Does this sound like your organization?  “Instead of researching the best ways to engage, many businesses create accounts across multiple social networks and publish content without a plan or purpose”, says Brian Solis, founder and principal, FutureWorks, in the article Why You Need a Strategy for Social Media.  As we found in our 12th Annual Mystery Shopping Study, a study of 100 online retailers, 60% of the retailers featured links to social network presences on their e-commerce sites.

But is that really enough to get customers to engage with your brand via social media vehicles?  According to a recent study by ForeSee Results Inc., 49% of respondents who become a retailer “fan” do so to learn about special deals and options, 45% to learn about products, and 5% for customer support.

So give ‘em what they want!  Here are 3 ways to do that:

• Offer Facebook-exclusive coupons , discounts, free gifts & “insider” information

  Giving consumers an incentive to join, is a sure-fire way to increase your Facebook fan base. By integrating sharing into the experience, participants will be encouraged to “go viral” and get their friends to also participate.

  This is exactly what happened when in January, Einstein Bros. Bagels gave all of its Facebook fans a “buy one bagel, get one free” coupon. They increased the company’s Facebook fan base from 4,700 to more than 378,000.

• Create a compelling contest

  Offer contests and sweepstakes that will engage consumers and entice them to join. Here, at the e-tailing group, we get an abundance of merchant e-mails and noticed a recent trend:  more retailers are offering incentives to become a Facebook fan.

  As an example of this, in December, Southwest Airlines saw great success with their Fans Fly Free Facebook contest where more than 400,000 new fans joined and engaged with the brand!  On the right, H20+ coaxes consumers to become a fan and thus to be eligible for their sweepstakes.

• Enlighten, educate & engage

  Offer media-rich informational resources and applications.  Neiman Marcus with over 66,000 fans has successfully combined customer conversations, product photos, sweepstakes and “how-to” videos to provide consumers with a reason to become a loyal Facebook fan.

  As a fan of select merchants like Sephora , I enjoy getting updates on my wall about upcoming/private sales, new products and breaking company news.  With over 414,000 fans, clearly they’ve been successful at engaging new fans.

These are just 3 ways to get customers to become your Facebook fans, engage with your brand and hopefully “spread the word. “

The e-tailing group wants to know…what ways have you found most successful for attracting customers to your Facebook page?