I pretty much live on Facebook, and it’s not because I”m just screwing around.  I am usually managing pages for my clients or reading up on the new stuff going on with Facebook.  One big rookie mistake I see with a lot of Facebook pages is they don’t have a vanity URL or also called a “username”.  When you first create a Facebook page it is assigned a pretty nasty looking URL link that looks something like this:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Erik-Is-The-Man/1003930342/

But with a Facebook page username, it could look like this:

http://www.facebook.com/ErikIsTheMan

Pretty big difference, eh?  Here are the steps to create a username for your Facebook page.

1.  Log in to your Facebook account, and go to http://www.facebook.com/username

2. Click on “Set a Username For Your Pages”

3.  Select the page that you want to set a username for

4.  Choose a name for your page that will be easy to remember for your customers.  For example, if your company’s name is: Erin’s gift shop.  Try getting the username: /Erinsgifts

5.  Verify that you want to change the username.  This is permanent, so make sure you choose a username that you’re confident about.

That’s it.  The benefits of doing this are obvious.  If you want to promote your Facebook page on print materials or just tell someone about it through word of mouth, settin the username and having a cleaner link is much nicer and easier to distribute through traditional marketing channels.

Many small and large companies are getting in on the online marketing that Facebook provides with their business pages. Some are running great pages and others are running horrible pages. Here are a few of my favorite corporate Facebook pages, why I like them, and why they are successful.

Dave Ramsey Show

Dave Ramsey’s facebook page covering personal finance topics is primarily updated by his radio producer, Blake, but he does a great job at giving listeners of the radio and television show a glimpse behind the scenes of the show. He also posts a lot of great statistics and quotes. The key to the success of this page (boasting over 180,000 fans) is fan participation. Ramsey answers selected questions from Facebook fans over the air, and there are always active discussions going on about life, personal finance, and career related topics.

Sunkist Orange Soda

I am not a big fan of their orange soda, but I am a fan of their Facebook page. Their grassroots and social media marketing campaign has resurrected this often-forgotten orange soda. What I love most about this page is their “Team Awesome” marketing campaign. On their page, they post videos and even create videos of things that they consider to be “awesome”. it’s a genius marketing campaign, especially for social media because Facebook fans and Twitter followers love multimedia, especially funny stuff.

Relevant Magazine

In my opinion, this is one of the best Christian magazines for young people. Relevant goes beyond the stereotypical norms of Christian media by covering challenging issues, secular movies/music/art, and portrays a real voice to young people seeking Christianity to be part of their life. This magazine started out as a website, so their online presence has always been at the cutting edge of multimedia and social media endeavors. Relevant’s Facebook page does a great job at facilitating discussion and providing quality, relevant content to its fans.

Travelocity and Southwest Airlines

Travel websites and travel agencies can really benefit from using social media marketing, and these two companies make great use of their Facebook pages. Travelocity runs weekly contests for any fans that submit a photo of them with the Travelocity Gnome while on vacation. This encourages participation and provides user-generated content. Southwest makes great use of pumping out deal information in real-time via their Facebook page. They also provide Facebook-only promotions and discounts. Sometimes, airfare deals only last 24 hours, so being a fan of Southwest is a great way to stay up-to-date on new airfare deals.

So, what makes a great Facebook Page?

• Coming up with discussions, promotions, and content that causes your fans to participate
• User generated content
• Relevant content for your fans based on your industry and/or niche
• Fun promotions and contests
• Good use of multimedia such as videos, photos, and audio
• Recognizing fans and their content

Each of these company’s Facebook pages do some or all of these things very well, and that’s why their pages are successful. Deploy these strategies on your company Facebook page, and you’ll see an increase in fans, participation, and recognition.