If you’re a business owner who thinks that Facebook is just for keeping up with friends and family, think again. According to the Small Business Social Media Survey by Webs, 68% of business owners surveyed have a Facebook account, and they use it as their primary social media marketing tool.
Facebook itself claims that over 800 million users spend more than 700 million hours per month on the site. These users are also consumers looking for products and services, which translates to a huge opportunity for businesses of any size.
Looking to increase traffic, leads and sales? It’s easy to set up a Facebook business Page. Here’s how:
1. Create a page. The process is simple and intuitive. Just fill out the requested information and start populating your business Page.
The information you provide will help both local and non-local customers find you. For SEO purposes, be sure to choose the correct category and name for your Page. These cannot be changed later. Include your location, hours of operation, a logo and a picture of your establishment.
2. Invite your friends. Start an invitation list with contacts from your personal Facebook account. Once the list is ready, just hit “Send Recommendations” to notify contacts about your new business page.
You can also import contacts from Outlook, a csv file, or any email account. Once uploaded, these people will get an email invitation to check out your new page.
3. Add content. This includes anything that engages readers, such as videos, blogs, announcements, promotions, links and pictures taken at events. Update your content daily, if possible. Fresh content keeps fans and friends interested in your business.
Also, when you add content on Facebook, you have the option to target it to a specific audience, or share it with everyone. Targeting can be done by location or language to reach certain local or global markets. This is especially useful for businesses with locations in several states or countries. For example, if you’re holding an event or contest in one city, you can post the announcement just for that local audience.
4. Use the tools. Facebook offers handy tools that help you set up, organize and track results with your business Page. Two examples are Facebook Insights and Mobile.
Use Insights to measure how well your page is doing, which types of content spark the most interest, what’s working, and what’s not.
Facebook Mobile lets you access your account from your mobile device. There are three ways you can use it: mobile text messaging, web browsing and uploading. When your business is on Mobile, you can post status updates for your friends, send pictures and videos to your account, and send/receive text messages. For the on-the-go business owner, Facebook Mobile offers a degree of agility that’s hard to beat.
5. Set up other Admins. Unless you can run your Page yourself, it’s a good idea to assign its daily operation to someone in your company who’s familiar with social media. Why? While setting up your Facebook Page is easy, its maintenance is another story. Updating statuses daily, checking up on friends and fans, and creating and posting fresh content and links on a regular basis is work—and it can be time-consuming.
So, if you’re a business owner, consider contributing frequently, but leave the work to others. It’s too important to neglect due to time constraints.
These are the basics of setting up your Facebook Page for business. There are also many ways to optimize your page for greater exposure and customer engagement. So get started, and have fun making money with Facebook!
