Continuing the theme of back to basics for start-ups and SME’s, setting up a Facebook page is a common Social Media 121 topic. A Facebook page can easily take the place of a first website, creating a place for customers and potential customers to go, to find out more about you and your company. Utilising this free tool is not always as simple as some (Facebook themselves) would have you believe. Here’s a few things you won’t know until you’re stuck…
What type of Facebook page does my company need?
When setting up a Facebook page, you will be presented with these options, but did you know for example, if you want to show ‘star rating reviews’ on your page, you have to set up as a ‘Local Business’? You cannot get stars for companies, products, bands or any other options, and it’s not that easy to change once you’ve done it…
If you don’t want star ratings, then crack on with the option that best describes your business or cause, but it would be a shame not to have a visual representation of how great you are, so I am going to assume you do want to show visitors to your page that you are awesome.
Let’s get started with Facebook pages – step by step
You must log into Facebook as you, click the drop-down arrow and select, ‘Create Page’.
Fill out your business details, including name, category and phone number. Business categories at this point are very tenuous, but I don’t want you to worry, pick the closest related one and we’ll work it out on the page itself.
Essential things to do with your new Facebook page
Unpublish it! Whilst you’re optimising your Facebook page, you don’t want a lot of notifications to go out that you’ve added a picture, or changed this or that. Your feed will be populated with these notes, but you can add relevant posts later to drive them down, and out of the way.
TIP: Unpublish it, get it looking amazing, load it up with a few posts and photos, then launch your fully-fledged page when it’s ready.
Complete the ‘About’ section – key words for search terms are relevant here, so use them.
Add page images – I suggest you use your logo, or choose a professional headshot for the profile image, and a picture of your either your premises or example of your work in the header. Even better, use something like Canva to create a profile picture that includes both your face and your logo.
TIP: Your header can change with the seasons or the theme of your marketing for the month, but your profile picture is your easily identifiable brand and should probably stay the same.
Pinpoint your business category – In the ‘About’ section add your address, email and website. This is also where you can pinpoint your category to precisely what you want.
TIP: Tick the box under the map and the location will be visible on your Facebook page, along with ‘check-ins’ and star reviews.
Check your template – Here’s where you make sure your Facebook page is correctly showing tabs for your company. You don’t need a ‘shop’ tab if you don’t use e-commerce. NB, if you change template after setting up tabs, they may change or be removed altogether.
Add services – If you click the left side-bar and don’t see ‘Services’, go to Settings, Edit Page and scroll right down to the bottom of the Tabs section and add a tab. Adding the services your business provides showcases the landing pages of your website, with key words and photos but no clickable links.
TIP: While you’re in Settings, check your profanity filter is set to strong, just to be safe.
Add photos – Create albums showcasing each service, or monthly albums with jobs or work done. People adore visuals and they don’t even need to be professionally shot for social media – score! You can add key words again, and even tag the client.
TIP: As you go about your work, try and take photos to add to future albums, or expand service specific ones.
Invite ‘friends’ to like your page - Some people start on Facebook by running a personal account as if it is a business and so will have lots of friends who are business contacts, not actual friends. It is a tricky business, confusing personal and business on social media and not something I would recommend. However, gaining business friends can be a legitimate way to get them over to your page.
Like other pages – Go through Facebook and find your clients and suppliers, then find the clients and suppliers you would like to have and then find pages that you enjoy as part of your industry. Commenting and sharing posts by others further demonstrates your personality in business and gains advocates.
Have I missed anything?
I you have any questions that this blog doesn’t address, or if you need clarification on some of the points, consider booking a Social Media 121 session with me, on 07825 031036. We can spend the time you need to set up your Facebook page and you can call that one of your ‘on business days’!
Thanks for reading and good luck with Facebook - Hilary