Yesterday, Facebook abruptly changed its Facebook fan page policy. In summary, you will not be able to have a custom landing tab for your fan page, unless you have 10k fans or the page administrator works with their ads, account manager. If you suspect that that means you will have to pay to have a custom landing page if you have less than 10,000 followers, you are probably correct.

This change was announced, quietly by Facebook with an apology that no mention was made of it sooner. If you do not already have an ads account representative, you can submit a form which looks like this:

Notice the budget amounts listed. It does appear that Facebook is looking to monetize the growing trend of businesses using fan pages.

A lot of people are really upset about this change, in particular Twitter chatter and blogs from businesses that sell the service of making customized Facebook tabs.  My perspective is different.

When asked, I would provide custom landing pages.  However, it is not my sole business model.  I did not actively promote custom landing pages as a way to gain fans.

So I am responding, not out of fear for the future of my business, and not out of the stress of dealing with past clients who may now be upset.

Personally, I’m not really upset by this change. Actually, I’m still very grateful for Facebook and what it has done to change the way that we as businesses communicate with our peers, our vendors and our clients. That has not changed.

If you have strong, engaging content on a regular basis, that shows people that you are listening, are responding, and that you care. Your business page will then get you more fans overall than a flashy well-done graphic that you paid a lot of money for people to see as their first impression.

So to you, small businesses, medium businesses, and large companies that are new to Facebook., not yet at your 10k mark: Remember that every post you make is potentially now a first impression.

Make sure you approach your Facebook strategy with this in mind. 

Hint: if you post content that is informative, educational and engaging, people will willingly share this information on their own . They will be a brand advocate for you as they share your content on their pages.

Which is your ultimate goal: to have the most fans? Or is it to have the most fans who love and are actively involved in sharing your content?