By Saumya Gupta
Facebook is the most popular social media platform. Though people have replaced it with other applications such as Instagram and Snapchat, it still holds a very dominant place in the social marketplace. With tools and customized Facebook business settings, it has a lot to offer. If you’re looking to set up a social media presence for your business, go with Facebook’s personalized marketing plans for it. It comes with a range of insights and tools to track your progress. Also, with a Facebook business page, you get personalized services that comprehend your business goal. You might worry about the high competition, but the right set of tactics can actually generate profits for your business.
What is a Facebook Business Page?
Creating a Facebook Business Page means becoming part of one of the world’s biggest platforms to promote business online. It comes with a host of features. Facebook allows users to share content, respond to customers, engage with followers through comments and chats, and promote products within the feed. Simply put, it differs from an individual’s personal Facebook Account as it represents a brand/business. It then depends on the owner to make the page focus only on the business and engage with others professionally.
How to set up a Facebook Business Page?
We are here to help you with all the technical terms and processes involved in creating a Facebook Business Page and running it successfully. Follow the steps to first set up your Facebook business account:
1. Log in to your existing Facebook account or Sign-up
If you wish to create a Facebook page on your existing account, just log in. But if you prefer creating a new account only for your business, then Sign-up on Facebook like you earlier did. Once you’re logged in, either way, go to facebook.com/pages/create.
Once you go there, the page will give you two options- Facebook for business/brand, and Facebook for community/public figure. Select business/brand, and then click on Get Started.
From here on, Facebook will ask for some basic information, which includes the following:
- Page name: Enter the name of your business or brand here.
- Business Category: Describe your business in one or two words. Facebook automatically gives you options while you type in this section. Pick only one category, something your audience and customers could relate to.
- Description: Now, here you can write about your business. Talk about the products you’re working on, how you proceed with orders and describe what makes your business stand out in the market.
Once you fill in these details, click on Continue. It indicates that you have accepted Facebook’s Pages, Groups and Events Policies, and you can move on to the next step.
2. Add a Profile Picture and Cover Photo
Consider these as the face of your business. You can put your business’s logo or anything else that represents your business.
The size of your profile picture should ideally be 170 x 170 pixels. Upload it in square dimensions. Facebook will crop it to make it circular, like your own profile picture. This picture will be your icon every time you comment on a post or publish your work. So, be sure to make it unique and creative.
The ideal size for any Facebook cover photo is 820 x 462 pixels. This adjusts accordingly on desktops and smartphones. Here, you can deliver a good visual of your business since the size is much bigger. It can also incorporate a lot more content within it, be it graphic or written. There’s a wider scope, so you’re at greater ease. Use apps like Canva, Adobe, Picsart, and other free tools to design visually exciting pictures. There are premade Facebook cover photo templates online. Check them out and modify them according to your business’s profile.
Another surprise that Facebook has for your business is cover videos and the option to feature multiple images. Be creative with your content as there’s a lot of options offered in many different ways.
Once you’re done here, Facebook will publish your page immediately!
3. Fill out your Business Information completely
You have a page name, business category, and representative visual content. Now it’s time to fill in the other gaps by providing basic information about your business.
- About: Keep this part short and brief. Your audience should be able to get a basic idea about your business in 4-5 sentences when they open your page.
- Contact: Provide your official Phone Number and E-mail ID. This way, customers can reach you in case of a query or concern about your products.
- Location: It depends on you to share the complete location or only limit to the regional description. If you have a small business without a physical storefront, then simply provide the city and state you’re operating from.
- Hours of Operation: Put a time-slot that would show your working hours.
- Username: It is a unique link to your Facebook business page. Anyone with this link can visit your Facebook page. Choose something that relates to your business, and keep it simple. Don’t go for something that is too lengthy or complex. You actually want customers to find your business.
4. Use the Call-to-action (CTA) button
It’s just below the cover photo, on the right-hand side. The button helps to direct your audience towards a particular action. For example, if you have an eCommerce website, you can attach the link to this button. This way every time someone clicks on the button, they would directly be directed to your website. Name the button accordingly.
To initiate this, click on “+Add a button”. Facebook will then present a list of actions that you can use as your CTA button, like Start an Order, Follow, Book Now, Contact Us, and many more such options. Choose one and follow the steps ahead. If you don’t choose, Facebook will create a Contact Us button for you automatically.
