Standing Out from the Crowd

Facebook has millions of users, and millions of businesses are vying for their attention. That means you need to make yourself stand out from a lot of noise in order to get people to pay attention to your page.

When users do get to your page, you need to make sure that it stands out from other Facebook pages. Don’t fall into the trap of making your page look like every other business. Spend some time and money creating a site that looks great, offers the fan a reason to return, and always contains engaging content and conversations.

In the following sections, we show you how to do this.

Getting the Creative Juices Flowing

In order for you to really set yourself apart on Facebook, you need to get creative and come up with some unique ideas. So it’s time to start generating ideas for attention-grabbing campaigns.

If you ever get a creative block in coming up with ways to generate ideas, here are some tips:

Relying on computers stifles creativity. Often the best ideas come about when we put the electronic devices aside and just let the ideas flow.

Don’t copy what everyone else is doing on Facebook. Worn-out ideas like giving away iPads get old really quickly and people just start to tune you out. Do things that others in your area of business haven’t done before.

Thinking Strategically About Artwork

One of the biggest challenges with websites is that they are inherently driven by content, yet they need to be visually attractive, too.

Whether you’re building out your Fan page or simply posting to your Wall, you should use pictures and images that resonate with your audience and drive them to take an action. That action may be to simply read your post or click on a link. The image serves primarily to get their attention.

FRIENDLY ADVICE

Make sure the artwork you use in your Facebook marketing campaigns is artwork that you own or is licensed for you to use.

You can purchase royalty-free artwork from any number of websites, including the following:

Having Crazy Fun

Social media and Facebook should be mostly about having fun. So when you’re designing your Fan page, make sure you’re working with fun, creative people who know how to make fans smile and laugh. If you’re not having fun in your campaigns and conversations, you’re not doing it right.

WATCH OUT

Too many people get into social media marketing and turn it into a new medium for technical support. While customer service is part of what you might provide, it shouldn’t be the focus of your social media campaign.

Even seemingly “boring” businesses can have fun with their Facebook Fan page. For example, if you’re a cardboard box manufacturer and you connect with users via Facebook, why not launch a contest for the most creative mascot for your company that’s made exclusively out of boxes? Fans can submit photographs and videos of their mascot ideas. To get them thinking, you can post a few videos of your own:

Are you feeling it? Do you see how fun this can be?