Note: This post was inspired by a conversation that took place on my Facebook Wall recently.

It seems everyone these days is starting a fan page – which is great! Social media, and Facebook itself, is democratic marketing. Everyone has an opportunity.

Unfortunately, people don’t realize what kind of power you have with Facebook – that power can be used to engage fans, or turn them off. And having the same fan page suggested to you over and over again, despite your attempts to ignore it, is going to turn potential fans off.

How do you stand out amidst fan page suggestion mania?

Here’s the method we employ for growing fan pages.

We send a blanket page suggestion to all our friends at once (actually, I usually target using friend lists, but that’s a whole other ball of wax).

Then, about twice a week for a few weeks, I share it on my wall with a little something about why I think people should add the page.

We don’t resend the page suggestion unless a) a substantial amount of time has passed (months), b) we’ve added a substantial number of new friends (100), or c) there have been major new developments on the page.

If you’re looking to increase the number of fans you have, then it’s best to do that using the fans who have already added the page. Post a share request on the fan page wall that reads something like, “Hey, if you like what you see here, then do us a favor and help spread the word. Simply click on the page, then click on Suggest Page to Friends. We appreciate it!” Then it spreads organically and you get more reach than you would from just your own network.

We hope that helps! Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Always be thinking about the golden rule: Facebook unto others as you would like them to Facebook unto you.

Neovia Solutions is a digital business solutions company, specializing in social media marketing strategy. For more information on our services, visit our site here.