If someone offered you retail space in the heart of Times Square, rent free, would you open a business? Of course, you would. Well, that’s exactly what Facebook is doing with Facebook Pages. As a result, hundreds of thousands of businesses have hung their shingle out on the social network.
Facebook Pages give your business a presence on Facebook to promote your organization. Facebook Pages are the business equivalent of a Facebook member’s profile. Members can become a fan of your Facebook Page, write on your Wall, learn about special promotions, upload photos, and join other members in discussions. And you can share your status updates with your fans to keep them engaged and informed.
Facebook does not limit the number of fans a Page can acquire. A business can send updates to all of their fans at any time. Therefore, think of a fan as an opt-in subscriber, with Facebook providing the infrastructure to reach your fans via Facebook’s internal e-mail and Wall features, among others.
Facebook Pages also allow you to add applications (apps), or small interactive software programs, to your Page to engage your readers further with videos, notes, links, discussions, Flash content, and more. Depending on which category of Facebook Page you choose, you can see that some apps are standard and can’t be removed, such as your Wall, Events, and Notes. Facebook also maintains a large library of third-party apps that you can use to make a Facebook Page your own.