Facebook Fanpage Tools
Anyone can create a simple Facebook page in just a few clicks, but if you have a product, brand or interest to promote, Facebook offers a range of tools to enhance your page. Access these through the Resources section after clicking "Edit Page." Other Facebook-savvy developers have also created apps and products, available through other websites or through a Facebook search, to help you make the most of your fans and followers.
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Advertising
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When you click "Advertise on Facebook" in the Resources section of your page, Facebook provides a form for you to enter a title, text and image for your Facebook ad. Alternatively, select "Sponsored Stories." This means that your fans' activity on your page, such as likes and posts, show up in their friends' sidebars as a form of advertising for you. You can then target your ads to particular demographics, according to age, geographical location and interests, among other factors. Finally, you choose how much you are willing to pay per click.
Social Plugins
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Facebook social plugins allow you to easily connect your Facebook page with other sites and blogs on the Web. Facebook provides each application's code or script, which you add to your website to let users "Like" or share a post, see a livestream of your page's activity or click to visit your fan page, for example. With the Registration plugin, users can log in to your site using their Facebook username and password, and with the Comments plugin they can interact with your site via their Facebook ID.
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Updates
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The Updates tool works similar to Facebook messages, or emails. By clicking "Send an Update" in the Resources section, you can send a personal message to multiple fans of your page at once. Select all your fans, or target different groups, depending on age, gender and geographical location. Fans cannot respond except directly on your Facebook wall, however.
Help and Support
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The Pages Help Center provides answers to frequently asked questions about running a Facebook page. Additional help is available for developers via the Resources section or by going to developers.facebook.com. This contains more detailed technical information for integrating your website with your Facebook page, including how to use Facebook API for user authentication and for reading and writing data to Facebook.
Third-Party Tools
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While Facebook provides extensive internal tools to help you maximize your page, other developers have created a wealth of third-party tools for pages. Pagemodo offers free page templates, with paid options to upgrade for more advanced templates. Mediafeedia.com provides enhances capabilities, such as scheduled posting and custom tabs. WildFire Wildfireapp.com is specifically designed for running promotions via your page, making it easy to add contests and coupons, for example, and it contains solutions for other social media sites, such as Twitter and MySpace.
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