There are few marketing tools more beneficial for business these days than Facebook. Facebook is an extremely highly trafficked social site that could be great for your business.
Do you have your own Facebook page yet? Maybe you started one for your business but you didn’t really do much with it because you weren’t sure how to make it successful.
Maybe you don’t have a Facebook page yet at all… you either weren’t sure how to start one at all or you were worried you wouldn’t do it the “right” way. No worries—it’s actually very easy to start and optimize a Facebook page and I think you’ll enjoy the process. It can take some time and effort to turn it into a success but the effort can be well worth it.
Before we go any further, I want to make sure you aren’t making a very common mistake. Don’t use a personal Facebook profile for business. For one thing, you aren’t allowed to according to Facebook’s guidelines. For another thing, Facebook profiles just aren’t optimized for business. It’s surprising how many businesses try to make it work anyway, but I don’t really see why you would since Facebook pages are so much better for business.
How to Create a Facebook Page
I won’t bore you with a step by step on creating a Facebook page. It’s extremely easy and Facebook does a great job of holding your hand through the process. So I won’t spend much time on the technical steps because there really aren’t many technical steps at all. Instead, I’ll focus on things like choosing a great page name and optimizing your page for business.
Simply go to http://facebook.com/pages/create to get started.
It’s a very straightforward process. I highly suggest you go through the rest of what I have to say on this topic before you actually create the page, however.
A Good Facebook Page for Your Business
There are a few elements good Facebook pages tend to have in common. They have a great, relevant page name, they share items of interest to those in the niche, they offer great information, and they’re designed with the audience in mind.
People like to feel part of something great when they “like” a Facebook page. They don’t want to like a page that only promotes products and doesn’t offer anything of value.
Consider the Facebook pages you’ve liked yourself. Which ones do you interact with the most? Which ones have you liked but totally forgotten about? You don’t want your page to become one of the ones that’s soon forgotten.
A good page knows how to stay relevant. They’ll talk about what’s going on in the niche or industry. They’ll share the latest news, research, and information.
A good page knows when to promote and when not to promote. The best use for promotion on a Facebook page is list building, in my opinion.
A good Facebook page is very active. You don’t want to start posting a little here and there but forget about it soon after. Keep your audience engaged—that’s what the very best Facebook pages do.
What Are The Most Active Pages In Your Niche?
One of the best things you can do is look at what’s already working. Do a search on Facebook for pages related to your niche. Which are the most popular? How many “likes” do they have?
This is great data for you. It tells you what you can aim for when it comes to your own Facebook page.
Take notes—what are these pages named? Some of them might be named after their business. Others might be named for the niche or topic.
How does the admin interact with “likers?”
The more you investigate other pages (successful and otherwise) the more you’ll know for your own page.
How to Choose a Name for a Facebook Page
Will you name your Facebook page for your business or title it something related to your niche in general? The choice is yours, of course… consider that if you’re brand new and don’t already have a foothold in the niche then people might not be inclined to like the page.
But if you name it for an interest of some sort, they might be more ready to like the page whether they know the admin or not.
Consider what’s most likely to get you an audience, what kind of reputation you already have in the niche, and what’s working for others out there.
Optimize Your Page
Don’t stop at just choosing your name—you’ll want to really fill your page out so it’s welcoming for your visitors and does the job of helping to promote you and your business.
You’ll want a header graphic (cover photo) and profile picture, to start with. This should be something that’s consistent with your brand and the impression you want to leave.
Also, write a description for your business and link to your website. Fill out all the information on the page.
Sharing Great Content
After you’ve set your page up, you’ll want to start finding great content to share. You don’t really want to start promoting your page if there’s nothing interesting there for people to see.
Post a short welcome message to get the ball rolling. Search Facebook for great content related to your niche and share articles to your page. Find great articles and photos you can link to on the web.
Ideally, you should have several posts ready to go before you start trying to find likes for your page.
Getting People to Like Your Page
There are many different ways to get people to like your page. You can start by telling your existing audience base that you now have a Facebook page. Ask them to like the page for special offers, news, and great information.
You can also post to other pages on Facebook as your page. Post relevant, helpful, and insightful information and you might have people clicking through to like your page.
Make sure you link to your Facebook page from your blog or website. Put a link in any books or content you publish. Don’t be shy about letting people in your audience know that you have a Facebook page.
The fastest way to get likes to your page is to run Facebook ads. Run ads to your page that are highly targeted and show a clear value for people in liking your page.
Using Your Page as a Listbuilder
As wonderful as it is to create a Facebook page, make sure you don’t make the mistake of relying on Facebook for everything. Your goal isn’t to get tons and tons of people to like your Facebook page; your goal should be to get people on your email list.
That’s right, you’re going to put time and effort into building up your Facebook page. But what if Facebook isn’t here a year from now or 10 years from now? You want to take advantage of the opportunities and audience it provides today… but do yourself a favor and funnel those people to your email list.
That’s where you’ll get the real control and the opportunity to build relationships with your audience.
Creating Effective Facebook Pages For Business
It’s really not that difficult at all to create a Facebook page. It’s not too tech-y or complicated. But you do need to pay attention to what’s really going to get people to like your page. You do need to fill out your profile, description, photos, and more. You do need to share great, helpful, entertaining content that will get people coming back for more.
I think you’ll really enjoy running a Facebook page and you can see some great benefits from it. This will be a work in progress for you, so I recommend you start today and add more to your Facebook page every day. Work on getting those “likes” and funnel people to your email list.