With an estimated 1.11 billion users worldwide (May 2013 report), Facebook is a massive platform that’s teeming with consumers ready to spend money. While it’s had plenty of ups and downs in its 9 years of being online (founded February 4, 2004), it remains the world’s most popular social media networking site. With that said, many business owners overlook the power and potential of Facebook, leaving tons of potential clients untapped.
Why Should I Create a Facebook Page For My Business?
Facebook is used for more than just spying on exes finding your old school buddies that you haven’t seen or heard from in 10-20 years. While it’s certainly useful for all of these reasons, it’s also a powerful tool for business owners. Whether you run a small, medium or large-sized business, chances are you’ll benefit from staying active on Facebook.
Benefits of using Facebook for businesses:
- Increases brand recognition
- Drives more direct sales
- Creates greater transparency between businesses and their customers
- Customers can locate businesses with Facebook pages more easily
- Creates a sense of professionalism
- Notify consumers about special sales, promotions and events
- Allows for a direct means of communication between businesses and customers
Facebook Business Page: Getting Started
When you’re ready to create a Facebook page for your business, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/ while logged in under your personal account. You’ll then be shown several different boxes based on the type of page you wish to create. Assuming this is for your actual business, you’ll want to select “Company, Organization or Institution” from the available options. Don’t worry if you accidentally selected a different type, as you can go back later and change it in your settings.
After selecting your Facebook page type, you’ll then have to choose a name and category. The name is pretty self-explanatory – make it your business/company name – but the category is slightly more confusing. There are about two dozen or so categories to choose from, including Aerospace/Defense, Automobiles and Parts, Bank/Financial Institutions, Biotechnology, Cause, Chemicals, Church/Religious Organizations, Community Organizations, etc. If you don’t see the industry for your business listed, simply choose “Company,” followed by checking the box next to Facebook’s terms and conditions and clicking “Get Started.”
Next, you’ll be given the option to include a description about your business. Write a coupe short sentence outlining the services of your business, location, phone number or other pertinent information. You can also include a like to your business’s official website during this step. Again, all of this information can be added or modified later, so don’t get caught up in trying to make it perfect.
The next steps of creating a Facebook page for your business are rather self-explanatory; add a profile picture (preferably a company logo or brandable design), add the new page to your personal news feed, and choose whether or not to add a payment method for Facebook Ads (we’ll get to that later).
What Next?
After following the steps previously mentioned, you’ll have an active Facebook page for your business. But let’s face it, your page probably looks dull and boring with no real sense of visual appeal. For a more professional and engaging Facebook page, there are a couple of things you’ll need to do still.
- Add a cover image that tells what your business is about (cover images are 851 pixels by 315 pixels)
- Specify a custom url for your page by selecting the “Edit Page” option followed by “Edit Page Address”
- Add your business’s physical address, phone number, email and missions statement under the same “Edit Page” option
- Go ahead and like your new business page using your personal account (a single like is necessary to keep your page alive)
- Add some photos related to your business
- Create a basic status update consisting of something like “Hey everyone! Just wanted to welcome you all to our Facebook page.
Tips For Posting on Your Facebook Business Page
Having a Facebook page is only going to benefit your business if you actively update it with new content. One of the biggest mistakes social media mistakes businesses make is not updating their accounts on a regular basis. Some owners may spend an hour or so designing an attractive Facebook page, only to never touch it again. If you want to create a strong groups of followers who like and share your posts, you need to create new updates on a regular basis.
When updating your Facebook business page, a good rule of thumb is to make 9 out of 10 posts informative/non-commercial. The other 10%, however, can be a specific product or service offered by your business. Users grow tired of viewing ads spammed out across their feed, so keep your promotional updates to a minimum.
Facebook also has an in-house pay-per-click (PPC) marketing platform (http://www.facebook.com/advertising). If you’re looking to reach more people with your posts, you should consider using their PPC platform. Their wide range of targeting options makes it incredibly useful for local businesses.