We talk quite a bit in the world of business social marketing about the need to “connect” and “engage” and “post good content” – and a lot of other really valuable concepts and buzzwords – and then sometimes it just comes down to a simple question I hear again and again: How do I get more fans to my Facebook page?

Now while Facebook fans are not the be all and end all holy grail in social marketing, they are an important part and give you a great foundation – so having many is good, as long as they are real people.

1. Ask for them – Just starting out? Ask your friends and family to join your page and share it – it’s a baby step, but one that will get you some fast results

2. Run some facebook “like” ads – simple and straightforward, you can choose your target audience in the Ads Manager and Facebook will show your page to those people. Spend as little as $5 bucks a day. The ad features your cover photo so make sure it’s … bold

3. Post from your blog to Facebook – people love to share stuff that matters and a blog post (with a picture!) gives them something to share – something with value (the ideas in the post) and that’s eye catching – the good picture.

4. Add the Facebook social plug-in widget to your blog – this provides social proof to people by reinforcing that some of their friends like your page – and therefore they should too!

5. Add prominent “LIKE” and “FOLLOW US” facebook buttons on every page of your site – people spend wayyyy more time on Facebook than on your site – so connect them to your Facebook page whenever you can

6. Include a link to your Facebook page in your email signature – make it obvious, make it easy.

7. Offer an incentive to “Like” your page – a free eBook or a special ‘new fan’ discount – most people “like” a business page so they get great deals

8. Offer a special offer for your fans to share with their friends – one that brings them to your page

9. Give fan only content via a tab on your page – all people have to do is click “Like” for that great … something

10. Include your Facebook page – as one of the featured ‘websites’ on your LinkedIn profile

11. Post many pretty pictures, or inspirational pictures – they don’t have to be of you or about you, but do draw some kind of connection to you and share them out, people can easily track back to your page to see more.

12. Run a contest or competition – photo contests are easy if you can make that work with your business – your fans will enter and encourage their friends to vote for them by going to your page and liking their photo – perhaps inspiring them to enter on their own.

A dozen quick ideas that will help you build your fans on Facebook. Hope that helps – let me know how you do and what you need in the comments below! – Mike Wolpert