Yeah… because you really never know what they’re actually up to.
We posted pretty much about the same thing last week. I asked my readers to join my Facebook page and I went from 5 to 60 fans!
It’s not as impressive as your growth but…..
Hey please join my fan page Thanks. You can find the widget in the side bar of my blog.
Hey from 5-60 is great! That’s 55 more people you can market yourself to!
How to target the amount of fans and attract more fans to join the facebook fans pages ?
Place a link on your website or blog… direct people to your blog by writing powerful content. People will see your material and then become your fans
Great blog that you have up and running I have very much enjoyed reading your blog posts especially this one about creating a Facebook Fan Page as its something I have been looking at for quite sometime now.
Thank you for the awesome information.
Mark McCulloch
I’m working on my fan page right now. Should have it complete in the next couple of weeks. Going to join yours now
. Thanks for the advice!!!
I’m glad your going to join mine Patrenia, but why would your fan page take a couple weeks… it can be setup in less than an hour..
If your website does not have enough fans to support a fan page (ahem), then I would recommend using Networked Blogs as a starting point for followers. From Networked Blogs, you can put blog posts directly on your profile and network with others. A lot of people use it for cheap link exchanging but there is some value there to get some Facebook visibility. Networked Blogs is one of my biggest referrers, especially when I post an item to my Profile.
Well thanks for sharing that with everyone Dave. If one way doesn’t work, there are always other ways to make it happen.
Great article Neil – Thanks so much! It took me a few minutes to figure out where the link is to the stats, but I finally got it. You’ve also given me more inspiration to create dialogues with the page.
That’s great! There is a ton of valuable info in that stats page so it only makes sense for you to use it as leverage to target your market.
Sometimes, I will post the link of my website and comment at other picture or wall to give link love for my friends to build effective backlinks. What do you think about my methods, Neil Patel ?
I think that’s a fantastic idea! Also be sure to comment on other people’s blogs too.
Great Job you deserve a fan page.. I see you are playing with FBML do you need any help. You can do alot of cool things with FBML and make it your “home” page for facebook intergrating rss feeds, forms etc.
I actually have some people working on the FBML right now… thanks for the offer though.
I like your concept Neil. I have a fan page for my blog and a lot of my people have no idea that it is mine. I think the name fan page should do the trick. Thanks for the share
Glad you found it useful. Just be sure that you try and focus on quality with your fan page.
It hadn’t even crossed my mind that the main benefit of having a fan page would be the incredibly useful demographics statistics. I think I will have to start a page now!
The information you acquire is amazing… you can easily use it to help your site grow.
facebook ads do not think useful
They are useful for some people, not everyone. If you’re just a random schmuck, ads are probably not the most effective way for you to spend marketing dollars.
This stuff may be useful to some but not all people. How can this really help, i dont understand this. Will that fan page bring more sales to a website say in the travel business?
They can, it all depends on how you market yourself. When people start becoming your friends, then you’ll have the ability to communicate with multiple people all at once. So to answer your question, yes you can make more sales, but not necessarily.
Hi Neil,
Great post. I do have one question.
How were the Facebook email notifications generated and sent to your friends? Do you have an app for that? Let me know,
thanks.
No app, it just depends if you have that enabled as a notification on your account.
Hey Neil,
Well, I don’t really have any fans lol – I’m sort of an underground marketer with a handful of internet buddies.
If I made a page, I would get maybe 10 fans, maximum.
You on the other hand have an awesome following because of your blog readers and presence. See my point?
Sincerely,
Jay Jalodomisa
Well you need to start somewhere Jay…. 10 fans today can be 100 fans by the end of the week if you give them the right stuff. You’d be surprised at how quickly your page can grow.
I have a Face Book page but hardly see it. I just feel that there are better ways to market on the Internet. My time is spent optimizing for what pepole search for.
Nice Blog!
That’s great too, but don’t neglect your Facebook page either as its an amazing way for you to connect with a lot of people.
I like the fact that you figured out that a face book fan page is an excellent way to do market research and analyze your traffic.
It’s great! The tools they provide are amazing too.
