So what’s the secret to running a great Facebook page for your business or company? Everyone wants to know how to do it. But there is no single right answer, strategy or tactic for any substantive length of time. This is one of the reasons why I really like the open research work done by Jeremiah Owyang and the team over at the Altimeter Group. Their most recent report is research shares the collective input from 34 vendors, agencies, and experts who work with major brands. Altimeter looked for patterns in the responses, which resulted in the 8 success criteria in regards to Facebook page best practices. The firm I work for, Digital Evolution Group, participated in providing input for this report.

Here is the set of criteria resulting from the research:

In the report (on page #8), Digital Evolution Group is cited in regards to criteria #8, “Solicit A Call to Action”. While it might be the obvious, we believe this discipline is important when it comes to Facebook marketing. The idea is to eventually sell more of one’s product. Period. Simple calls to action that transition users from engagement to purchase are the ultimate “final step” you want your targets to take. This is why we brainstorm, develop, and lead projects like the Gordmans ‘welcome tab’ FB coupon. When brainstorming ideas of your own, don’t over-think the simple, direct, easy tactics. Encourage users to ‘click here’ or ‘press the Like button’ or ‘purchase this online’. You must make it obvious, by design, for users to do what you want them to do.

Here is the full Altimeter report: