1) Configure your Page's "Settings" to allow more participation.

The new Facebook Pages that launched in March 2009 were designed to inspire more action and participation by your fans. That's a good thing because in truth most Pages with the old design had very few wall posts or discussions. People became a "fan" and occasionally read "Updates" and that was about it. The new Pages have proven to be a much better tool in terms of inspiring online conversations around your organization's mission and programs. The ability to build community is essential in order to have a return on your investment (ROI) when using social networking sites, and you can't build community on Facebook if you don't allow your fans to participate on your Page. This will mean that you are going to have check your Page more regularly for rogue comments, but that is a small price to pay for increased community participation and ROI.

To allow maximum participation on your Facebook Page, go to "Settings" on the home view under the "Share" button and:

View Settings:
1) Default View for Wall :: Posts by Page and Fans
2) Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else :: Wall
3) Auto-Expand Comments :: Check

Fan Permissions:
Check :: Fans can write on the wall
Check :: Allow fans to post photos
Check :: Allow fans to post videos
Check :: Allow fans to post links

2) Use your organization's logo as your Page picture.

Your organization's logo a.k.a. avatar has never had more value than it does in the Era of Web 2.0. People will recognize your logo from Facebook on Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Change.org, Flickr, etc. before they even they even see your profile name. Make sure the use of your logo/avatar is consistent on all your social networking profiles.

3) Put "http://" before all Web sites in "Updates".

"Updates" are similar to e-mails that you can send to your fans inside of Facebook. Make sure that you have the "http://" in front of all Web site URLs [such as http://www.wildaid.org] that you list in your Update so that the link is automatically hyperlinked so that individuals can visit the website with one simple click. You'd be surprised how few Page Admins know this little trick. People will not copy and paste www.wildaid.org into their browser for example, thus you are losing a valuable opportunity to increase your Web site traffic via Facebook Updates.

4) Ask your pre-April 2009 fans to opt-in to receive your "What's on your mind?" Status Updates.

People that became a "Fan" of your Page beginning in and after April 2009 do see your "What's on your mind?" Status Updates on their Facebook Home page under News Feed > Public Profiles. But those who became fans before April 2009 do not. You need to send them an "Update" asking them to opt-in to be able to view your Status Updates. They can do so by visiting their Facebook Home > Scrolling the bottom the News Feed > Clicking "Edit Options" > "Public Profiles" > Scrolling to your organization's Page > "Add to News Feed". Fans who joined your Page before March 2009 will also not see your "Links" in their primary News Feed until they have opted-in. This is covered in Best Practice #5.

5) Add and use the "Links" App to get your organization to show up in "News Feeds".

For your organization to show up in the primary News Feeds of your Fans, you need to add the Links App to your Page and post links when updating/sharing "What's on your mind?". Once you add the App, you will notice the ability to add/post links (to your web site, blog, MySpace Page, Twitter profile, etc.) when communicating what's on your mind and these links will show up in the News Feeds of your fans.

6) Ask questions to spark conversation and activity on your Page.

The new Facebook Pages were built to inspire more activity on the part of your fans. A good strategy is to use the "What's on your mind?" function to post questions. People will then reply answers on your Page giving it more dynamic, community-driven look and feel. Make sure you have configured your Page's Settings to allow more participation!

7) Add the "Causes" App for fundraising, but don't just limit your organization to using Causes for Facebook fundraising.

The Causes App allows nonprofits to fundraise on Facebook. Your organization must be in GuideStar.org for you to be able to use Causes. Donations are processed by Network for Good and JustGive.org. The is a lot of potential with Causes for fundraising, but as of June 2009, the median gift through Causes is $25 and the vast majority of nonprofits have received no donations through Causes. In fact, on average you can expect 2 cents per Cause member. Also, keep in mind that Causes does not currently provide the e-mail address of donors to the nonprofit organization, so it will be tough to thank and further engage donors via Facebook Causes.

Therefore, don’t just limit your fundraising on Facebook to using Causes. Make sure you add the Static FBML App and use it to add a "Donate Now" button to your Facebook Page as well. Updates are also an important tool for fundrasing on Facebook. Right now, most nonprofits that regularly use Facebook and/or Facebook Causes understand that the greatest value to Facebook currently is building a brand and online community around their mission and programs, not fundraising.

8) Add the "Notes" App and feature it as a Tab if your organization does not have a blog.

This Notes App essentially allows you to run a blog on your Facebook Page. Like a blog, notes are listed chronologically and fans can comments and give thumbs up. I use "Notes" to announce the "Nonprofit of the Month" on the Nonprofit Organizations Facebook Page and feature Notes as a Tab. Just in case you haven't noticed, Tabs can be dragged and dropped.

9) Add the "Social RSS" App and featured it as a Tab if your organization does have a blog.

In general, I am not a big fan of automation/robot tools on social networking sites, but I make an exception when using RSS for your organization's blog. The Social RSS App allows you to use RSS to automatically post your blog articles on your Facebook Page. Your latest blogs/articles are automatically posted to your wall and your friends/fans home pages, and can either be featured as a Tab, under Boxes, or on the home of your organization's Facebook Page.

10) Add the "Static FBML" App and learn basic HTML.

The Static FBML App is one of the most important Apps on Facebook. It allows you to add new boxes to your page that can include text, links and images as long as you have a basic working knowledge of HTML (View Basic HTML Tutorial).

11) Using the "Static FBML" App, add Web 2.0 Icons to your page.

Thanks to Change.org, adding Web 2.0 icons to your Facebook Page has become as easy as copy and paste. 1. Login to your Nonprofit Account on Change.org, go to Admin Dashboard > Get HTML for Web 2.0 Icons. Insert the links to your various profiles on Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, etc. and then copy the code that Change.org automatically generates for you. 2. Then using the Static FMBL App, add a new box and then paste the Web 2.0 icons code and hit Save. The new Web 2.0 icons box will show up under your "Boxes" Tab. From there you can then "Move it Wall Tab" to have it show up on the home of your Facebook Page. See the Nonprofit Organizations Facebook Page as as an example.

12) Select a vanity URL that matches your organizations website.

In June 2009, Facebook started allowing Page Admins to select vanity URLs for Facebook Pages, such as www.facebook.com/nonprofitorgs. At first there was a 1,000 minimum requirement, but no longer. Grab your vanity URL ASAP at www.facebook.com/username if you have not already. Ideally it should match your organization's website address or other social networking vanity URLs.

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