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There is a lot of buzz of late on how companies can gain more attention on Facebook and increase their Fan numbers at the click of their fingers, and how to engage with those fans once they have them. Of course, that is always the first step – but how do you take it that one step further? How do you use that momentum and actually achieve some real-life revenue from your fans?

Follow our three steps below, to convert your Facebook Fans into actual paying customers:

Facebook for business

Step One: Give Them Shareable Content.

When used effectively, Facebook is an incredibly powerful tool in your Social Media belt. However there is a very fine line between super-sales-success and spam, and Fans are all to eager to spot it.

The first rule of Facebook is: you *want* people to talk about it. More specifically, you want people to talk about you. Facebook is giving your brand a human face, a personality. You’re giving your fans a fantastic platform for engagement and interaction, so give them content they can interact with.

This is why our first step is all about engagement – not sales. Think about it, the more likes, shares, comments and fans you have interacting with you, the higher your EdgeRank score becomes, and more and more of your fans and friends (and friends of fans!) will see your posts.

Photos and ‘questions’ are great examples of fun, interactive content. Make sure you include clear calls-to-action such as “click here” or “share this” giving fans an added nudge into sharing your story. Test different approaches and tweak ’til you find the Facebook that ‘fits’ you and your brand.

Step Two: Turning Facebook Fans into Offsite Fans.

Once you have achieved optimum engagement with your Fans, Step Two is moving your fans to take additional action – taking a step outside of the Facebook realms.

(cue “*Gasp*…off of Facebook? Are you mad?!”)

When it comes down to it, it is going to take more than just a ‘like’ of a photo here and a ‘share’ of a status there to turn your Fans into customers.

Encouraging users to engage with your business adds a dimension to a slowly forming potential customer relationship.

Use links for ‘external’ content, a link to your website or a news story that involves your company (in a good light, of course!). For fans to take this leap of faith offsite is a big step, so make sure you don’t overload on the sales push; give them something as a ‘thank you’ for trusting you. A discount or offer, a contest or competition to enter, a free e-book or webinar, give them reason to view you as a valuable business entity in the ‘real world’.

Step Three: Introduce E-Marketing.

Step three isn’t an obvious one, and is sometimes scoffed at as a current marketing strategy. The truth of it is; the key to successful e-marketing is the buy in from your fans from the get-go, and the power of the ‘opt-in’.

Instead of annoying your Facebook community by broadcasting sales message upon sales message, why not ask them to ‘opt in’ to an email (the use of a bespoke Facebook App design would come in handy here for a quick ‘fill out form’ to do so). By gaining approval from your fans,  you can market yourself to qualified leads right into their inbox.

Making your email marketing a success is rather simple, if you apply the same logic as you would any other marketing channel – create engaging social content, to balance out the ‘sales stuff’.

Include newsletters, blog updates, sign ups for webinars or free reports – all valuable content and will stop your emails heading straight for the trash-box.

Alternatively; nurture your leads with giveaways and contests with a “help now, sell later” type approach. Offering any sort of ‘free stuff’ be it a service or product; people will always sit up and listen. The key here is; if they like your product enough to enter a competition to win it – what’s to stop them opening their wallets at a later date?

By ensuring that you are adding quality content, and most importantly, VALUE every step of the way; your fans will trust you, engage with you, and ultimately, buy from and do business with you.

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