Facebook fan pages...list building on Crack!

[GavinLively]

Not that I am advocating the use of crack cocaine, just that the instant results and gratification you get from building a a tightly targeted and niche themed fan page is analogous to crack…but in a good way… O.K. I am not good at making analogies, give me a break.

Facebook fan page marketing has been awesome for me. It is an easy way to build a very targeted, highly responsive list which builds on almost auto-pilot because of the viral social aspect of Facebook…

There are so many little tricks and tweaks to learn how to optimize your fan page… For example did you know that you can create a customized landing page for your Facebook fan page that mimics an HTML squeeze page complete with an Aweber auto-responder opt-in form?...You can, in fact there is a whole HTML-type language called FBML... FBML stands for "Facebook Mark-up Language"

FBML is just scraping the surface of what you can do with a Facebook fan page and how you can integrate it into your marketing…

Most of the tips I learned by trial by error and a few FREE resources...

There is only one paid training course on Facebook fan page marketing that I can tell is even on the market... It's those crazy Brits over at Crowd Conversion... Their FREE videos alone are awesome and have taught me a lot...

Has anyone here bought their course yet...If so have you learned a lot? are there other more economical Facebook fan page marketing courses out there that are worth checking into?

Anyone here have some stats they can share since starting their own Facebook fan page marketing portal?

Thanks
Gavin

[DoktorBraun]

dude, you should write a report on exactly how to do this,
give it away as a lead in or sell it here.

thanks for this awesome info, I am totally going to look into this!

[GavinLively]

Thanks...

Yeah I am thinking of putting together some free videos showing how to customize a facebook fan page with an opt-in form landing page and what not and a few other tips and tricks...

Honestly though 99% of my business is outside of the IM or info marketing niche... I am more into creating services or none IM niche pages that sell products and services... I am starting to move away from info marketing and info product creation and even the IM niche as a whole...So I am still undecided if I want to put together another info product...even if it is just some FREE videos... I need to come up with a good back-end if I do I guess

Thanks again
Gavin

[Raygun]

Thanks, for this post, I am going to check into your stuff more as I would love to learn more about expanding my facebook knowledge.

[GavinLively]

Thanks... Most of my "stuff" when it pertains to facebook fan pages I learned for FREE by just doing... I have not organized my recommendations into anything other than a few blog posts...

One thing I have to say though is that people forget that facebook is STILL a social media network...And even though fan pages are all the rage with internet marketers it is important to remember the "social" aspect and just build your fan page while still being social... In other words don't be an anti-social spamming A-hole...But this is just more of a personal opinion and recommendation...At least do it this way if you want to have your fan page last and actually become an objectively valuable place...

We would all hate to see facebook devolve into what MySpace has become and what twitter is surely becoming....

Don't get me wrong I have been guilty of building and using my fan pages incorrectly...Again that is the learning through "trial and error" that I was speaking of... I'm still trying to clean up and salvage one fan page currently...

Anyway, if utilized properly FB fan pages can be a great list building source...

Thanks
Gavin

[GavinLively]

Apparently I have been chastised by the self-appointed facebook Zealots stating that the way I believe one could use a facebook fanpage is explicitely against facebook TOS... I guess I am expected to just take my ball and go home now...(not that I will)

Just beware of publicly revealing the ideas that you think are good that have been working for you...You will always have the Nay-Sayers that try to paint you in a negative light just because they have a their own subjective opinion, trying to be passed off as fact, of what they believe is proper...

That is all

Thanks
Gavin

[Sara Young]

Fan pages are great.

I've set up a bunch of fan pages in various niches, and then forgot about them.

For some - I did no promotion. Others - I mailed my list.

Each one now has a few hundred fans. I have no idea where they came from

I'm not building a list with these pages (might look into it), but I do get sales...

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by Sara Young

Fan pages are great.

I've set up a bunch of fan pages in various niches, and then forgot about them.

For some - I did no promotion. Others - I mailed my list.

Each one now has a few hundred fans. I have no idea where they came from

I'm not building a list with these pages (might look into it), but I do get sales...

