With the great, unprecedented success of social media giants like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, there has been a huge, almost palpable shift in internet marketing priorities. More and more companies are placing more value and importance on their social media marketing than they are on even their search engine ranking.

Where SEO has been king in online marketing for the last several years, many businesses are now combining their search engine efforts with a well constructed Social Media Marketing campaign with powerful results.

Social media now has more than a half billion users between the various platforms available, making it one of the largest audiences available in the world. Smart marketers saw the explosive growth of this new form of communication and have already begun developing social media marketing best practices.

The most important thing to realize before engaging in any form of social media marketing is that you do not control the message. Much like a game of telephone, you get to make the original statement, but as it makes its rounds through the social network, it is the members that will cultivate and mold the message.

A smart social media marketer knows who their audience is, targets the correct networks and engages in a give and take dialogue with the members, shaping the message. For example, you may start a blog and post articles about products, practices or trends impacting your industry.

People may visit your blog and comment on it. The comments might not always support your view or your company. Rather than quashing those comments and keeping only the positive, it is smart to respond intelligently in the comments and allow a dialogue. Although you may not agree with all of the posters, the more posters that are there, the more people there will be that are learning about your company. And you might be surprised, you might learn a thing or two about your company or industry along the way too. This is one of the most important social media practices out there.

Another important thing to commit to before engaging in any social media marketing is that you must be honest about who and what you are. People are wise to companies trying to pose as multiple other personas who all claim to love “XYZ” company.

Be yourself, and be upfront about the fact that you are who you are. Trying to deceive a social network is almost certainly destined for failure and that failure may come at a much greater price than you can possible withstand as a business. When the internet turns on you, it is hard to get it to turn back! Companies that are upfront about who and what they are on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites may grow more slowly, but that growth will be sustainable, and those “friends” and “followers” are not likely to turn on you for being you.

One final principle to remember in your social media marketing is that this is not normal sales. People don’t log into Facebook or read Twitter to have someone try and talk them into buying their kids the latest and greatest toys. They don’t want someone to start a chat with them that is a hard sell to switch cellular carriers. They come to have a place to connect with others who are likeminded – or even sometimes not so likeminded.

They want to be able to learn, and explore and discuss whatever is on their mind. By allowing your social network members to do just that, you are establishing a rapport that has not been seen between proprietor and customer since the days of the mom and pop shop.

It looks like so easy – click a few links and hey presto; you have a business or fan page on Facebook.

But then comes the tough bit,  you need to increase fans, keep them interested, get them to contribute, keep the page going on peak of all your other hard work, don’t let it get boring, not be too personality promotional,  How on earth can you think of all that and run your business?

Well, don’t be worry, here’s a rapid list of 10 tips you can post on your Facebook Fan page to keep it interesting and give confidence communication.

1: Questions:
Keep update your status every day, but rather than telling people currently what are you doing? Ask them a question daily. It’s clear by looking at the statuses of people on Face book (whether individuals or businesses) that asking a question gives a huge reply. Let your fans and contacts feel involved, you can ask them a question related to your business right now.

2: Videos:
It doesn’t even have to be your video, it could be a video from Google or YouTube, funny video related to your niche, or a music video if you like, but video can do more help than words sometimes do. If you have your own video, then even better; either way, break up the repetitiveness of your page with the odd video to remain things interesting.

3: Links on page:
You start a fan page to endorse your business, But people soon switch off if your page is nothing more than a catalog of links to your website, so show them that you’re not just in it for you. Post links to other websites, interesting blogs about your industry, funny stories, and news items. If some of these sites fit in to your fans too, then you’ll inspire faithfulness and may get the same in return.

4: Requests for more fans:
Don’t hesitate to ask your fans to use the ’share’ button or the ’suggest to friends’ link to share your page’s details with their Facebook friends. It may not have happened to them to do so, and if you don’t ask, you don’t get!

5: Links to discussions forums:
If your forum on your page isn’t getting the responses and traffic you want, it may be that visitors just are not noticing it, Post links to interesting discussions on your Fan Page wall and ask your fans to comment on them.

6: Photos and Images:
Once more, a good way to break up the persistent words of a fan page, photos and images tell your fans more about you and your business. Post photos of your premises, clients, products, services, charts, in fact whatever thing that you have that is related to your business.

7: Links to your web blog:
If you use web or Networked Blogs, you can do this repeatedly, but even if you don’t, when you post a new blog, link to it from your Fan page, give confidence comments and contributions, keep in mind, no asking, no getting.

8: Events:
Use the events label to place details of time responsive special offers, open days, launch days and more. It’s an frequently forgotten tab but can be very helpful if you think about it.

9: Notes:
The notes label can be used for lots of dissimilar things; small blog posts, testimonials, quotes,  whatever thing that is too big to be post as a status update. It is another way to add additional attention to your fan page

10: Say thanks to your fans:
If your fans are interacting, then it is worth taking the time out to post a public thank you to them every so frequently. You can do this by posting a status update. You could go one additional and present prizes or giveaways to a pair of fans per month, given to those who interrelate the most and the best.

So here you have it, a quick and dirty list of tips to remain your Facebook Fan Page interesting. Without interaction and interest, a page rapidly becomes nothing more than a list of links, with no inherent value at all. Do not let your Fan page fade away.