Whether you about to create a new Facebook Page for your business or you have been running your account for a while, it is important to check you are making the most of this marketing tool.
We spend on average 2hrs 24 minutes every day on social media so this is a fantastic place to be attracting your ideal audience. But it isn’t as simple as setting up a page, sticking a few photos on and waiting for your customers to come calling!
Here are 10 steps to get you started on the right path:
1. Have you set up a business Page?
Don’t be tempted to use your personal account to promote your business on Facebook. You will be missing out on features specifically for businesses such as paid adverts, and analytics. If you use a business account, you are also making it harder for your customers to engage with you as they will need to accept you as a ’friend’. Finally it is against Facebook terms and conditions to have more than one personal account and to use a personal account for business purposes.
2. Have you chosen a memorable username?
Having a username on your business page will allow your audience, customers, and total strangers to tag your business in posts and comments and therefore the easier it is to remember the better! You can add your username on the 'Edit Page Info' side bar. If someone has already taken your business name, you need to come up with something more then 5 characters long but that is relevant to your business. Your username can be up to 50 characters long, but don't use extra characters just because you can!
3. Have you added a clear, easily identifiable profile image?
You’ll want to pick an image that your customers can easily recognise, to might be your logo or a headshot of you. Whatever you choose, needs to be easily identifiable if your customers are searching for you. You want to look professional, approachable and to illustrate this is a business page. Also remember this is the icon that appears next to your text when you comment so you want it to be eye catching. Finally check your profile image works on desktop and mobile.
4. Have you uploaded an engaging cover photo?
The cover photo (or it can be a video) is great advertising space for your business and is the first thing a page visitor will notice. It sits along the top of your business page so choose an image or video that promotes your business and encourages your audience to keep reading. This image is more important than your profile image due to the size and potential for you to showcase your business. You can update this image on a regular basis especially if you are promoting the launch of new products, seasons, sales or promotions. The image doesn't have to be complicated, just eye catching
5. Have you added a Call to Action button?
Once you have attracted the attention of your audience, what do you want them to do? Facebook gives you the opportunity to add a button that specifically guides your audience. You might want them to ‘Send a message’, ‘Sign Up’, ‘Book Now’ or ‘Shop Now’ or visit your audience website. The easier the journey for your customer to book or buy from you the better! The Call to Action (CTA) button below takes you straight to the website where you can find out more about the business.
6. Have you completed all the key information in the ‘About’ section?
New visitors to your page will often visit this section for a quick summary of who you are and what your business is about. If they want to call or email you, find out if you are open on Sundays or they need your postcode for their Sat Nav, this is the place they will head to. Remember to update this if your details change as an incorrect email address is a sure way to loose a customer!
7. Have you checked your Settings?
This page is your behind the scenes control panel. Take a few minutes to go through each setting and make sure that it’s set for how you want to manage the Page and how you want your audience to interact with you. You can control whether people are able to message you directly, post photos to your page, tag your page from this page.
8. Do you have the right template and tabs for your business?
Initially Facebook provides you with a list of tabs based on the type of business you selected when you created your page. The different tabs allow your audience to easily navigate your page and find what they want quickly. Selecting ‘Template and Tabs’ provides you with a default list of tabs based on your Page template. You can amend the template if this doesn’t suit your business as well as amend the tabs.
9. Have you pinned a post to the top of the page?
If you have important information that needs your audience’s attention, you can create a post and ‘pin’ this to the top of your page. Pinning stops the post being pushed down the newsfeed and being lost at a later date. Facebook allows you to have one post pinned to the top of your page and you can find this by selecting the three dots and selecting ‘Pin to top of page’. Obviously only keep a post pinned for as long is necessary but you could use this to promote a competition, an event you are running or urgent news.
10. Do you know what analytics you want to be looking at?
The more information you have about your audience, the more content you can create to meet their needs. Facebook Page Insights makes it easy to gather data about how your audience are interacting with your page and the content you share. To access Page Insights, click Insights in the top menu of your Facebook business page. You will need to familiarise yourself with this section and identity your top performing posts for reach and engagement as well as gain value information about when to post and the types of content your audience react to.
Once your Facebook page is set up and fully optimised you are ready to begin consistent posting and building relationships with your audience.