Facebook is by far the most trafficked social-networking site on the Web, with more than 1.19 billion monthly visits and nearly 68.56 million unique visitors in January 2009, according to Compete.com.

MySpace, in the No. 2 position, registered some 810.15 million visits and 58.56 million unique visitors in the same month, and No. 3 Twitter received 54.22 million visits and 5.98 million unique visitors.

In fact, Facebook, which continues to grow, trailed only Google, Yahoo, MSN, Live.com, eBay, YouTube, and Amazon in terms of unique visitors in January, Compete found.

But what Facebook provides marketers that few of those online giants can offer is the ability to directly connect with customers, and potential customers, on a deep and personal level.

If you're not leveraging that opportunity to cement relationships and differentiate yourself in the mind of the consumer, you're opening the door to competitors who are.

To get you started, we've outlined the first steps to take, along with considerations to keep in mind, for building your Facebook fan base and ensuring that your customer connections and interactions remain both positive and enduring.

Step 1: Establish a presence on the network

Begin by setting up a Facebook page, complete with a logo or other image to represent your brand, a brief company overview, and contact information.

As you fill out your profile, be sure to...

Keep it user-centric

Users on Facebook are there to socialize and have fun, not research products or tune into ads. Accordingly, your page content should add value for them by focusing on their interests and promoting the advantages they can gain by engaging with you on the site; it should not simply serve as another sales pitch.

Whole Foods Market, for example, dedicates much of its page content to general food-related topics, including information on special diets and a series of video recipes, which users can appreciate regardless of whether they visit the company's stores.

Real estate marketing specialist Jenna Ryan recently offered advice that can benefit any company attempting to win over customers on Facebook: "Think of social networking as a way to add value to the community which will in turn increase your value and cause people to flock to you," she wrote.

Make it personable

Social media is also about making friendly connections with real people, not corporate institutions. Take this opportunity to showcase the company's soft side in ways that users can relate to. For example, use a casual and authentic tone, as you would when emailing a friend, or include candid company photos so users can associate real faces with your brand and feel like they're getting an insider perspective.

Encourage user interaction

Provide the platform for users to share and engage with your brand, as well as with other interested users. Facebook makes this easy by embedding features such as photos and videos, user reviews, and discussion boards into its page templates—use them! The more your customers interact with your page, the more you'll learn about their specific interests and needs.

Step 2: Make friends (and fans)

Once you have a profile in place, you can go about building your fan base in several ways:

Leverage your networks

Invite contacts from your email database to visit your page and connect as "fans"; when they do, the connection will be posted to their profiles for their friends to see, and it will be announced via their friends' news feeds.

Also encourage your employees to become fans and to share the page with their contacts. Serena Software, for example, has given this type of activity a dual purpose by turning it into an internal team-building exercise: Employees are rewarded for bringing in the most fans.

Seek out influentials

Find new contacts within your target market who may be willing to help spread your brand. "Believe it or not, most influentials with under 5,000 friends (that is the limit on Facebook) are more than happy to add people that ask to be friends," said Jesse Stay, CEO of SocialToo.com and coauthor of I'm on Facebook—Now What??? "When those influentials become fans, their up-to 5,000 friends also have the potential of seeing it and becoming fans themselves."

Stay suggests politely inviting them with a brief description of why you're interested in connecting and what you have to offer. "If influentials know you and who you are, they are more likely to spread your brand to their followers," he said.

Then, Stay continued, use those connections to your advantage by "carefully and tactfully tagging them in things you think they might be interested in (but be aware that many others are doing this as well, so do so sparingly!)." Tagging will help demonstrate to these influentials the value you provide, while also generating awareness for your brand as those tags are broadcast to the influentials' groups of friends.

Some more ways to make friends and attract fans:

• Join related groups: Search through the index of Facebook pages and groups, make a connection with those groups that complement your product/industry or relate to your target market's interests, and get your name out by interacting in group discussion board posts. These interactions should aim to add insight and value to the group, not simply tout your business, since blatant selling is a turn-off for other users and group administrators can easily delete your posts or ban you from the group if your interactions are regarded as spam.
• Offer incentives: Motivate users to associate with you on Facebook by offering something tangible, such as a giveaway or access to special deals they can't get anywhere else.
• Launch an application: Facebook applications are a great way to engage users and get them to interact with your brand. (See this case study of how Adobe was able to increase traffic to its Facebook page tenfold and add 5,500 new fans in two weeks with a game application that also highlighted the value of its brand and products.)
• Champion a good cause: Sponsoring charitable causes via Facebook's "Causes" application can engender page traffic and brand awareness, in addition to goodwill, as users associate themselves with the cause and encourage their friends to do the same.
• Run an engagement ad: In addition to linking to your page, Facebook engagement ads enable users to become fans of your page directly within the ad, so there's minimal interruption to their regular activities. Facebook also allows you to target very specific demographics, so you can ensure your message cost-effectively reaches the right folks.

Step 3: Keep the relationship alive

Don't neglect your fans once the connection has been made. "The biggest mistake companies make with social media is that they slap it up and forget about it," said social-media marketing maven Amber Naslund. "Facebook users expect engagement and interaction, and if you're not out there talking to them regularly, they'll want to know why."

Rather, instead of asking, they may simply snub you altogether, which would be a waste of the time and effort you've put in, not to mention a potential black mark on your brand.

So how do you keep them engaged? The more creative your approach, the better; but here are a few tips to get started:

• Spark conversation: Encourage your fans to come back to your page and interact with both your company and other fans by initiating discussion-board topics that speak to their interests, launching surveys and polls directly on your page, and encouraging users to upload their own photos or videos. You can also ensure a constant flow of new and interesting content by syncing your company blog.
• Offer additional incentives: Sponsor events, contests, and giveaways that encourage users to regularly return to your page and further interact with your brand in a fun way. In addition to posting these features on your page, alert your fans to their existence by sending out friendly announcements and event invites.
• Avoid being "spammy": Although it's important to maintain a frequent flow of communication, avoid overwhelming your fans with nonstop alerts. "Be careful how you share information with those you have networked with on Facebook," offered Stay. "First, you can be banned from Facebook by [spamming], and second, those you're spamming will start to ignore you. Keep in mind that anyone can mark 'show less of this person' in their news feed and never see your posts again."

Ready to take the next step on Facebook? Check out Facebook Success Stories (FREE) from the MarketingProfs Store to learn how twelve companies are using Facebook to increase awareness and reach, target niche markets, test new products and markets, and forge stronger relationships with and between customers. As a Premium Member, you have free access to this and hundreds of other templates, tools, case studies, research, and "how-to" guides to help you rapidly build effective marketing programs.