Setting up a Facebook Business page is probably one of the best things you can do for your small business. Social media in general provides a huge boost for small business reputations, but Facebook, due to its wide use, has extra perks. For starters, according to a study by Statista, about 66% of global monthly users checked their Facebook every single day in 2017. That is a staggering amount. Furthermore, it’s handy that even those who aren’t on Facebook or who aren’t searching for you through Facebook can still find you because search engines index Facebook pages.
So how do you start your own?
Obviously, you must be an individual Facebook user first, so let’s assume you have your own personal page. It’s important to understand that when you switch over to your business page you will interact with others as your business not as yourself. Therefore, comments, replies, posts, etc. will be made under your business name, not under your actual name.
To begin, hit the arrow in the top right hand corner of your Facebook page and select “create page”.
From there, follow the prompts describing what kind of page you’re creating. It’s very straightforward. Once you’ve done this, you’ll need to decide if you’d like to select other page administrators besides yourself. These are other individuals that will have the power to control your page as you do (business partners, co-founders, etc.). This can be done through your page’s settings.
Next, add your website’s URL (if you have a website) and link to any relevant directories like a blog page (which Facebook can automatically update every time you add a blog post to that page). If you need help with this, check out Networked Blogs. You can now also familiarize yourself with Facebook page applications like Events and Notes which you don’t need to use if they don’t apply to you. Once that basic information is all plugged in, just make sure to include imagery specific to your business for the profile picture and cover page. This will be what visitors see when they come across your page.
That’s pretty much all you need for a basic Facebook Business page. Everything from here on out is relating to how you can make the most of it but all we’ve mentioned so far is what you need to get started. Another alternative for creating a Facebook Business page is to convert your personal profile into a business page. This works well if you’re happy forgoing your personal use of Facebook and if your friends list is essentially who you want to advertise to and interact with as a business entity. Find out more about how to do this from Facebook themselves here.
Now that you’ve got your Facebook page up and running, it’s important you’re aware of the countless features you can harness to personalize your experience as well as your audience’s. We won’t go through them all, but one extremely important feature to take advantage of is your ability to see who’s interacting with your page through the Overview and Interactions features. These will give you insight about how many likes you’re acquiring over time, the demographic of people liking, who’s commenting, who’s viewing, all based on location, age, interests and more.
Why do we recommend becoming literate in these areas? In short, you can maximize your reach as a business owner by speaking to the audience that engages with you the most or tailoring your approach to seek the audience you’re after. This is the best way to formulate advertising based on your audience, drive traffic towards your page, generate leads from enquiries, and ultimately convert clicks into cash! Being strategic with your page’s Overview and moving along with it is what sets you apart from the average business owner.
Once you have this better understanding, you can utilize Facebook Ads Manager to take some of the strain of advertising off your shoulders.
We hope this article was informative and encompassing about what you need to start a Facebook Business page as well as some bonus tips on how to manage it too. Check out the rest of our page for more information on social media as well as articles on all things small business!
