Be a Captain Picard and Engage Your Facebook Fan Page Commenters

Ok so you have a brand spanking new Facebook Fan Page and you’ve done very little marketing other than sending out an invite to a few Facebook friends and you need to get the ball rolling. There are a number of ways to do that and I’ll be covering different tactics over time, but for today I want to discuss engaging the people who took the time to write something on your Facebook Fan Page Wall.

1. THE WRONG WAY TO ENGAGE COMMENTER’S

Ok so I have this pet peeve and it’s one I’m sure many of you who have posted on someone else’s wall asking a question in regards to the the wall owner original post can relate too.

If the Wall owner creates a post on their Fan Page Wall what are they really doing? Well often times they’re trying to solicit feedback and conversation around their topic which is a great idea because it makes their message go viral and can potentially bring in new Fan’s to the page.

My pet peeve and what I feel is the wrong thing to do is to ignore your commenter’s. Fairly recently I posted on another person’s Wall who was discussing Social Media related content which of course I’m interested in. I wasn’t clear on something this person was saying so I commented on the Wall posting asking a question or two and I got no response at all! Now had my questions been off topic then by all means ignor me, but if you post something that is meant to stir up debate and someone engages as such by ignoring such folks you’re not only creating bad will with that individual, but how about the other’s who stop by and say “that’s a good question” and they too see you’re too snooty to answer. Bad karma? Well it sure isn’t good karma!

2. THE RIGHT WAY TO ENGAGE COMMENTOR’S

My Facebook Fan page is extremely new and I haven’t even begun promoting it other than recommending it to a few friends so as i get a trickle of new people I’m thrilled to get some new comments by those looking to get something out of my page.

My first comment ever comes from a guy named Andrew Fox-Hulme from New Zealand (I’d love to visit there some day!) and he’s owns and operates a small and growing Search Engine Marketing business in NZ. Great for him, I’ve done a lot of SEO stuff myself. In fact let me give Andrew a little plug, here’s his Personal Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/andrew.foxhulme#!/andrew.foxhulme?v=wall.

So how did I engage Andrew’s comments on my Facebook Fan Page Wall?

• I thanked him for becoming a Fan.
• I encouraged him to send others to my page to also become fans.
• I’m literally mentioning him on my own blog and will post it to my Fan page as well and I even gave a link back to his Facebook page.

Ok now I admit you can’t even come close to doing this with everyone, but this is a new Fan page and even my blog is new so I have very few fans and need to get rolling. I’ve now done so by hopefully creating a fan and friend in a person who shares my same interest in Social Media Marketing in Andrew. Will Andrew be more interested in checking out and engaging on my Fan Page, telling his online friends to check me out (my Fan Page not me ) and maybe even making a post on his page about my new Fan Page? Damn straight he will! LOL

Ok maybe not, but he will almost certainly feel appreciated and be more likely to checkout my Fan page and to engage in conversation from time to time. Building good will and honestly caring for your commenter’s creates good will and shows that you’re a ‘real person’ who actually cares.These are good things that have a way of paying you back over time.

As Captain Picard would say ‘ENGAGE’.

-Stephen C. Dayton

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