This trick was used by FoxNext Games to increase app installs for Marvel Strike Force. Since this button is available for individual posts as well, they added the Install Now button just below their Facebook Carousel advertisement to test Facebook’s latest feature. Turns out, there was a 6% higher return on ad spend. App installation increased by 61%. The final result was a 14% increase in revenue.
5. Publish your First Post
Generate a post that welcomes people. Go with a status update about your new Facebook business page. There are a lot of ideas to choose from. Your very first post can also be about your brand’s journey in the form of a video, or a link that directs users to exclusive contests and giveaways. This step is very essential before you start inviting people. They would want some content on your page they could refer to. Choose what you want to post about, and try to be creative. It’s your first attempt to engage with your audience on Facebook, and you must make a good first impression.
6. Invite people
Use your own friend list. If you made a Facebook business page on your personal Facebook Account, then start inviting them, as Facebook WILL prompt you whenever it can. Also, share the link to your Facebook business page on your social media handles. You can sign off your emailing list with this link as well, and send a text to your WhatsApp contacts. Try to drive as much traffic as possible through these methods. In time, go for paid Facebook advertising campaigns to attract more people from a different demographic base.
Tips for successfully running a Facebook business page
1. Publish before inviting people
If you’re running a page for your business, at least publish three to five posts before inviting people. That way, your audience would have something to look at while you work out other stuff.
2. Be careful with Page Roles
On Facebook, you have the option to assign roles to people. The people you choose will have access to the inner settings of the page, on a level that matches their role. Now, not everyone should have access to something this important. It’s essential to select only those suited for Social Media Management and other important people in the business. Since they’ll be posting on behalf of the brand, it’s understandable they will avoid any disastrous mishaps which could bring down the brand’s reputation. Provide adequate training to the people you select.
3. Timing and Frequency of posting targets engagement with the audience
You should have a calendar ready at all times. Why? Because if you don’t post frequently, then people will start disengaging with your brand. That’s because it won’t look very authentic or reliable. But don’t post too often, people don’t like their feeds flooded with a brand’s content. With time, you will get accustomed to identifying the hours between which your posts are the most engaging. Stick to the time slot and schedule posts in advance.
At the moment, the best time to post on Facebook is 11 a.m. and 1 to 2 p.m. every Wednesday. Other slots work between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday.
4. Use Facebook Ads
Facebook displays any advertisement that is endemic to the network itself. Anyone who wishes to promote their products through Facebook sponsored ads gets a range of options. These include text and photo module ads. Advertorial content is also available that integrates within a user’s news feed. This content is tagged as ‘sponsored’ or ‘advertisement’. It distinguishes normal content from Facebook dynamic ads throughout the platform.
5. Be “Very responsive to messages”
Now, this is a badge that pages get when they have a response rate of 90% and a response time of 15 minutes over the last seven days. It’s a plus point that makes your brand more reliable and authentic.
6. Post more visual content
Visual content such as images and videos have 2.3 times more engagement in comparison to other Facebook posts. It’s a great way to attract people to view your business page on Facebook. It makes your feed look more creative, which users prefer a lot nowadays. Also, it populates the “Photos” and “Videos” tab as soon as you add them to your business page.
7. Generate Organic Leads
When people view your content without the help of paid promotions, they are known as leads that were generated due to good reviews about your brand. It’s free, and requires work on social media handles to have a successful output. Read our article on How to Get Facebook Leads Organically in 2021 to get started on generating organic leads in a simple and easy way!
Conclusion
Even when competition is high, Facebook has a lot to offer. With tools targeting engagement, reach, and insights for your business, you can get a clearer idea of how your brand is working in the social marketplace. After this, you also have the opportunity to run paid promotions and use Facebook advertising to grow your business online.
Besides Facebook, you can promote your products on Hobo.Video. It’s a community-driven Social Marketplace. A great way of distributing work, Hobo helps you set up your own micro-store and lets you approach nano and micro influencers to generate content for your products. Hobo works on short video based content to promote brands. With this latest marketing strategy, the brand stays in touch with the modern market, which further helps to generate potential leads. Register here and become a part of our community!