That's great... But be careful about sharing this info here at this board... The self-proclaimed facebook gurus (actually authority usurping zealots) may try to call you to the carpet and say you are violating facebook TOS...

Personally, I will continue to build quality niche oriented fan pages and groups for people to willingly opt-in and opt-out as they see fit and provide them info they want in the process.

Anyway I am curious if anyone else has gone through the Crowd Conversion facebook marketing course and what results they have had since doing so...

Thanks
Gavin

[JayXtreme]

Gavin...

Are you at all concerned that FaceBook will cancel your pages without prior notice, whenever they feel like it?

It's a genuine question. It's creative selling and I applaud it.. just wonderin'

I'm not a big fan of promoting stuff on platforms like that, I much prefer to own/control the majority of my selling platforms... having said that, I am not "slamming" your thing, like I said... I applaud creative selling like this...I'm just curious

Peace

Jay

[SimonHarrison]

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

Gavin...

Are you at all concerned that FaceBook will cancel your pages without prior notice, whenever they feel like it?

It's a genuine question. It's creative selling and I applaud it.. just wonderin'

I'm not a big fan of promoting stuff on platforms like that, I much prefer to own/control the majority of my selling platforms... having said that, I am not "slamming" your thing, like I said... I applaud creative selling like this...I'm just curious

Peace

Jay

I tend to agree but from what I understood , Gavin was using FB as a glorified hosting platform for a lead magnet / opt in page.

So even if they remove his page eventually, he's still got the leads nicely tucked away .

[Derek Allen]

Great post. Facebook has been very good to me! I also have a product about monetizing facebook pages (not a plug - I just want people to know there is another product out there about this).

I started building a list a while back with facebook and I am very pleased with the results and I haven't had a page removed yet. I put a serious twist on it, though. I love facebook for everything it is worth!

[Jeffrey Arthur]

Thats a great point Jay, Facebook has been going on a rampage lately deleting tons of fan pages, however most of them are just marketers spamming their fans trying to make a buck. If you stay within facebooks TOS you really shouldnt get your page taken down. Just like Gavin is doing, you need to get them off the fanpage and onto a web property that you own and control.

Ive been using facebook quite successfully within the offline consulting niche. There is so many things you can do for businesses, especially with FBML. There are so many ways to monetize facebook, especially with the viral aspect to it.

As to the course, I myself havent gotten it but i have watched the videos. I dont really have a need for it myself, since i work with a FBML programmer that does all the work i need for my clients.

JA

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

Gavin...

Are you at all concerned that FaceBook will cancel your pages without prior notice, whenever they feel like it?

"Concerned" ? Not really... Easy come, easy go... Of course If I suddenly had one of my fan pages that has a few thousand members deleted without notice I may not be too happy about it, but as you pointed out I don't ultimately control the platform... That is why I use FBML and create a welcome page with a aweber optin form to capture a majority of the members that join one of my fan pages...

Some here would have you believe though that my "creative selling", as you put it, is completely unethical and a blatant violation of facebook TOS... I called shennanigans on these arbitrary assertions from these power usurping zealots stating that it was more of of a personal opinion of theirs and not fact... I guess my rebuttal was not appreciated and viewed as too argumentative (no matter how true my point may have been) and that thread was deleted...

Oh well, easy come easy go...

As to the Crowd Conversion course... I am very excited about it's relaunch... I can say it was definitely the first thing in a long time put out recently where I gained a ton of value just from the FREE stuff... never mind when I break into the new paid stuff soon to come... It taught me about FBML and a lot more... I can't wait to learn more... Robert Grant and Ian david Chapman really put together a quality product...

Thanks
Gavin

[facebookexpert]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Arthur

Thats a great point Jay, Facebook has been going on a rampage lately deleting tons of fan pages, however most of them are just marketers spamming their fans trying to make a buck. If you stay within facebooks TOS you really shouldnt get your page taken down. Just like Gavin is doing, you need to get them off the fanpage and onto a web property that you own and control.

