June 15, 2010 - See our comments in this article published in The Age today.

The search giant Bing can now eyeball updates posted on "fan pages" - Facebook spaces popular as a branding tool. Bing's attention looks set to raise the profile of fan pages, which are already making waves. Just ask new media fan James Plouf.

Exodus

"Soon, people won't be asking if you have a web page," Plouf wrote in a May 2010 post. "They will be asking if you have a Facebook fan page. You laugh, but big brands are already dumping standalone web sites and moving over to just Facebook," Plouf said, adding that Google should worry because Facebook is "unstoppable" and just getting started.

Plouf might have a point. According to Hitwise, in March this year Facebook's overall web traffic surged ahead of Google's. So, despite its lightweight feel, a Facebook fan page could be a powerful marketing platform - or a key plank in a wider campaign.

Viral value

Website usability expert James Breeze, of Objective Digital, pinpoints two benefits of fan page ownership. First, a fan page is a good way of establishing a web presence if you cannot afford a designer.

Second, it means that you can easily keep contacts and clients updated about deals and the like. Just ensure that your shop or office has a prominent physical sign that says: "Join our fan page" - as the noodle chain Wagamama does.

Attracted by the invitation, Breeze signed up. He then began exploring the company's fan page, only to lose interest fast and click elsewhere.

Fizz factor

A fan page presence is useful, Breeze underlines. "But what's more important is having a strategy," he says. Instead of just sticking up a site and forgetting it exists, ask why visitors might bother returning.

Invite visitors to join discussions, he suggests. If, say, you run a restaurant, ask diners to give public feedback about food quality. "Integrate the on and offline activity: they're not really separate any more."

Numbers game

According to website marketing strategist Chris Dimmock (cogentis.com.au), however much fizz you inject, a fan page will still compare poorly with a standalone site. An old-school site automatically confers some handy credentials - not least an email address at your company domain name, Dimmock says.

If you launch a fan page and fail to win a hefty following, "then it looks pretty lame", Dimmock adds. The firms best suited to Facebook fan pages are the likes of the energy drink giant Red Bull, which sells a product that has already amassed a vast following.

On a local scale, New South Wales chain Harry's Cafe de Wheels might do well, Dimmock says. If the cult Aussie caterer set up a Facebook fan page, tons of people would sign up, he says, suggesting that a business needs 400 or so.

That is more than your average Fred's Plumbing outfit could muster. Anyway, like the microblogging site Twitter, a fan page is just "supplementary" - one of many handy social media tools, Dimmock argues.

Spread your bets

The director of the new ventures incubator Pollenizer, Mick Liubinskas, agrees. “Yes, fan pages are a good way to start interacting, but not the end," Liubinskas says.

He champions adopting a range of marketing tools and interacting all over the web. Besides building a fan page, you should, it seems, tap the power of blogs, wikis (collaborative websites), forums, and communities. Get chatty.

Beware of relying 100 per cent on a platform that someone else controls and changes every three months. If you do build a fan page, Liubinskas warns it must have grunt - "credibility and authenticity".

"If you don't," he says, "it will be a disaster."