So I’m in the car with my mother-in-law (every great story starts with that phrase, right?) and we drive by a high school fundraiser. The teenagers are waving signs on the street corner inviting drivers to stop by and purchase a mattress with the proceeds going to the high school’s sports team. My first thought was “yeah, because people buy mattresses spur of the moment like that. A car wash is a … what the?! Why is everybody honking?”
My eyes dart around until I realize that the drivers are honking because one of the high schooler’s signs reads “HONK if you love Fairview High School.”
“I hate when people have those honking signs,” my mother-in-law said. “It’s not like they get donations for every honk.”
Then it dawned on me: getting honks for your fundraiser is just like getting Likes for your business Facebook page; it makes you feel like people care about your cause, but care does not fill your wallet.
So, if Facebook Likes don’t make money for your small business, why have a small business Facebook page to begin with?
Alyssa Gregory from About.com put together six reasons for why your small business needs a Facebook page. From her article, the six reasons are:
1. Your Facebook page can teach you more about your target audience.
2. A Facebook page gives you a chance to “humanize” your company.
3. You can build a community on your Facebook page.
4. Facebook is good for search engine optimization (SEO).
5. Your competition may already have a Facebook page.
6. You can put your business in front of your clients and customers every day.
Mike Stewart of SMBSEO.com added a few more benefits to the discussion of why your small business needs a Facebook page. One benefit Mike and I both confidently advise is Facebook’s advertising. Compared to running ads with Google, Facebook is much more inexpensive and guaranteed to make an impact on your target audience. Here’s what Mike has to say about Facebook’s advertising:
“Facebook Ads can be targeted very specifically to make sure only your desired demographic sees your ad: choose to target your campaigns at a specific location, age group, gender, etc. to make sure the people seeing your ad are the people likely to be interested in your company.”
A lot of small business owners follow the grave mistaken thought that they don’t need an actual small business page on Facebook, they should just create a business-only Facebook profile of themselves. So, for example, if you just started your own personal training business that consists solely of yourself, you should just create “another you” on Facebook, using your personal profile for everyday Facebooking and your new business-only profile for your business. Yeah, don’t do that. First of all, you are only one person and everybody knows it. You confuse the heck out of folks by creating two yous on Facebook. Secondly, you miss out on all the excellent tools and resources provided to business pages on Facebook. Facebook is very clear about the differences for intended use of their web site as a person and as a business in its page describing the differences found here.
Essentially, the differences between a personal Facebook page and a business Facebook page, as Facebook describes it:
Business accounts:
Are used to manage Pages and ad campaigns
Can’t be found in search, send or receive friend requests or build apps
Can see public information about other people on Facebook, but can’t interact with those people except as a Page
Don’t have a personal profile tied to them
Personal accounts:
Used to connect with people you know in real life
For individual, non-commercial use
Can connect with other people, join groups or play social games
Jon Loomer, a self-proclaimed expert in Facebook marketing, gives 14 reasons to go with a business page on Facebook over a personal page in this article. His insight into these 14 reasons is excellent, but as a quick summary, here are his 14 reasons:
1) Facebook Insights: Access to Mounds of Data
2) Facebook Tabs and Contests
3) Facebook Offers
4) Profiles are Limited to 5,000 “Friends”
5) Profiles Look Unprofessional
6) Access to Advertising
7) Privacy Considerations
8) Ability to Assign Admin Roles
9) Native Facebook Content Scheduling
10) Connection to Facebook Places
11) Business Relevant Information
12) Business Relevant Options
13) Use of Third Party Tools
14) Avoid Being Shut Down
Did you read that last one? That’s right, after a while, Facebook will get tired of your second profile and shut it down. Then you’ll have to start a business page anyway. So you might as well start it up now. The question is, where should you start?
Firstly, take note that Facebook has become a lot like Google in that it changes its platform, algorithms, and features regularly, so as you research Facebook marketing techniques, always follow the more recent ideas over the older ideas because Facebook marketing becomes obsolete about every 6 months or so.
Now, I would start by simply creating your page and going back later to spice it up. So follow Facebook’s easy steps to creating your new small business Facebook page. Once completed, go back and apply the hoards of suggestions I am about to throw at you. It’s just good to get things started so you have a rough understanding and point of reference as we move forward.
Now, Social Media Examiner created an excellent, very, very easy to understand, very basic step-by-step guide on how to create a business Facebook page. I would definitely follow it verbatim. But as you follow that guide, sprinkle in these thoughts as you go along.
The choice between which type of business page to create can actually be a tough one. The Houston Chronicle’s small business editor put together a short list of differences between choosing a Local Business page or a Company/Organization page. Social Quick Starter also created a similar comparison, but with more charge to think deeply about what you want to accomplish on Facebook. This decision is totally up to you, but for starting out, I advise to go with a Local Business page, even if you’re targeting an online or international audience.
