Have you noticed Facebook’s new “promoted post” feature? This is a new feature where you pay to promote your status updates to your existing fans.

Now you may have thought that currently every single one of your fans sees the updates you post. You’re wrong. As John Jantsch mentions is his latest blog post , Facebook uses a variety of factors to determine who actually gets to see your status updates in their timeline. And this ends up being only about 10% of your fans.

How does this work?

As a page admin, you can buy more impressions for an individual post through the new Promoted updates feature. You will also see how many fans are viewing each of your posts. So direct readers through a link to an offsite page where they can download something of value. Note – you have to have at least 400 fans for this feature to be activated – here are instructions on how it works.

What is the value for advertisers?

This new tool is definitely of value to advertisers if used right. In fact, John recommends that “your Facebook marketing routine should now contain one emotion packed lead capture status update a month that you can fully promote.”

But here’s what you need to remember: Facebook is a place where people come to be entertained, share and waste time. So your typical business pitch won’t work. Instead, use posts that engage, are emotional, or personal.

Also be sure that you use your Promoted post to capture leads so you can continually market to them.

Why should you promote to your fans?

You may be thinking it’s a waste of time to pay to promote your posts to fans – after all, they are already your fans, right? Well, although they may be fans, few are actually seeing your posts. And the bonus is that they are already warm prospects – the ones you have the best chance of converting.

Read the full article by John Jantsch.