Many fans for your page: Facebook speed course part 4

You’ve created a page for your bed & breakfast and posted your first messages. Time for part 4 of this Facebook speed course: collecting fans and expanding your network! The easiest way to get your first group of fans is to invite your Facebook friends.

Inviting Facebook-friends
Note: if you want to invite your Facebook friends you have to be logged in with your personal account. So, don’t use Facebook as ‘your page’ but as ‘yourself’. You can change this by clicking the radar icon in the upper left part of the Facebook screen.

Now go to your Facebook page and follow these steps:

• Step 1: At the top of the screen, click ‘Build up an audience’ and in the drop-down menu click ‘Invite Friends’.

• Step 2: Now you see a list of all your Facebook friends. Check the boxes of the people you would like to send an invitation to and click ‘Submit’. These friends will now receive an invitation to like your page.

Invite your other contacts
You probably have more contacts in your email program. Did you know that you can simply copy, or in other words ‘import’ these email addresses to Facebook? You can do this with Gmail, Hotmail, MSN Messenger, Microsoft Outlook and many other email programs. Subsequently you can invite these contacts to become fans of your page as well. You can do this by following the steps below:

• Step 1: At the top of your page, click ‘Build up an audience’ and in the drop-down menu click ‘Invite Email Contacts’. Now you see a list of email programs.

• Step 2: Choose the email program you use, if required fill in your email address, and click ‘Invite Contacts’.

• Step 3: Now you see a list of your email contacts. Uncheck the boxes of the people you do not want to send an invitation to and click ‘Preview invitation’.

Now you see an example of the invitation that will be sent. Click ‘Send’. The checked contacts who have a Facebook account will now receive an invitation for your page.

Outlook, Thunderbird and Apple Mail
Do you use Microsoft Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Apple Mail or other email software? Then at step 2, click ‘Other tools’. Subsequently, click the link ‘How to create a contact file’. Follow the steps to import your contact list to Facebook.

Start with a social army
It is smart to first invite the people who would be happy to promote your bed & breakfast. Think of friends, family and your most enthusiastic guests. That way, you create a ‘social army’ from which you can start to expand your network further.

Free stickers to promote your page
Would you like a broader network? Then promote the web address of your Facebook page on signs in your bed & breakfast, on business cards, invoices, in emails, message boards, and other marketing material. You can do this, for example, in the form of a free QR code which can be scanned with a smartphone. Facebook offers free Facebook table cards and stickers to promote your page. You can adjust and print them yourself. Note: Facebook can always change the web address of your page, so don’t use this URL in large volumes of printed material!

See you on Facebook
With this speed course we have tried to help you get started with your own page on Facebook. There is a lot more to learn about managing a page and expanding your network. Keep an eye on this blog for more tips about the promotion of your bed & breakfast on Facebook. We wish you lots of success and don’t forget to ‘like’ the Facebook page of Bedandbreakfast.eu! We can’t wait to see your page!