Through 36 months of trial an error, we have come up with a Facebook marketing system that delivers incredible outcomes.  Here are the six most critical elements that determine the success of a Facebook page.

My company has created and managed over three hundred Facebook pages for our clients.  Through 36 months of trial an error, we have come up with a Facebook marketing system that delivers incredible outcomes.  Here are the six most critical elements that determine the success of a Facebook page.

#1 Do not send visitors to your wall tab

The wall tab is just a history of activity.  It is not meant to be the home page of your presence on Facebook.   The best practice is to send them to a custom tab that serves a specific purpose.   For our company, we send them to our social media tab.  It highlights the major areas that our services cover, and then it has a call-to-action.  Your Facebook page should be a mini-version of your main website.  The same rules of conversion marketing apply.  You would not have your home page of your company website made up of a collection of links.

#2 Place an image on your default landing tab that asks them to hit the “like” button

This simple technique will increase your conversion ratio of likes-to-visits by 7-10 times.  If you browse through the top liked pages on Facebook, you will see many major brands and politicians incorporating this technique.  Go here to see an example of this technique on a Facebook page: 
http://facebook.com/viralso

#3 Use the personal/company hybrid when creating your main image for your page

The main person in the company should be on the left hand image along with the company logo.  Most companies make the mistake of using just a logo.  If you are a world recognized brand like Apple, then this will work.   At the end of the day, people connect with people.  Your face on the page will increase your like conversion rate, and it will increase the click through rate on your status updates.  Status updates without an icon of a real person are rarely clicked on nor shared with friends.

#4 Send status updates that have compelling content

You can execute this by have a running spreadsheet with quality webpages you have come across.  On average I come across 5-10 great pages each business day.  Whether it is news from CNN.com or a new product that I was introduced to me by a business contact, I am always adding this to my status update topic list.  Many businesses make the mistake of just posting updates about their business and nothing else.  This is a quick way to have your followers lose interest and unlike your page.

#5 Post webpages that you own in your status updates

This is essentially taking #4 to the next level.   I use the urls that I have compiled as topics to create web pages on a site we own.  Our followers get the same compelling content, and the traffic goes to a page we own.  Here’s an example of a page that is built for this purpose:
http://www.viralso.net/forum/topics/how-to-get-fans-and-followers

As you can see, each page has a call-to-action in the footer.  If we sent our followers to someone else’s blog or website, then we would be giving away traffic and potential clients to a competitor.   It is one extra step that will make a huge difference in your company.

#6 Place a lead capture form within your Facebook page

Using some basic html form elements, you can place a lead capture form directly within a tab on your Facebook page.  This has a 600% greater conversion rate than sending them to a form located on your website.  By having the form on your Facebook page, your company is leveraging the brand of Facebook.  The psychological perception of the visitor seeing the form on Facebook leads to a higher level of trust.  It is also one less hoop that the visitor has to jump through.

These six commandments are the foundation of every marketing campaign that we execute around the Facebook pages of our clients.  Without the right foundation in place, it is impossible to achieve sustained growth.

Natalie Regoli is the CEO of ViralSO.com, a full service engagement marketing firm that specializes in social media.  It focuses on creating interconnected engagement marketing campaigns using social media, SEO, PPC, email, and conversion marketing.  ViralSO’s social media marketing services include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and custom community websites.