I completely agree. Whether you like it or not, Facebook decides in the end whether to pull your page or not. After all, it's their prerogative. You would do the same if you were in their position. So indeed: abide to their TOS and you won't have a problem.
Facebook is an absolute gem: the potential is quasi endless.
Yet again, it only requires 1 crucial thing from your part: don't sit and wait. Act. Start now.

[Tyler Jonsson]

So is it possible to get a definitive answer, since there are conflicting things in this thread.

Is it technically against Facebook's TOS to add opt-in forms onto a FBML Facebook Fan Page?

If so, is this also true for groups/apps?

If not... Sweet ;-)

[The Copy Nazi]

Originally Posted by Tyler Jonsson

So is it possible to get a definitive answer, since there are conflicting things in this thread.

Is it technically against Facebook's TOS to add opt-in forms onto a FBML Facebook Fan Page?

If so, is this also true for groups/apps?

If not... Sweet ;-)

These guys have got it down. They're embedding flash videos on fan pages - with opt-in forms and clickable links through to twitter/friendFeed etc. Thay say it's within facebook TOS. Charging Warriors $200 to do it. Gurus For Hire Welcome | Facebook

[badboy_Nick]

Powerful stuff. I have one site with a pretty big list and I think I read another post by someone who said you should IMPORT your list into FB and invite all these people to become fans of your fanpage ... as most of your subscribers are most likely to be on FB.

Once you've sent invites ot all these people it goes viral and your subscribers quadruple. FB is great for spreading the word and expand your brand ... and you certainly seem to know your stuff as well

[AnneE]

Thanks for this pointer, GavinLively. I have a non-IM product that many high school students would be interested in and my husband uses Facebook to get information out about Boy Scouts. (He's the scoutmaster). He said he can't believe how much time these kids are spending on it. But I DON'T want to go spamming and I don't have a lot of time to learn another marketing tool.

I'm going to see what I can get from the free videos. Definitely if you end up putting together pointers based on your own experience, let me know.

Thanks, Anne

[sbucciarel]

There are some great posts on Mashable about Facebook Fan Pages that aren't just posts with affiliate links in them.

Killer Facebook Fan Pages: 5 Inspiring Case Studies

5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page

[whyu76]

Hi,

I dont think facebook will remove the fan page as the FBML is one of the application approved by them to create 'squeeze page'. Myself is using and easy to set up.

[BethHewitt]

Hi Gavin,

Totally awesome post...I have been meaning for a while to get my ass into gear and set up my FB fan page, I think after reading this I might have to do it sooner rather than later. There a lot of benefits for sure.

Cheers Bud,
Beth

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

There are some great posts on Mashable about Facebook Fan Pages that aren't just posts with affiliate links in them.

Killer Facebook Fan Pages: 5 Inspiring Case Studies

5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page

Yes, those are very good articles IMHO thanks for the share...

Personally, affiliate links don't bother me if what the person is sharing is a quality product that can stand on it's own right without an affiliate program attached to it.... I know I am intelligent enough to discern if a product is a quality product and worth my time or if a person is just trying to huck their affiliate link solely to try to make a buck without regard to the quality of the product...

I rarely ever accept anything off of faith or solely from the recommendation of a "guru" with a built up reputation... Most "Gurus" are blow hard like most politicians and use the "herd mentality" to their advantage...At the same time this does NOT mean that they sometimes don't put out quality products...They do... Just a lot of the hype and hoopla that surrounding it is very manufactured to capitalize on the "herd mentality"

I always use my own brain power to determine if a product is a quality product that I can extract value from and learn from before I buy... This is why I don't get all huffy about affiliate links... I encourage others NOT to get huffy about affiliate links and use your own powers of discernment, to investigate, then to decide if a product is for you, regardless if an affiliate link is being hawked or not...Products should be able to stand on their own right and provide value without an affiliate program attached to it.

On the flip side I only ever recommend products that I have used directly and are quality products or are based on methods that I have already used successfully that I know will add value...Although I will always talk, ask questions about and discuss products or methods or products that I have never used or purchased...this helps the learning process which helps me decide.

