Facebook 101: How to earn fans for your brand page

If someone simply likes your brand—in the actual sense of the word—and wants updates from the company, they will find you. That’s the earned method.

If you want to spread the word that your brand exists on Facebook, you can purchase pay-per-click ads and sponsored stories. That’s the paid method.

This story will focus on ways to earn fans. After all, anyone can see an ad or promotion and click “like” thinking they will get something free. Problem is, so many will never pay attention to your page again. But when you earn someone’s “like” you start to build the robust community that every marketer dreams of on Facebook.

For example, a costly pay-per-click campaign might attract 1,000 fans to your page, but there’s a good chance that many of them don’t care about your brand in the way you would hope. And that means they probably won’t become brand advocates who “like,” comment on, and share your posts.