There is a commitment involved in operating a business page on Facebook. Companies who are not prepared to support the effort with content and conversation should think twice before launching it. However, for those who are prepared to invest the energy, Facebook can be a great platform with useful tools for building out a fan base and optimizing your approach. Carnet Williams wrote this great article with 10 tips for Facebook fan pages. Here are some of the highlights:

1.  Use the fan page admin tool to customize the entry page to your fan site so that users do not just land on the Wall.  This give you an opportunity to set the user’s expectations about what the fan page experience will be like and it gives you the opportunity to pose a clear call-to-action that will increase the number of people who choose to hit that fan button.

2.  Be prepared to keep the content fresh and make use of RSS feeds from your blog(s), YouTube channel, Twitter feeds, or website to automate the process of updating the content.

3.  Be interesting and engaging to your users as opposed to being purely promotional.  Your fan page is a place to put your users interests first and foremost.

4. Encourage fans to post photos and tag them because this take advantage of the way Facebook spreads this content to the fans’ own walls where you have a chance to find more fans among their friends.

5.  Respond to the posts on your fan page.  This may sound like a simple idea but some businesses approach their page like a platform to make announcements rather than a place to interact and engage.

6.  Use the fan page admin tools to optimize you strategy by seeing what content and posts get the most positive attention.

With committment, a fan page can become a great communication tool.  Does anyone else have additional thoughts on how to best use a fan page?