{Image by Emilie Ogez}

Building a fan following from scratch can seem overwhelming. So how do social media consultants do it? Here are a few tips that social media super users follow to gain more fans and keep communities happy.

1. Shamelessly Self Promote
If there are no social media icons on your website’s home page, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to gain new fans every time someone visits your website. It’s the easiest way to drive traffic to your new Facebook page or Twitter account, yet I’ve seen many clients avoid it…for months…and months. There are even official Facebook plug-ins you can grab for your site. Easy, peasy.

In addition to home page icons, add your vanity URL (the easier to spell, pretty-looking URL you must claim) to your marketing materials and to your email signature. Self-promote means cross-promote too. On Facebook and LinkedIn, you can add a link to Twitter in your info section or feed your tweets on your page. If you don’t want to feed all your tweets to Facebook, Involver has a free, separate Twitter tab you can add to your page.

2. Tag others
The “@” symbol isn’t just for Twitter. Use it on Facebook posts, too. Simply type the page’s exact name after the “@” and select the correct page from the drop-down menu that appears. (On the off chance that the page doesn’t appear, try ‘liking’ the page first.) If you’re hosting a career fair at a university, tag the university. If you’re sharing an article link, tag the publication. Other pages are notified when you’ve tagged them and your post will appear on their wall (as long as they allow comments and posts to appear from users on their wall). So when people visit their page, they’ll see your post too. On Google+, the “+” symbol does the same job.

3. Geo-target Your Posts
If you’re a national or international company with hundreds of thousands of followers and you want to promote a single job fair in Denver or a grand opening in Miami without bothering everyone, you can send a Facebook post to only people in that area. As you type your Facebook update, look at the “Share” button beneath it and the “Public” setting next to that. Select “Location/Language” from the drop-down menu then follow the prompts to geo-target your post.

4. Interact
Social networks are about being social. ‘Like’ other pages and showcase them on the side of your page. Under Edit Page>Featured, you can select five “featured likes” that best represent your page. Maybe it’s a parent company, a sister site, or an affiliation.

Facebook and Google+ also allow you to leave comments on other pages as your page. If you’re a fashion retailer and a magazine posts a link to a special feature on your new line of clothing, leave a “Thanks!” below the link. If you’re a company and the local business school posts a link to your internship, encourage students to apply with a little message. Or click ‘Share’ to re-post another page’s content on your wall. And of course, Twitter isn’t Twitter without a little re-tweeting. Why are you doing this? Because if you give some, you get some. The more eyes on your posts and page, the better.

5. Keep Links Clean
Got a long, ugly link to post on your wall? Shorten it — and personalize it — at bit.ly first. Bit.ly also keeps track of how many clicks your shortened link gets. Or, here’s another tip — once you’ve copied a link onto your post and the preview pane appears below, you can delete the link within the post. The preview pane will stay and fans will still be able to click the link via the preview pane.

6. Make It Look Pretty
Never underestimate a good profile picture, and change it with the seasons if you can. Have you noticed that many companies take advantage of the long vertical space for profile pics? You should, too!

Don’t forget to make your posts interesting by using quality images — especially now that Facebook has greatly increased their size. There are hundreds of thousands of high-quality images that are free to use at Flickr.com  if they are under the Creative Commons license and if you credit the photographer. (I go to Search>Advanced Search>Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content.) I like to tag the picture with the photo’s direct link or add a note in my post that says, “Photo Credit: X.”

 7. Create a Welcome Tab
There are lots of ways to create your own welcome tab, but I’m a big fan of using the free Static HTML app from Involver. See how it looks on my Facebook page. Choose to upload a simple image (it won’t be clickable) or get your web developer to help you with a little bit of HTML to make your image link to your website. Once it’s set up, under Edit Page>Manage Permissions, select the default landing tab as the Static HTML page. To change the name from “HTML” to “Welcome” (or in my case, “Hire Me”), go to Edit Page>Apps>Static HTML for Pages>Edit Settings.

Feeling overwhelmed? That’s where the social media consultants come in. I’ve managed Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for brands like EXPRESS, WIRED, Six Flags, Rosewood Hotels, Michael Page International, Home City Ice, SOS Staffing, St. John’s School, First Student Canada, Spectrum Brands, and more. If you’re interested in my social media consulting services, contact me today.

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