So you’ve developed a Facebook page for your business. You’re proud that it’s up, but now you’re disappointed it’s getting about as much interaction today as English goalkeeper Robert Green at a Liverpool cocktail party?

The Wall Street Journal has a brief, yet useful article that might help you get more out of Facebook:

“Does your company have a Facebook page?”

It’s a question that most firms, large and small, encounter today. While the question highlights how powerful Facebook has become as an online marketing strategy, it also signals a herd mentality: you must have it if your competitors do.

In order to be truly successful in building a live and engaging community on the web, you need to have both a positioning strategy and an execution plan in place. To formulate a strategy for your online community, you need to answer a few critical questions before you begin.

Why should I create a community?

A community can serve multiple purposes and can be very powerful provided you have a clear objective. Some of the objectives for you to consider include:

• Brand building and promotion. Coke’s community on Facebook has more than 5.7 million members
• Customer feedback. Starbucks’ community has more than 7.5 million members and the community decides the flavor of the brand’s next coffee.
• Lead generation and online sales. Gunpowder restaurant in New Delhi does much of its table booking through its Facebook fan page
• Online reputation management. Dell’s Facebook page for small and medium-sized businesses is a great tool for the company to continuously strengthen its reputation as a brand that is committed to customer service.