With nearly 3 billion active users, Facebook’s reach is undeniable. As a business owner, you can use Facebook as part of an effective social media marketing strategy. However, did you know you can set up your own Facebook business page? If you’re new to this powerful tool, you’ll want to learn how to create and optimize a Facebook business page.
If you are just starting out with your Facebook business page development, don’t worry. This article covers the basics of optimizing your site, including:
- The basics of Facebook
- Use location pages
- Optimize your information
- Create a call to action
- Manage comments
- Use Messenger to your advantage
- Claim unofficial deals
The basics of Facebook
The first thing to note is that your Facebook Page is not a substitute for your company website. Instead, you can think of it as a tool that can help you drive customers to your website while building important connections.
If you are trying to grow your business using a social media strategy, your Facebook business page is a must. To get started, you’ll need to create your Facebook Page, or you can convert your personal profile into a business page.
Whichever route you choose, the following important steps are important:
Enter your company name
In addition to entering your company name, you also need to write a clear description of who you are as a brand and what you offer your customers. Think of this as your introduction to new customers.
Setting your profile picture
While this is a fun step in creating your Page, consider which images to use for your profile photo and cover photo. You may want to use your logo, an image of your product, or a photo of your storefront.
Choosing the right type of page
When setting up your Facebook Business Page, you need to choose the most appropriate category. These include:
- Local business or space. Choose this option if you have a central location.
- Companies. This option is more suitable for companies that are spread across multiple locations.
- Brand or product. If you haven’t set up a stationary location yet, this option is for you.
- Cause or community. If you run a nonprofit organization, choose this type of business page during setup.
Use location pages
Think of your primary Facebook business page as the main page for your brand. You can set up a page structure once you’ve created your main business page.
From there, you can manage your business locations by creating linked location pages for each store front. Once you’ve created your location pages, you can add important information, including:
- Location names
- Additional addresses
- Location-specific telephone numbers
- Landing page website address
Optimize your information
If you want to optimize your Facebook business pages, it is imperative to enter your business hours. As the business owner, it is your responsibility to update the hours of operation if they change or vary. Check each place for accuracy.
Once you are familiar with maintaining a Google My Business account, you can adjust your opening hours to reflect upcoming holidays or events. Unfortunately, Facebook Business Pages doesn’t share this feature. Instead, use Facebook posting tools or Facebook ads to get the word out.
To make sure your customers see important changes in your uptime, pin the post on the timeline at the top of your company page.
In this example, Urban Grill and Wine Bar have created a lively contribution to the Easter brunch. This well-designed post draws attention to his vacation times so that guests don’t miss the special event and the menu. In addition, you will find that the regular hours of operation are easily accessible via a drop-down menu.
Notice how the Urban Grill & Wine Bar draws attention to their special Easter hours.
Create a call to action
Like any great ad or blog post, your business page needs a call to action – or CTA. Fortunately, you can add a CTA button directly to your page. The button is conveniently located just below your cover photo and can inspire users to engage with your brand.
While Facebook provides the tools to create a CTA button, the call to action is your own. Depending on the type of brand you’re building, you can choose from Facebook’s long list of promotions. Some examples are:
- buy tickets
- book now
- Call now
- Contact us
- Donate now
- Download
- Get quote
- Learn more
- Shopping now
Choose a CTA that best fits your brand’s goals. For example, if you’ve just opened an Etsy shop, Shop Now is the perfect call to action for you. If you are marketing your salon online, “Book Now” is more convincing.
Urban Grill and Wine Bar have selected the “Start Order” button, which will take you straight to the take-away order page on their website. For restaurants, the “Start Order” button is a great way to increase sales right from your business page!
The “Start Order” button makes it easier for hungry customers to start their take-away orders.
Manage comments
Fostering engagement is key to using social media marketing effectively. Facebook is an integral platform because it offers so many easy ways to interact with customers, including direct messages, posts, and comments.
Reviews and ratings on your company page can be a source of celebration or stress, depending on your customers’ experience. While you take pride in providing high quality service, the occasional unhappy customer you have to deal with.
Because of this ability, it is important to monitor your ratings, ratings, and comments. Managing your customer interactions should include responding to positive and negative reviews and comments.
Face-to-face interaction on Facebook shows customers that you hear their concerns and that you care about them. This will help you build customer loyalty and get more glowing reviews in the future.
Use Messenger to your advantage
Similar to commenting on your reviews, using Facebook Messenger has several benefits for your brand, including:
- Show your customers that you care about their comments, questions, or concerns
- Providing high quality customer service
- Sales promotion
- Gaining new leads
If you want to use Facebook Messenger as a business tool, you need to make a commitment to responding to your customers immediately. Your response rate is shown on your company page. Consistently respond to any messages you receive as soon as possible to get a positive response rating.
In this example, you’ll notice that Urban Grill and Wine Bar got a positive responsiveness rating on Facebook Messenger. The hint that Urban “usually responds within an hour” lets customers know that they can expect fast service. Respond quickly to your customers to build good faith and receive a welcoming response sign.
Urban Grill responded to its customers fast enough to get a positive blurb for its messenger’s responsiveness.
Making unofficial deals
As a business owner, the only thing you can do is search your brand name on Facebook to find other business listings that don’t belong to you. While this problem is frustrating, there is a way to claim unofficial business pages that are displayed on Facebook.
These pages are often the result of Facebook creating a placeholder that visitors can check in, rate, and comment on the storefront. Check Facebook regularly for unmanaged pages so that you can successfully claim them and merge them with your official page.
If you claim the unofficial side, you will need to verify your identity and property with valid proof. Examples include:
- Your work phone number or email address
- An electricity or telephone bill
- A copy of your business license
- Your last business tax registration
- Articles of Association
- Training certificate
The verification process can take up to 24 hours. After that, you can merge the unofficial pages into your own.
How to optimize your Facebook company page: Conclusion
Your Facebook business page offers an important portal to your brand. While it does take some work, it pays off a lot in taking the time to tweak your Facebook business page. By managing your page, visitors can get to your website, connect more deeply with your customers, and ultimately drive business forward.
After learning the basics of optimizing your Facebook Business Page, are you ready to get started? For more online marketing tips, check out The Download, a free marketing guide for professionals.
Comments are closed.