This article explains how to create a custom username or Vanity URL for a Facebook Page for a band, product, service or company.

First of all, it is important to note the difference between a Profile and a Page in Facebook. The Profile is for an individual and a Page is for a band, product or brand, or company. They both work differently.

The first step is to either create a Profile page for yourself or use someone else's profile. It may be a good idea to use a profile that has a lot of friends already, here is why...

A few months ago, Facebook required you to have over 1000 Fans of a Page before you could create a custom username. The purpose of this was to try to manage all of the custom usernames, so the guy down the street living in his trailer couldn't create a username like: facebook.com/coke. It was an attempt to control the legitimacy of the usernames.

Upon receiving numerous complaints from the small business community, this number of 1000 required fans was reduced down to 25. So, you need to have at least 25 fans before you can request a username, check it's availability.

This brings us back to choosing a profile that has a lot of friends, the friends are kind of a captive market, insomuch as after you have created your page, if you have a lot of friends, it is easy to go in and invite all of your friends to become a fan of your new page. Using this technique, you will get to your minimum of 25 very quickly, which is important considering you may have a high-demand username and you want to snatch it up asap.

Create or use a profile, create the page, invite friends, get 25, then go here: www[dot]facebook[dot]com/username/ to request your custom username, and see if it is available.

Please note that after your custom username has been created for your page, the profile from which it was created is the default Admin. You can add other administrators to your page as you see fit. They need to have a Facebook profile in order to be added.

Many times, with large companies, there is an employee with a Facebook profile with a lot of friends, this is a good person to use, and add or change administrators later.

After the page and custom username have been created, make sure to get your "badge" from the Facebook page and add a nice graphic icon to your website, email blasts and other marketing material to continue to build up your fan base. In Facebook, the "fans" are pretty much just like an in-house mailing list, so the more the better, there is money in your list.

Make sure to review the settings for your new page. You may not want all fans to be able to post their own comments, videos and pictures, etc. You will definitely want to manage this.

Lastly, remember to update the Facebook page often, give people a reason to become a fan, update with pics, videos and blogs every week.