This is an article we wrote for Meylah, a site that helps artists market their work. Enjoy!

Congratulations! Your Facebook fan page is up and running, you have added all the necessary structural elements and you are posting status updates regularly.

Now that you have a fan page, how do you maximize the value of interactions with your fans to build awareness of your creative work or service? Facebook can do a lot to help build awareness of your work and even help you sell it.

As the founder of Craft Ideas Weekly, a 5,700-member Facebook community where people can share projects, tips and advice, I have 10 community manager secrets to share with you:
1. The World Is Your Community and It’s On Facebook

Data suggests that people only use 1 or 2 communities on a regular basis. With more than 400 million active users, representing approximately 41 per cent of all social media users, Facebook allows you to quickly develop a targeted community with an existing user base. Instead of trying to host a community or forum on your own site, use your Facebook fan page as the community extension of your site. Facebook fan pages make it possible to connect to your consumers, do market research and more, just as you would if it lived on your site.

2. Develop Your Brand

Your brand will determine the tone of the conversations that happen on your fan page. Once you are really clear about your brand and develop your brand voice, others who interact with you will promote it. When I talk about brand, I am not referring to the visual aspects of your brand, like your logo, but rather your purpose, personality, and what makes you different. Take a news community like Digg, for example. If you have ever spent time in that community, you will notice that the users favor certain kinds of topics and certain types of comments. Anything that isn’t in alignment with the tone of Digg (smart, informational, funny) will immediately get voted out.

Your Facebook fan page will work just like this if you are authentic in your brand voice. Fans will learn the “rules” of your brand and regulate conversations for you.
3. Walk the Walk with Your Content

Facebook is a wonderful place to promote your original content. Let’s say you are the market-leading, best selling, most amazing thing since sliced bread in your industry. Wonderful! How are you going to stand out from all of the other people who say the same things? The biggest opportunity you have to market your work in the modern age is the ability to easily share content with people all over the world with just the click of a mouse. Become a subject matter expert to set yourself apart.

To quote social media guru Gary Vaynerchuck from his book Crush It, “… if something is your true passion, you can find 500 things – 500 interesting things – to say about it.” If you are passionate about your work, your customers and fans will be too.

Is wedding photography your specialty? Start a blog talking about the amazing experiences you have at each wedding and post updates to your blog on your Facebook Page. You will gain trust, encourage referrals, and just maybe rediscover your passion when you need a little inspiration.

4. Love (And Get Comfortable With) The Mob

The social mob, that is. Almost every inexperienced community manager makes two conversation-killing mistakes when they are starting out. Both of these mistakes come from good intentions, possibly old-school marketing training, and a lack of understanding of what makes a community powerful for your brand….
Read the rest of this article:

http://meylah.com/blog/264/Find-Your-Flock-on-Facebook-10-Tips-From-a-Community-Manager