The only "affiliate links" (if you want to call them that) that I see in this thread are in the signatures (which are allowed at this forum) that point back to personal static pages or personal blog posts that may or may not be related or in context to the thread. And those pages and blog posts may or may not have affiliate links embedded in them or are selling personal products...yours included.... Right?

Thanks again for the share
Gavin "not huffy about affiliate links" Lively

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by BethHewitt

Hi Gavin,

Totally awesome post...I have been meaning for a while to get my ass into gear and set up my FB fan page, I think after reading this I might have to do it sooner rather than later. There a lot of benefits for sure.

Cheers Bud,
Beth

Thanks Beth,... I learn something everyday about using facebook fan pages and groups to build a community that want to learn about your products and/or knowledge...

It is always important to make sure you try to capture all your FB leads to an off page site that you control though... This is in the event that FB decides to delete your page for whatever reason... It has not happened to me yet, but I have alreayd heard the stories...

Thanks Again
Gavin

[wigandmarketing]

I have been wanting to start promoting on Facebook, but have been unsure how to start. I will look into these videos and see what I can learn. Thanks for the info.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by GavinLively

And those pages and blog posts may or may not have affiliate links embedded in them or are selling personal products...yours included.... Right?

Thanks again for the share
Gavin "not huffy about affiliate links" Lively

Just pointing out that people can just put their wallets away because there is plenty of good information on Facebook fan pages for free.

[Mac the Knife]

Just a heads up-if anyone does want a high quality EFFECTIVE facebook landing page with video AND opt in capability-pm me

Fan Pages are AWESOME ways to build a mailing list AND interact with clients/prospects.

Mac

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

Just pointing out that people can just put their wallets away because there is plenty of good information on Facebook fan pages for free.

Absolutely there is... In fact as stated already, most of the stuff I learned on facebook marketing I learned for FREE...

With this being said, personally, I am willing to pay for anything where I can see and extract value from and I am sure most people feel the same...

After all I can build all my own backlinks for free but I sometimes outsorce and pay for this to be done for me...I can always write my own articles for free, but sometimes I pay to have some quality articles written for me. I then can submit all those articles for free but sometimes I pay to have them submitted...

When it comes to information I can always scour the internet from multiple different sources wade through, test and tweeak to see what works and what does'nt all for completely free or I can purchase information that has been condensed from the very same efforts that someone else did for free and I see value in this... Why? Because I am able to save as much of my most valuable commodity / resource / asset...... Which is my TIME...

Yes I am willing to pay money to keep more of my time...Call me crazy but I find value in savaing as much of my time as I can...

Thanks
Gavin

[LilBlackDress]

I just posted this question and saw this thread...so maybe someone here knows.

I know that Pages can get vanity URL's with so many members.
Is there a way to get a vanity URL for a "sub page" of a page?

[KaseyJones]

good idea, i find fan pages work as long as you are really creating real fans... people that like and trust you

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by LilBlackDress

I just posted this question and saw this thread...so maybe someone here knows.

I know that Pages can get vanity URL's with so many members.
Is there a way to get a vanity URL for a "sub page" of a page?

I don't know? Maybe I am not understanding the question or what you mean by "vanity URL"

I know when you have your own personal page (not a fan page) you can change the URL from Welcome to Facebook | Facebook to http://www.facebook.com/yourname

I am not sure there is a way to do this with fan pages...It would be nice if there is a way... Now as far as creating a seperate URL extrension for sub pages... I am not sure I can answere this without know the answer to the first..

If you are talking about a completely seperate NON-facebook URL pointing to certain pages on your facebook fan pages when you say "vanity URL" then this is easly accomplished by registering seperate domain names and using different types of redirects to point back to the pages you want...

Gavin

[LilBlackDress]

A vanity URL for a fan page is like this...

hxxp://www.Facebook.com/SkinCareBeauty
instead of hxxp://www.Facebook.com/Skincarebeauty1122eewuwue8

It keeps the URL simple. So I know you can get them for fan pages but can you get them for sub pages of Fan Pages?

[Teddyg1989]

Gold I learn something new every day.

