It’s 2011 and every artist worth their salt has a Facebook fan page. But keeping yours up to date can sometimes feel like a chore. And how do you know if you’re really making the most of your page? Could you do things better to encourage your existing connections to share your page with their social networks? Here we describe some helpful ways to make the most of your Facebook page.

A good landing page

We’ve blogged about this in detail in the past so we’re not going to repeat ourselves. Just go here for the info.

ReverbNation have just updated their Facebook app and added lots of easy-to-use functionality. Well worth having a look.

Photos

The new Facebook layout allows you to customise which 5 photos you want to display on your page. There are some creative ways to hack this to lead your fans into different photos. Here’s a handy tutorial thanks to Ian from makeitinmusic.com:

Store

Facebook is first and foremost a way to connect with your fans. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to sell your music too. More and more artists and businesses in general are integrating stores into their pages. The best one out there for musicians is through  Topspin Media.  Topspin have just this week opened up their platform to all musicians (previously you had to be a agency/label like us in Amp, or have a large number of fans to gain access to the software). Integrating your Topspin products into your Facebook page is done with the click of a few buttons and has the professional eCommerce support you’d expect.

While having a store on your page is great, it can be hard to find on the new Facebook layout; now that tabs have been removed links to the different areas of your Facebook page are less prominently located under your profile picture. One way to get around this and get your product into the news feeds of your fans is to embed your product links into Slideshare presentations and post these as status updates. This method has the advantage of allowing 100% visual customisation and the launching of store links directly within the Facebook News Feed.

Audio

The best ways to post your songs to Facebook is not to use the Facebook Music Player. You’re much better off using third party sites like a ReverbNation landing page (above) for on-demand listens or, to highlight new music, simply post SoundCloud or YouTube links in your Facebook status. Here at Amp we love the portability and customisation that SoundCloud offers - it’s a great way not just to share your music, but also to distribute it and get fan feedback.

Link Sharing

Keeping your Facebook active with interesting content can sometimes prove a struggle - especially if you are going through a quiet period. One way to ensure you have things to post is to use link agregator tools that collect information based on your interests and connections and share these back with your social network. The best-known of these tools is probably Paper.li which creates a regular newspaper-style webpage of links and stories. Other examples can be found here, including the awesome (unfortunately iPad-only for now) Flipboard. It’s only a matter of time before a sophisticated ‘personalised magazine’ that integrates with your social networks like this becomes mainstream and cross-device.

These are just some of the things you should be thinking about when managing your Facebook page. Using the best applications, combined with an attractive layout and a consistent posting strategy will grow your connections.

Contact Us if you’d like to discuss in more detail how we could help you make the most of your Facebook page.