By Samantha Bangayan

Just as I covered 6 Facebook Page Wall Tips for Small Businesses earlier this week, I am going to expand on that with four more Facebook Page wall tips for small businesses based on my analysis of Social Media Examiner's 2011 Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages. I looked at how they are engaging their followers and customers, and what they are doing right.

Let's jump in...

1. Start with a Killer Welcome Page

All but one of the pages presented a welcome page that seemed professionally designed and most pages included a reason or incentive for Liking the page within their ad copy (e.g., receive exclusive gifts, giveaways, free music, yummy recipes). After clicking the Like button, only half of the pages displayed a “thank you” message while the other half showed no change from the welcome tab. I suggest having a "thank you" message or redirecting them to your Wall.

Finally, all of the pages took advantage of most of the maximum size allotted (180 x 540 pixels) for their profile picture, which also doubles as an advertisement with a memorable company name and logo.

2. Provide More Than Enough Info

I was surprised to find that most of these pages don’t promote their websites as much as I expected. In fact, it seems like these Facebook Pages are designed to function as standalone hubs in and of themselves so fans don’t need to go to the website anymore. For example, most Info tabs were filled out with detail, including a local map, and custom tabs often involved other methods of getting in touch: I found a Twitter app on half the pages, a newsletter sign-up on half the pages, a “Contact Us” form, and a “Book Here” page.

3. Bombard with Media

It was notable that all pages had a considerable number of pictures. Most had hundreds of photos, whether uploaded or tagged. The Dog Training Ireland fan page had over 1,000 photos and regularly uploaded photos via mobile phone. Photos play an important role when it comes to engagement because they often get a lot of Likes and comments. Also, try encouraging your fans to upload their own photos or providing interesting facts -- the GardenQuest fan page has succeeded in promoting interaction even though the game has yet to be released because people upload and share their own garden-related photos.

Nearly half of the pages also had video, which can be a good way to share your location, news, promotional clips, and testimonials. Both the Dog Training Ireland and GardenQuest pages have introductory videos.

4. Post Daily

Or almost daily. As expected, the pages that posted more also had more engagement. The secret range, at least for these pages, seems to be 1 to 3 wall posts daily including weekends. There didn’t seem to be a time preference for wall posting for any of the pages. Brasserie Sixty6 posted the least with only one to two posts daily four to six days per week, but they also have the least number of unique wall posts from others and most of their recent interaction is from a contest they held. Come up with your social media marketing plan, and make sure you stick to it.

So how can they improve their Facebook Pages and what does this all mean?

How Could These Pages Be Improved?

How are these Facebook Pages doing in comparison to the top Facebook fan pages of major brands in terms of engagement? A FanGager report presented by All Facebook in early October listed Sony Ericsson, Walmart, Redbull, Disney, Pepsi, and Starbucks as the top six most engaging brands on Facebook. Although the pages in our study are doing pretty well, here are more suggestions based on the top six big brands:

• Feature fans, especially those who contribute photos or videos.
• More ways for fans to get involved.
• More questions or polls.
• More videos.
• Less self-promotion.

What Does This Mean for Your Business?

These results aren’t meant to be imitated word for word. They’re meant to give you ideas to experiment with because your niche and audience are specific to you. Try conducting a study of your own by observing and analyzing the most engaging Facebook pages in your field. Ultimately, you want to discover what works best for your community who may or may not even be on Facebook. As you experiment with your own fan page, use Facebook Insights and monitor the number of people “talking about your page” to see what you’re doing right and what you could improve on.

Also try out some of these other ideas I noticed on the Facebook fan pages I studied:

• EasyLunchboxes uses their fan page account instead of the owner’s personal account to comment on other profiles and pages as well. Try a mixture. Get personal and respond from the brand.
• Brasserie Sixty6 has custom tabs for their menu and for reservations.
• My favorite app was EasyLunchboxes’ Booshaka app to promote fans. The page owner called the custom tab, “My FANS Rock!!!!!” and fans show up at the top of the list if they interact more.
• Dog Training Ireland has a custom tab for their disclaimer.
• Arizona Pro DJs and Brasserie Sixty6 had a “Reviews” tab where customers could leave their feedback and testimonials.
• Various pages held contests, which were really effective in encouraging engagement. Also consider hosting a live conference, webinar, online party, or live chat.

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What has worked to engage your Facebook fans? What hasn’t? What ideas are you going to try and implement from those above?