With 500 million users and easy discoverability on search engines, Facebook and it’s Musician Fan Pages are incredible tools you can use to promote yourself. Consider that Shakira launched her Fan page earlier this year with an exclusive video release to Facebook, garnering her over 2 million fans practically over night, Lady Gaga has surpassed the once seemingly unattainable Obama page for most fans and the King of Pop, Michael Jackson reigns supreme posthumously with 16,801,401 fans. Fan pages have become the new benchmark in the industry. I have walked into meetings with label executives and A&R reps that pull up Facebook Fan Pages even before Myspace Pages for insights to artist reach. So, here are my top 10 tips to making your Fan Page kick ass and take names.
1. Use FBML welcome tab
Landing on a Facebook wall is just boring. It is a wall of information that really doesn’t give people the full picture of your artist or band page. By using the Static FBML application and a little bit of HTML and CSS know-how, you can create a custom Welcome page that uses proven conversion psychology to call visitors to action to fan your page and push over to your website and lead generators like your fan and concert mailing list.
Free FBML template for musicians
Premium FBML Template for Bands and Musicians, $59
BONUS TIP: IF YOU ARE AN UNSIGNED ARTISTS WITH THE GOAL OF BEING SIGNED – USE YOUR FAN PAGE AS AN EPK – FOCUS ON WHO YOU ARE, VIDEOS/AUDIO OF YOURSELF AND HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATION.
2. Showcase music, photos and videos
a. Music by Reverb Nation
Play Your Tunes. Musicians and bands can post unlimited songs for streaming or download, add bios and band photos, sell your music and have your friends add your music and share with their friends (viral marketing for you!). This app also includes links to your homepage and you can add up to 30 of your songs (full-length) to your Facebook Musician Page. And the best part: great stats track song-play activity.
b. iLike Music by iLike
One of the premiere music applications for fan pages. One great feature that iLike exclusively provides is the ability to load a large, MySpace-esqe banner. It is somewhat difficult to currently brand yourself visually on facebook (without spending a lot of $), but this is a good start. This app plays music, shows your Twitter feed, has links to purchase songs, etc. In order to create on one these you need an iLike account: http://ilike.com
c. My Band by ReverbNation
There is a lot of overlap between My Band and iLike. The main functions that separate My Band are the merchandise options (fans can buy merch right from this tab), and the newsletter/street team sign up box.
d. Music Player by Facebook
Music Player lets your fans listen to your most recent tracks directly from your Page. Add as many tracks as you want, and update Music Player as you create new music.
BONUS TIP: SPEND TIME TRYING TO GET YOUR MUSIC PLACED WHERE IT WILL GET MASS MARKET EXPOSURE. Get on ourstage or some other platform with direct connections to niche channels like VH-1, MTV, Golf Channel etc. You can easily get some sample placement in these shows (if you are good). One of my fav baby bands, Selby literally got their record deal with Capitol by getting placed in a Golf Channel show and opening for Ryan Cabrerra THEN Uncle Cracker.
Popularity: unranked [?]


















