Have you seen those annoying little ads promising “500 free Facebook fans” or “200 Twitter followers overnight”? Sure, those numbers sound nice, but will any of those additional fans or followers actually be a brand advocate for your website? Probably not. The most successful Facebook and Twitter campaigns have not just a large number of followers, but a large number of followers who actually love their brand and want to spread the word about it!

So how do you increase your Facebook Fans, while also ensuring they’re fans who actually can help promote your brand?

1. Make it your page’s mission to triple the number of fans in one week. If you reach that number, you’ll run a special promotion just for your Facebook fans, and donate a portion of the sales to a non-profit organization that relates to your business.

2. Start the promoting! Post about your promotion on your Facebook page twice daily, post about it on Twitter, and write post about it on your blog.

3. You want people to feel they’ll be helping a larger cause by spreading the word, so be sure to focus on the end result: you’re donating a portion of sales to a non-profit organization, and they’re directly helping you do this. Ask them to help ensure you’re reaching your goal by suggesting your Fan page to their friends.

4. Reached your magic number? Congrats, and make sure you follow through with the promotion and donation. Close, but not quite there? You’ll reach it next time, but be sure to reward the efforts of your fans by still running the promotion and donating to the organization you chose.

5. Keep up the Facebook posting – you don’t want to lose any ground with your newfound fan base. Focus on posting relevant articles and blog posts, sprinkled with a marketing message here and there.

Now, how does this benefit your SEO? By running this type of promotion, you’re working to help a great cause, and people love to write about and link to businesses that are working to help others and increasing their social awareness. Reach out to your local media about the promotion you’re running, and highlight your promotion as you’re contacting sites and bloggers in your link building efforts. They’ll see you’re much more than just another pretty website