Facebook's New Fan Page: How Businesses Can Learn to Love It

In case you haven’t noticed, your Facebook Fan Page is about to get a facelift. For many of you, this is news. Why? Because it seems Facebook makes a new change every other day. While change certainly is not bad when done in a thoughtful way, business owners seem to struggle identifying the precise way to create a Social Media footprint – starting with Facebook and then expanding beyond. Facebook has complicated our world as business owners. When opening a restaurant, retail shop or service concept, marketing used to be easy. You print a few hundred fliers and hit the streets. Great customer service trumped everything, and ultimately dictated a great majority of your success as a business owner. Today, thanks to the boom of Social Media, marketing a business is complex and your ability to network is dissolved. You, as a business owner, have no clue where to turn. Facebook would suggest you turn to them. But businesses seem prepared to rebel. While my opinions are just that, I have a potential solution that would help eliminate the fears businesses face when trying to reach the audience they have worked so hard to gain: start charging for Fan Pages. Don’t get all worked up yet, let me explain: You already have to pay to play: Have you ever boosted a post or created a simple advertising campaign for your page? Have you ever clicked the upper-left-hand “get more fans” section on your admin screen? If the answer is yes – you are already paying for Facebook. If your answer is no – then no one is seeing your page anyway. There are a million Social Media experts. If you walked into a crowded bar, how many people would tell you they are a Social Media expert? Dozens. I recently posted a job listing for a Social Media Manager and received more than 2,000 resumes, all within a small little circle around our office in Chicago. The reality is we had to then find a needle in the haystack and see who was actually an expert. The reality is the true expert is Facebook. What if Facebook charged you based on the number of fans you had? Not fake fans – real fans. In exchange for paying this monthly fee, Facebook would guarantee your posts and your marketing schedule would directly hit YOUR audience. You know, like the old days? I bet many of you would rather pay smart funds to Facebook than to some kid out of college claiming to be a Social Media expert (even though they only have 40 LinkedIn connections). Facebook should offer plans: If there were options for a business owner that included packages with tab development and new market marketing – you would be interested. If Facebook would start purchasing some Social Media agencies, they could probably have the team to handle this. And maybe, just maybe, they could deliver more ROI back to the business owner. The reality is: this won’t happen. The reality is: You, as a business owner, will have to spend a lot of energy to figure out this vicious must-have marketing tool. And you don’t have the time. Facebook has changed our world. It has complicated it. Now, in my opinion, it’s time to uncomplicated it. If you spend a hundred, thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars to build up your network, your following, your fans – then you should be allowed to speak with them – all of them, not just 6 percent for small footprints and 2 percent for larger footprints. Facebook needs to find a way to give more control and reach back. Facebook is a business – and a business we don’t own (even if you own a few shares of stock, you really don’t own Facebook). They have to make money. You are their ticket to billions. And they know they own a piece of your wallet. But, like any great company, it’s time to create a strong customer service plan that helps the non-experts forget about Facebook and let Facebook do the work for them. New Fan Pages tomorrow lead to great business relationships next week.