I’m not going to mention just how big Facebook is nowadays…not gonna even go there! It’s no wonder, given this social network’s pull, that most brands are moving towards it at the speed of light. Many are moving so fast, in fact, they’re not even sure where they’re headed. The first thing they think about is…how do I get a lot of FANS?

Well, the first thing they should think about is how does one become a fan. Explaining this to a brand might be difficult, as most marketers will say “because they love us.” Well, brand love just ain’t what it used to be. Users will not gather around a brand just because it is there – well, some will and some brands do have that effect. But let’s look at a more strategic optic – what sort of fans are out there and what mechanics work best to attract them?

In a broad sense, there are four types of fans – the unconscious, the grabber, the seeker and the lover. Each of them has a different motivation and requires a different approach. Let’s look at each of them:

The unconscious – These users see a friend who has become a fan of a page and just click on it. Most of the time they become a fan simply because their friend did. Other times they’ll become fans because the page name looked fun/odd/curious. Regardless, they become fans. But the odds are, you won’t get a peep out of these users – and they won’t come back to the page that often. Getting these users demands two efforts – spreading your page to a database of dense users with many contacts (who are a reference) and/or, sometimes, simply coming up with a fun/odd/curious name for the page itself.

The grabber – The prize winners. They will go for every freebie/campaign you create. They join because they’ve either become aware that the page had a campaign offering something to the fan base or saw on a friend’s wall a reference to that campaign. Anyway, they join in an effort to win a prize. The good thing about these users are that they will follow the page – as long as it keeps on pumping out the freebies/promotions/etc. Getting this user is easy – just create a campaign based on Facebook’s mechanics.

The seeker – These users actively seek pages pertaining to specific interests. Although very subjective, these users can be categorized into a group as not all users ‘actively seek’ pages in Facebook. Seekers look for interesting content because they become active followers, commenting and participating in the discussion. They’re the best type of fan you can get. To gather users such as these, the page has to be very content focused and have a strong update scheme that keeps users coming back for more, which means no dead moments with just weekly updates. Another strategy is cross posting – finding related pages where you can post content from your page to generate curiosity.

The lover – Quite simply the user who goes to a page simply because they love the brand. Not much a page can do to get them – simply having users join so the page shows up on the wall feed – or better, doing a campaign using Facebook ads and taking advantage of segmented user data.

Most users don’t fall into one of these categories specifically – most of us identify with each of these segments at one time or another. To effectively get a user to join a brand page we should devise a strategy that plays on all these levels. But one thing’s for sure – it’s not the number of fans you get that matter, but what you do with them and how they react to your stimulus.