How to create a Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter account to promoteyour business or social group.

This article is a quick ‘How To Guide’ for setting up a Facebook Fan Page (a.k.a. Facebook Group or Page) and a Twitter account for low cost marketing on a budget.

In this recession based economy it’s very important to capitalize on some of the free marketing tools available for business and social groups. Not only are Facebook and Twitter free, they are also some of the most cost effective means to reach out to your audience while consuming very little or your precious marketing budget or other resources (although time can get consumed at a rapid clip if you get too immersed within social marketing, so use good judgement).

To create a Facebook Fan Page:

Simply click on this link: Create a new Facebook Page
Select the type of page you want to create from the options in the drop down box.

Click on ‘Create Page‘.
The rest is simply a matter of populating your page with a name, logo/image, description, etc.
Set up the moderation rules for your page (determines whether others can join without an invitation, and whether it is public or private).
Then you can invite members to become a ‘Fan’ of your page by sending them invitations from within Facebook. It’s helpful to use the tools that Facebook provides to search your online email accounts (Yahoo Mail, Gmail, etc.) for other Facebook users that you know (they don’t have to be current users of Facebook, but it helps since you are more likely to get them to accept your invitation).

Be sure to put links to your new Facebook Page on your main website. If you have another website it is a good idea to embed some code there that allows people to become a Fan of your Facebook Page.
To keep the attention of your members (and to gain new members) you should post lots of content like news articles, discussions, and photos as much as possible on your new Facebook Page.
There is a handy free iPhone Facebook application available on the iTunes App Store that lets you view and update your Facebook info from your iPhone. (See how I used the iPhone Facebook app during a power outage to keep in touch with my friends on Facebook and LinkedIn).

To create a Twitter account:

Go to www.twitter.com.
Click on ‘Join‘.
Enter your username, password, email address, etc. (be careful to pick a useful username since this will be your Twitter identity, such as: https://twitter.com/milehighmktg (you can change this later if the username is available).
Invite others to ‘follow you’ on Twitter by sending them an invite from within Twitter. Just like Facebook, it’s helpful to use the tools that Twitter provides to search your online email accounts (Yahoo Mail, Gmail, etc.) for other Twitter users that you know (they don’t have to be current users of Twitter, but it helps since you are more likely to get them to accept your invitation).
Add a logo or other image such as a photo of yourself; this is done from the profile page. Twitter will size the image automatically, but you may want to edit your image outside of Twitter first so that you can get a good arrangement for the square aspect ratio postage stamp-like size allowed).
You can add a background image that will give your Twitter account some personality. There are plenty of free Twitter background images on the internet (just do a Google search). I create my own Twitter backgrounds in Photoshop then upload them, but not everyone has this capability.
Start ‘tweeting’ by sending out status updates and other useful tidbits of information like your current goings on at your company or social group. Keep in mind that ‘Tweets’ are like SMS text messages in that they are limited to 140 characters, so use your letter count wisely.
Select other people you want to ‘follow’ on Twitter. This makes you more likely to gain ‘followers’ for yourself as Tweeters reciprocate (often a kind of a ‘tit-for-tat’ experience). You can also add famous people you want to follow like John McCain and Barack Obama or other famous people (there are several others suggested for you, plus you can search for more). I’m following John McCain, and he is also following me! (Well, someone from his camp is, anyway.)
There are handy free iPhone applications available on the iTunes App Store such as T witterFon that let you send and receive Tweets from your iPhone.
Happy Tweeting!