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by LilBlackDress

A vanity URL for a fan page is like this...

hxxp://www.Facebook.com/SkinCareBeauty
instead of hxxp://www.Facebook.com/Skincarebeauty1122eewuwue8

It keeps the URL simple. So I know you can get them for fan pages but can you get them for sub pages of Fan Pages?

Wow that's cool ... I had no idea you can do this on fan pages... I need to get to work and change some URL's

Thanks for this gem

Gavin

[LilBlackDress]

Very simple. Just log in to Facebook go to Log In | Facebook and plug in the name for your fan page. You do have to have so many members. I think it is 25 not sure.

After you do it....let me know if you can get a name for a sub page if you have any. My guess is you can but I don't have any sub pages to try it on so I am curious.

[sbucciarel]

Forgot to mention. Paul Meyers did some research on Facebook and Twitter and published his findings here.

"Facebook survey results, and more" - TalkBiz News

[TJ Kazunga]

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

Gavin...

Are you at all concerned that FaceBook will cancel your pages without prior notice, whenever they feel like it?

It's a genuine question. It's creative selling and I applaud it.. just wonderin'

I'm not a big fan of promoting stuff on platforms like that, I much prefer to own/control the majority of my selling platforms... having said that, I am not "slamming" your thing, like I said... I applaud creative selling like this...I'm just curious

Peace

Jay

Jay, the only problem with your point is that taken to its logical conclusion the same would apply for ALL third party platforms - after all, EA deletes articles, Google deletes Adwords accounts, ditto YouTube with videos...

The risk doesn't stop you doing that stuff right?

As you well know, managed risk is the name of the game - what are the Terms&Conditions, how can I add value to the platform etc etc?

Cheers
TJ

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by LilBlackDress

Very simple. Just log in to Facebook go to Log In | Facebook and plug in the name for your fan page. You do have to have so many members. I think it is 25 not sure.

After you do it....let me know if you can get a name for a sub page if you have any. My guess is you can but I don't have any sub pages to try it on so I am curious.

Just changed all my fan page URL's Thanks Again You are Awesome Awesome!!... (yes Awesome 2 times)

I wonder if there is any SEO value in actually having the name of your page in the facebook URL for facebook fan pages instead of those ugly ID number extensions?

Thanks Again
Gavin

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by paulbarrs

Question - within the Facebook (say for a normal FB user page) when building lists you are limited to sending to more than 20 people at a time...

Does this change with a FB "Fan" page or is it still the same? And if it *is* the same, is that why it's better to then go with an outside source provider such as Aweber?

Thanks,

Paul

Yes it changes... You can send an update to all your Face book fan pages with a single click and they get alerted on their Facebook front page that they have a message pending in their facebook inbox...

The only thing I don't think it does is also simultaneously hit the members personal email box (ie gmail account) like it does when you individually send messages through a personal page...But people spend so much time on face book I don't think it really matters if it hits their personal email box...

The ideal thing to do is to try to capture all your fans from your fan page on an opt-in form so you have their info in your auto-responder and mailing list...This is what makes FBML so awesom because you can set up a welcome page which is the default page FBML customized with an aweber opt-in form on it...Works just like a squeeze page

Thanks
Gavin

[Pierre!]

Nice post..

I will have to check this out when I get Twitter down a bit better...

Thanks!

[GavinLively]

Originally Posted by Pierre!

Nice post..

I will have to check this out when I get Twitter down a bit better...

Thanks!

I'm finding twitter is turning into a big waste of time... At least the results I am having with facebbok fan pages blows away any results I have had with twitter...Although I tend to integrate the 2 of them together...

In fact I integrate my blogs with my twitter accounts that integrates with various fan pages I have set up... Although the jury is still out how effective it is to have twitter in the mix... I'm not that impressed with twitter thus far

Thanks
Gavin

[Dan Ellenwood]

I wonder if there is any SEO value in actually having the name of your page in the facebook URL for facebook fan pages instead of those ugly ID number extensions?

Definitely! I read somewhere that Google is going to start ranking facebook fanpages in their SERPS in the near future. Those with good SEO names should be way ahead. And with the PR of facebook these fan pages should rank well.