Once you’ve chosen Local Business, you’ll be asked to choose a category within Local Business. Geez, you already had a hard time with the first list of options! As Marketing Gum points out, there are some ways to get around this list, or just accept it as is. Here’s what Marketing Gum says:
Once you click the ‘Local Business or Place’ square, you’ll be able to ‘choose a category’. A long list of business categories is provided to select from, including:
Attractions/Things To Do
Bank
Bar
Book Store
Concert Venue
Food / Grocery
Hotel
Local Business
Movie Theatre
Musuem/Art Gallery
Outdoor Gear/Sporting Goods
Real Estate
Restaurant / Café
School
Shopping / Retail
Spas/Beauty/Personal Care and many more.
TIP: If you can’t find something relevant from the category list choose ‘Local Business’ instead.
“The ‘Local Business or Place’ page type gives extra info page options for you to fill out, including your open hours, parking options and the ability for people to ‘check in’ using Facebook Places when they visit you in person. A count of people who have checked in will appear on your page next to your Like (fan) count.”
If you thought the difficult decisions were over, sorry, but they just got started. Now you have to pick out a profile picture for your small business Facebook page. Luckily, there are plenty of resources to help make this decision for you.
While this decision is an important one, the Empower Network advises to change your Facebook profile picture regularly. “While it is important that your profile picture is representative of your company, you should change it up from time to time. Changing it too often could cause confusion, but you can keep their interest by changing it regularly. Changing profile picture often can bring you more good than bad. People will start notice more on your profile when you have attractive fresh new profile picture.”
SocialBizNow.com advises exactly what I believe in when it comes to picking out a profile picture for your business’s Facebook page. You want to keep it simple, you want to represent your business, but most of all, you want your photo to tell people what the business is and does. Like the author, Roohi Moolla, says “Remember this is your business. Don’t just put up a picture of yourself hanging out with your kids and expect people to understand this is a business page. Even if you’re a sole-proprietor with a service-based business, like a lawyer, accountant or real-estate agent- make sure you distinguish this page as a business page with more information than just your headshot. This is valuable real-estate on the screen, and you should use it to your best advantage.”
Now it’s time to write the “About You” section of your small business’s Facebook page. This can be another difficult task if you haven’t really nailed down some messaging for your business. If you already have a web site launched for your small business, use some of the text from your business’s web site. If not, consider this answer from Yahoo! Help.
“Your description summarizes your page content and may encourage clicks in search results. Some search engines use your description to help categorize your page, but more important, your home page description may appear in search results! A clear and persuasive description may not boost your search engine ranking, but it can encourage prospective customers to visit your site. With this in mind, you should make sure your page’s description is both readable and interesting, and also features one or two keywords that appear in the corresponding page. Be sure your description doesn’t exceed 256 characters. Be sure to include one or two keywords and, if possible, place these near the beginning of your description.”
Keep in mind that we are following the step-by-step guide from Social Media Examiner mentioned at the beginning of this article. Steps six through eight are simple dos and don’ts without any possible opinions behind them, so let’s skip to Step nine, the ever-important cover photo.
Cover photos are a relatively new concept to Facebook, only about a year and a half old. It’s a wide image that acts as a masthead to your Facebook page, the banner that adorns the top of your business’s page.
If you’re looking for inspiration for your small business’s Facebook cover photo, check out these winners from Constant Contact.
Luckily, as Hubspot reported earlier this year, Facebook has calmed its uptight rules on what can be promoted in your cover photo. Dummies.com went even further, putting together the ultimate guide to a small business’s cover photo choice.
After uploading your cover photo, update your About section and Permissions allowances as Social Media Examiner suggests. Now review what you’ve created. Test a few things out. Make sure you didn’t make any of these mistakes that make you look like a fool on Facebook. Read up on how to run your new Facebook business page appropriately and using it to find all sorts of data and insights into your customer base, as explained by Social Media Today.
But be aware of what you’re up against. Facebook created an algorithm called “EdgeRank” that determines what content from business pages will reach the Newsfeed of everyday Facebookers. It is very difficult to get your content onto your target audience’s pages without promoting your posts and advertising. Ryan Hanley wrote a guest post on Jon Loomer about this very delicate difficulty: beating EdgeRank. I advise reading it and following it, as doing so will relieve a lot of frustration you may discover later down the road.
Just remember, as you launch your small business into the world of Facebook, you are indeed out to get Likes, but only because Likes bring engagement and insights, which bring business intelligence and higher search ranking results, which brings in customers. You’re not standing on the corner asking for honks, you’re standing on the corner taking specific demographic notes of those who drive by, and engaging in conversation with those who might be interested in your products and services.