This is Day 24 of the 30 Days to 3,000 Fans program. You can learn more about the program here.
I previously wrote about a concept that I call the Facebook sales funnel. In the article I discuss how Facebook is a relationship marketing platform. The most important phase of the Facebook sales funnel is the action phase. When you create your Facebook Page you should probably have some sort of goal in mind aside from attracting 3,000 fans. While large brands are not as focused on turning Facebook fans into direct sales, smaller businesses should be focused on generating leads and occasionally selling products or services directly.

The first priority is obviously on building a community but you eventually need to drive users to take some sort of action right? Below are four ways of getting your fans to take action:

Facebook Page Lead Form

Create a form that lets users put in their name and email address for posting other content. There are a number of ways to develop a lead form, some of which are easier than others. The easiest method is to embed simple HTML into a tab on your Facebook Page using the Static FBML application. You can then use an application like Wufoo to collect information using an embeddable form. You could also use email marketing services such as Constant Contact, AWeber, or Campaign Monitor and then use their pre-made forms from a custom tab.

The second method of creating a custom form is much more complicated and requires creating a basic Facebook application from scratch which installs a custom form on the sidebar of your Facebook Page. You’ll need to have a hosting provider that supports PHP (or other compatible language with readily available Facebook API library) and you’ll need to set up a one page application.

2. Publish One-Time Offer Promotions

Standard promotions are always a great way to get your fans to take action. Offering discounts or alternative offers such as “buy one, get one free” should effectively entice fans to make a purchase. However you need to be careful with using aggressive direct sales as it will most definitely turn off a portion of your fan base who will end up unsubscribing from your updates. Some marketers that I know have actually developed separate Facebook Pages specifically dedicated to promotional updates. All users that become fans of those pages are expecting to receive promotions and in turn are less likely to unsubscribe as a result of promotional stories that show up in their news feed.

3. “Read More”

The call to actions don’t need to be strictly one step conversions although those are always the best. Another great way to convert fans into sales is to drive them to your website where you have engaging copy that will be more likely to convert them. There are a number of guides on how to develop effective landing pages but one of the classic guides is “The Irresistible Offer” by Mark Joyner. I continuously reference this book because it’s one that all of the best copywriters have read and used as a guide for themselves. I suggest researching effective copywriting techniques in order to convert fans that click on your links into customers.

4. Play This Game

As I mentioned already, Facebook is a relationship marketing platform. That means you can’t always just drive fans to make purchases. Instead you should be engaging them. On Day 21 I discussed mini-competitions as a model for engaging your Facebook fans. Through that engagement you will ultimately build a stronger relationship and brand affiliation with your fans. While the purchase may not be instant, the more a fan engages with your Facebook Page, the more likely they are to purchase something from you eventually.

Daily Task

Prior to making a call to action you should have a plan about what you want to sell and what your goals are. Develop a plan about what you are looking to sell and once you’ve developed a plan begin testing these four calls to action. While none of these tactics are going to necessarily attract more fans, they will most definitely help you effectively market to existing fans. By now you most likely have a decent number of fans and it’s better to begin testing calls to action sooner rather than later.