Good notes about the importance of Facebook Fan Page.
Following you.
Greetings from Macedonia!
Glad you enjoyed it Alex, hopefully you go out and make one!
Wow Neil, let me become a fan of you right away because this Facebook case study is exactly what I was looking for a client.
Love ya!
Great to have a new fan
great info neil, i like your blog and i will following your in facebook fan, really i impressed…thank’s neil
Glad to hear it! I’ll keep you posted on how it grows and develops.
Great Work. surely going to help me to optimize my site.
I’m glad to hear it!!! Hopefully it kicks butt sooner than later.
I’m working on my fan page right now. Should have it complete in the next couple of weeks. Going to join yours now
Thanks for the advice!!!
That’s great to hear… couple weeks is too long, it should be up and running faster!
Pretty good tips Neil! I have debated on starting a fan page but not sure if its deemed worthy for a smaller blog like mine.
It’s better to start someone and sometime soon than later.
Facebook fan pages are a great resorce expecialy for PPC instead of paying for one visit to your website, let them become a fan of yours on facebook and it will pay off in many dividends…
Exactly… it can be a giant sleeper traffic if you work it the right way.
Facebook pages are great ways to bring up traffic to your website. I have seen an increase i my site traffic these last days as i have created my facebook pages. So go on for it.
Some times if you make the page right… you can add several thousands of fans to your page with no sweat.
I have been considering setting up Facebook page for my site that is focused on paid and unpaid retirement jobs. I don’t feel I will get as many over 55 yr visitors to a Facebook page. But based on what you have experienced, it looks like it is worth a try. Just got to get on with it and give it a try. Thanks for the ideas.
You probably won’t get that many 55+ users…. you may need to test it out though and go from there.
I’m ashamed to say I don’t even have a facebook account, even after all this time it’s been around and everything I’ve heard about it. I’m just not sure that with the niches I’m in I could really find that many “fans”.
Well choose a niche market…but start a facebook page (regular) right away. As you figure out how it works and understand the features it provides you with, think about how you’ll be able to integrate your business with it.
How do you maintain you site since so many of your videos are removed due to infringement.
I agree, a lot of those videos are gone, but they instantly get taken down.
Any particular reasons for removing the fan widget from your site, Neil? I thought it was working well for you.
No, I just had a couple other things I needed to add to the side so I didn’t want it to be so crowded.
I am receiving follow-up posts to this one in my email, though I did not comment before. Yikes.
Hmm, I’ll look into that, thanks for letting me know. You may just be subscribed to a posts.
Facebook Fan Page is really an effective way of market any brands and product online. It includes many factors of marketing. People may contact people directly and update them with your latest news. I think its a new begining of marketing structure.
Yes, the concepts and ideas behind what you’re able to do is amazing.
You can gain more visitors in many ways. You just have to take advantage of everything that offers even the smallest chance.
There are several ways to bring in visitors and I suggest you do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Good notes about the importance of Facebook Fan Page.
Following you
THanks bud, you’ll enjoy what i have to say.
Great post again Neil! But not everyone can get the follwers like that!As you are already popular you may get more friends from literally any social network.
It takes time, energy and obviously…. work! Without, you’ll just be stuck in la la land, expecting all this good to happen… So yes you can do it with any network, but there needs to be some sort of foundation behind it.
Facebook fan pages are huge right now thanks to it being such a huge website, and unlink myspace you cant actually just ahve a million friends on each account you actually have to have a fan page where people can follow you, so in terms its like a blog somewhat.
Kind of… but it is undoubtedly very convenient for companies to create special fan pages and do their marketing effectively.
I have already started reading some of your articles. i found great articles here. And I will get back here. I just added your blog to my bookmark sites. thanks.
Thanks Cari, we’d love to have you back with your thoughts and input with our conversations.
I didn’t know you had a facebook page. You may want to put a link to it in the subscribe section. Anyways, I’m a fan now!
Maybe in the next redesign. Glad to have you as a fan though!
I have been holding out on this one. But with all the current statistics. I need to catch up and start one.