Many businesses have their public pages set up on Facebook, but merely having a page is not enough. For a business, Facebook is a place to interact with and engage its audience, share key events and accomplishments, opportunities for “fans,” and more. That being said, how is it done? Facebook has a number of different tools at your disposal; using them correctly to get your audience involved is the tricky part. Here are some of our recommendations on the best and simplest Facebook tools to get your audience talking:

1. Status Updates-Posting regular status updates is the simplest thing you can do to keep your Facebook page fresh and interactive.The prompt at the top of your page says, “Write Something” and that is all you have to do. This is the short and sweet way to let your audience know what is going on with your business and what your business is thinking or doing. A status update allows for feedback from your audience; it should prompt a conversation. This is a good place to post links to blog posts, your website, articles, and other resources about your business.
2. Notes & Links- Also, default applications on Facebook, notes and links, offers you an opportunity to post things of interest to your audience. This is another way to share things that are going on in your business with your audience; oftentimes this includes blog posts, online articles, or videos about or relevant to your company.
3. Events- Is your business or organization having an event? Are you running a sales promotion? Are you launching a new product? Create an event and invite your audience! Creating an event gives your target a reason and a forum to discuss your product or service. Also, a public event shows up on personal profiles of those who attend, making it visible to their network of friends.
4. Photos- Visual content is a way to add personality to your company’s page. People respond to seeing products and services in action. Photos and videos also easily lend themselves to becoming viral content and are frequently shared. Why not invite your fans to submit photos of themselves using your products? Or start a contest where photos or video clips of creative uses of your product are submitted?
5. SlideShare- Facebook allows you to connect your SlideShare account and materials to your Facebook profile with a simple application. This gives you the ability to put more content out there and give it a larger reach. People who interact with your page will be able to see presentations or documents you post on SlideShare. This allows you to post presentations about your company’s services and offerings, but remember, the point is to start a conversation!
6. RSS Connect- This can be on your wall, in your boxes tab, or its own tab and connects your company’s page to any RSS Feeds. It will allow you to automatically post new content from your blog and website to your page as well as other sources you want to post for your audience.