Facebook Business pages give a business the ability to connect with customers in more ways, and provides a range of powerful advertising tools. By creating a Facebook page, where you can upload organic content and buy advertising, you will have access to around 2.5 billion potential customers. Additionally, despite being able to create ads without a business page, you have access to more ad types, ad tools and statistics with one. Whether you have or don’t have a page for your business, having a business page is a valuable tool, and here are some tips for setup and management of a business page.
Table of Contents
9 Tips to Get The Most From Your Business’s Facebook Page:
1. Create a Business Account Not a Personal Account
Over the years, we’ve run into businesses that have created a personal Facebook profile for their business, rather than a business page. There are several drawbacks to using a personal Facebook profile for a business. Most urgently, it breaches Facebook’s terms of service. If you have two personal accounts, or your personal account details are not your actual details, such as your name and date of birth, you’re breaching Facebook’s policies. Secondly, personal pages don’t have access to advertising tools, content creation tools and analytics. Finally, personal accounts require friend requests to engage your content. Requiring a friend request makes it slower and more difficult for customers to connect. So using a personal account limits your ability to reach your audience and violates Facebook’s policies.
2. Fill in your entire profile:
Many people who land on your Facebook page will be looking for information about your business; such as location, hours of operation, your address, your website, and your About page. By filling in this information, people will gain an understanding of your business and connect with your brand. If people don’t know who you are, what you do, or where and when to find you, they’re less likely to become a customer. Plus, people often search for local businesses. So your address and operating hours will make it easier if they want to visit the store. Finally, a business page allows you to add a Call To Action (CTA) button. A CTA button will drive traffic to your website or a specific piece of content. Overall, make sure you fill in your profile.
3. Add a profile and cover photo/video:
Having a profile and cover photo makes people trust and recognise your business better. Your profile photo is the face of your business on Facebook, so choose something people will recognise, like your logo or your mascot. The stronger the photo connects to your brand, the better people will recognise you. Plus, people tend to trust a brand more if they have profile photos. Much like a profile photo, the cover photo should be a recognisable part of your business and should work cohesively with a profile photo. Make sure you choose an engaging cover photo because it takes up a lot of space on your Facebook page.
4. Choose your categories:
Choosing categories will increase your reach by allowing you to connect with people based on their interests and searches. When you create your business page, you can select up to 3 categories that are relevant to your business. Facebook shows people pages they may be interested in, and your categories are part of this algorithm. To make sure you’re reaching your audience, choose categories that best represent your business. For example, if you have a painting supply shop, select categories like “art shop” or “paint shop”, not “local business”. These categories help people find your page in searches or recommendations.
5. Let people private message you:
Enabling messages, via Facebook Messenger, will allow people to reach out to you. Having the option to message a business not only boosts trust in a company but is also expected by many consumers. Over 70% of customers expect to be able to message a business directly. However, don’t enable messaging unless you have the time to respond. People don’t like to be ignored, and Facebook informs customers of your response time.
6. Use more visual content on your timeline:
Make sure you’re creating pictures and video for your page, rather than only text, because visual posts get more engagement. Posts with visuals are 40 times more likely to get shared. Moreover, customers remember 65% of information paired with visuals, but they only remember 10 to 20% without. So visuals will get your brand seen and remembered. We’ll talk more about different posts types in a future blog.
7. Observe and talk to people on your page
Keeping an eye on your Facebook page allows you to see and talk to people interacting with your brand. You don’t have to respond to every comment, but responding to some will foster goodwill with your customers. Plus, by listening and responding, you’re able to find and address any complaints people may have. So make sure you’re checking your notifications.
8. Use paid promotion to find new audiences
Once your page is properly set up, and you’ve been generating content for a while, you can expand your following by using paid promotion. Facebook ads have a variety of uses and goals, and you don’t have to have a product or a sale to promote your brand. You can promote the page itself to increase your number of followers. Using paid promotion allows you to choose your target niche and place your ad in front of them. However, if you’re advertising the page itself, not a product or sales promotion, you will want to be or have been posting content regularly. Otherwise, people won’t want to follow you.
9. Measure your page’s success:
Watching your page’s performance will improve your future strategy. Facebook insights, or other social media tracking tools, can give you useful information about your page; such as who your audience is and when they’re interacting with your content. These tools will get you publishing more of what people like, and less of what they don’t. If you’re looking at setting up these tools, contact SBIM for expert advice.
I don’t want to use Facebook:
There are many people out there who don’t like or trust Facebook for privacy reasons, but you don’t have to risk privacy to use a business page. Unfortunately, you can’t make a business page without having a personal account. If you already have an account and are thinking of making another, don’t. It’s against Facebook’s terms of use to have more than one account or to use false personal information. The good news is people can’t see your personal account attached to a business page. Additionally, if you avoid liking posts on your own page, people won’t know you’re connected to it at all. If you like every post, people will be able to see a pattern.
As for people who don’t want to sign up for Facebook at all, but want a business page, create an account with minimal details. When signing up, only enter the basic details that Facebook requires. Avoid details like your home address, workplace, or your interests. To prevent Facebook from seeing your personal life, don’t add friends or upload posts and photos. Only give Facebook the bare minimum details, and your private life will remain your own.
Don’t let your concerns about Facebook prevent you from creating a business page. Having a Facebook page lets you find and interact with a huge potential audience. It also gives your access to a suite of advertising tools.
For more information about Facebook business pages, or if you have concerns about Facebook, talk SBIM today. Our team are highly experienced in digital marketing, including Facebook page management and Facebook Ads. You can even check out our Facebook page to see what we’re up to. You can contact us on 07 3325 0505 or at webmaster@sbim.com.au.
