Moving forward, don’t think of social media as simply a marketing channel – but as an invaluable relationship-building tool. Novel concept, right?

The growth of Facebook, now exceeding 500 million global users, presents a huge opportunity for marketers to build a long-lasting relationship with their consumers. But do you know what the missing ingredient is for building relationships? It’s communication – the two-way communication that simply doesn’t exist today in other forms of media.

I remember a time when I had to remind clients that “people will be talking about your brand whether you are participating in the conversations or not.” Well people are talking about your brand. So what are you doing about it?

Show your fans some love
Are your fans feeling ignored and left out? Are they posting questions and comments to your wall with no responses ever received? Remember, these are your fans – the people who like you. Show them some love and participate in the conversation.

Depending on how active your fans are dictates the timeliness and type of responses given. Some pages receive little or no engagement with your posts – well that is another topic for another day. And there are some pages that are fueled by loyal brand advocates and inquisitive consumers.

Take a page like AT&T that garners upwards of 300+ wall posts per day just from their fans, with each of those spawning additional comments from other fans. Now add in a couple hundred more comments received from each AT&T branded post. AT&T finds it necessary to respond in a timely – almost real-time manner. The sheer volume of support questions they receive via the wall requires action from a dedicated team, typically within a few hours – but often responses are handled within minutes. If feasible, we recommend this vigilance when it comes to responding to fans.

However, if your page does not require such immediate attention we recommend responses be given within 24 hours. A lack of response from the brand could discourage fans and drive them to seek out other sources (possibly less credible sources).

Direct the conversation
In addition to listening and responding to your fans in a timely manner, you have the opportunity to direct the conversation – and continue the conversation on the wall. The more a marketer participates in their fans’ conversations the more “sticky” their wall becomes. Strive for your Facebook page and its wall to become a trusted place for fans to ask and receive credible answers.

Sometimes the social space can feel like the “Wild West” where anything can be said – and often is. In the event your page receives a flurry of negative attention, participating in the conversation enables you to put out fires, dispel rumors and correct any false claims made by individuals.

It is also equally important to respond to your fans right there on the wall. If someone asks a question, don’t direct him or her to your Web site for more information. Don’t provide them with an email address to follow-up offline (unless the question requires insight into personal information, like billing-related issues). Handle questions right there on the wall.

Responding to questions on the wall creates a Facebook notification for that user, along with anyone else who has provided additional comments on that post or ‘liked’ it. This practice keeps the conversation on Facebook where others can benefit from what the brand has to say. It also allows for others to continue commenting and ‘liking’ the post, which creates viral one-line stories in users’ News Feeds.

Devote the resources to manage your relationship-building
When it comes to allocating resources to managing your Facebook wall and responses, is this an after-thought? Is it often left for interns to handle? Sorry, but this is not a good idea. Your brand’s image and credibility are at stake and proper resources must be managing your response plan. Remember, these are your fans you want to build long-term relationships with.

Since the social space is fairly new, many companies have not yet allocated social media departments with people who can physically moderate their Facebook page. In that case, seeking out moderation tools are often necessary.

Need help?
Does this sound like a lot of hard work to manage your relationships on Facebook? Well, building your relationships should be given proper attention, but it doesn’t have to be difficult.

Our best-in-class Vitrue Publisher, which is currently serving about 182 million fans through custom publishing and moderation solutions on both Facebook and Twitter, can help both marketers and agencies maximize their social marketing. A few features that specifically help ease the potential pain of managing responses on the wall, include word flagging and publishing alerts.

With word flagging, you may establish word lists that flag posts and comments in our system and notify admins that action should be taken on them – or automatic removal of the post or comment is an option. With publishing alerts, when scheduling posts in advance you can create a distribution list of key stakeholders that are notified by email every time a post is published. This allows for them to prepare for real-time wall response management.

In the past Vitrue has talked a lot about the importance of the Facebook Wall in terms of maximizing the viral capabilities of social conversations. And yes, placement of custom apps in the wall (like polls and coupons) has shown 110 times greater rate of engagement versus apps housed in a tab.

But, often times it’s the real-time, real conversations you have with your fans that truly build relationships. Let’s get started today!