Facebook recently launched the capabilities of replying to comments via email. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a message from Facebook in each of the emails that reads, “New Feature: Reply to this email to comment on this post.” This is a fantastic feature for anyone who manages a fan page. Manage multiple fan pages as I do, and it is a gift. Today, I’m referring to it as my special holiday gift from Facebook.

I’ve always monitored comments via email. My email feeds into my Blackberry. Now, I can reply faster and easier to keep discussions going and without logging into Facebook. This saves me a ton of steps, not to mention a whole lot of time. Thanks Facebook!

*Hint: Don’t try to reply to emailed messages from last week. The feature wasn’t implemented and is likely not to work on older messages.

I work with many businesses on setting up their fan pages and teach classes on how to get the most out of your business fan page. The number one issue that causes fan page “flop” has to do with HOW the page is initially set up. If I can walk you through the pitfalls now, it will prevent you (and me) many future headaches.

Pitfall #1: Don’t set up a fake person in order to create a business fan page. The best strategy is to log in as yourself, under your personal profile to build the page. Don’t worry, if you have your personal privacy settings correct, no one will be able to access your personal page or information, even if they join your fan page. Do it this way, and…

• You won’t forget your username and password (fictional people have poor memories)
• You won’t “lose a fan page “out in Facebook cyberspace like many people have who don’t manage it under their primary personal account.
• You’ll have your personal friends to invite as fans to start getting the word out there.
• You’ll be better at frequent updates and keeping the page interesting if you get in the habit of checking on things every time you’re logged in personally.
• You’ll save time and increase efficiencies when you only have one account to log into.
• All your pages you create will be neatly organized under you, the main administrator.
• All comments and posts to your fan page will flow into your main email, so you can monitor what is going on without logging into FB.
• You’ll maintain primary administrator, regardless of who else you add as secondary administrators. You will be able to remove them at anytime.

Pitfall #2: Don’t delegate fan page set up to someone whom you do not want to be the main administrator of the page. Even if you plan to have one or more people responsible for the fan page on a daily basis, the owner should set up the fan page. It doesn’t need to look pretty, just published. Then add secondary administrative people to help with the page. Do it this way, and…

• If an employee or volunteer leaves your organization, you can delete them as an administrator and add someone else in their place.
• You never have to worry about someone leaving your business and taking your fan page with them (hostage) or abandoning it.

Pitfall #3: Don’t keep creating and recreating the same page. This happens when someone can’t find the original one they created, they forgot what they called it, they forgot what name/email/password they used to create it, or they named all their pages the same thing. You can envision how messy these scenarios can get, yet it happens all the time. If you are having any of these issues STOP. You need a professional to help you figure out a strategy that won’t leave your fans confused or waste your time. Something is going “amuck” and you don’t want to repeat it over and over again.

Avoid these three pitfalls, set up your page correctly, and I promise that you’ll have fun doing business on Facebook. People are a blast when they join communities in which they are passionate, so don’t let frustration force you to miss out on meeting these fantastic people.