The #1 Most Important Thing About Your Facebook Fan Page

Question – what’s the most important part of your Facebook Fan Page?

I received a call yesterday from a reader who had some questions about his Facebook Fan Page.  The question involved looking at some prominent brands and their Facebook Fan Pages, and reviewing some different styles, layouts, designs and strategies these brands were implementing with their Facebook Fan Pages.

As I visited each Facebook Fan Page – remember, these were all major brand names – I noticed the same thing over, and over again.  When I, being someone new and who was not yet a “fan” of the Page, visited their Facebook Fan Page, I was typically taken to a tab other then the wall tab.

But what I noticed, and what was perplexing to me, was that none of these pages asked me, or encouraged me to become a fan!

Go ahead and check some of these out for yourself – as you visit each of these Fan Pages, you tell me whether or not you are encouraged, or even asked, to become a fan of their Facebook:

• The Economist
• Victoria Secret
• Pepsi Max
• Starbucks
• Banana Republic

And the list could go on and on… but the point is the same.  None of these major brands, when you first land on their Facebook Fan Page, ask you or encourage you to become a fan.

Now granted, these are major global brands and have their reputations to build their audience.

But what about the rest of you – the small business owner – who doesn’t have a global brand name?

Can you afford to not maximize every possible opportunity to increase your fans on your Facebook Fan Page?

The Most Important Part of your Facebook Fan Page

I say all of that to finally get to my point:

The single most important part of your Facebook Fan Page is encouraging new visitors to become a Fan!!!

This apparently isn’t obvious from the looks of the Facebook Pages I keep reviewing.

But doesn’t it make sense?

Why have new people visit your Facebook Fan Page and not be asked, or encouraged to become a fan?

I consider each new visitor to my Facebook Fan Page a welcomed guest, and someone who deserves at least an invitation to become a fan.

As a business, once somebody becomes a fan of your Facebook Page you now have a new lead and prospect with whom to communicate.

Now, each time you send out an update from your Facebook Fan Page, that new person is going to see you (your brand, message, business, etc…) and remember you!

Did you know that statistics show that a person needs to see a new brand or business at least 7 times online before they decide to do business with them?

This is huge!  And it means you, as a business with an online presence, need to capitalize on every opportunity out there to increase your exposure to new customers.

A Facebook Fan Page is the best, most efficient way for you and your business to achieve this – yet, Page after Page that I visit never once asks me or invites me to become a Fan.

A perplexing, and costly mistake in my humble opinion…