5 Simple Facebook Tips For Your Business

If you’re going to be using Facebook for your business (and you should be), here are a few really simple things you should do:

1)  GET A FAN PAGE

Have a fan page instead of a personal page.  There is a major thing that you need that profile pages don’t have.  The insights page.  If you’re going to be using Facebook for business, you should see whether or not anything you’re doing is making a difference, when people are interacting with your page, what they are interacting with and what you can do to engage them more.  Mashable has a great article “A Beginner’s Guide To Facebook Insights” that explains this more in depth.

If you started your business page as a personal profile, you can convert it to a fan page.

2) CLAIM YOUR NAME

Assuming you already have a fan page instead of a profile page for your business, you should claim your name.  After you have 25 fans, you can set your page to being facebook.com/yourbusinessname  as opposed to being facebook.com/pages/yourbusinessname/345687728992/?ref=ts.  This should be a pretty simple one.  It’s a matter of branding your business and it’s a lot easier to tell somebody facebook.com/yourbusinessname than the long one aforementioned. And if there are businesses with similar or the same name, this will help you direct people to your page.

Go to www.facebook.com/username to secure your name.

3)  CREATE A LANDING PAGE

Create a landing page for your business.  Ideally it will be consistent with your website, twitter, and everything else.  Facebook has ways that you can make your page all yours instead of just the normal run of the mill wall that shows as the default.  Your landing/welcome page is a great way to direct your users to your blog, your twitter page or to special promotions,  etc.  See “40 Great Examples of Facebook Fan Page Designs” courtesy of inspirationfeed.com

4)  GIVE YOUR AUDIENCE A REASON TO GO TO YOUR PAGE

Don’t just use your “Likers” sales info and try to get them to buy something.  Give them some fun stories, content from other people that they might like and definitely mix up the content with pictures and videos.  If you have something you can give away, do it.  People always love free stuff.  Do a contest or have a question that will get people to leave comments on your page (ex.  “Name the new mascot for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate” or “Send the recipe for your signature drink to have it added to the menu”).

5)  HAVE FUN

Make your page fun and interactive.  Don’t just drill people with information.  Chances are most of your facebook fans are consumers, not necessarily business contacts, so be a person and show some personality.  Check your page for comments and new interactions so you can respond to them if it’s somebody saying they like something or somebody complaining.  Facebook can and should be used for customer service and feedback.

Other tips and resources:

7 Tips and Marketing Strategies for the New Facebook Fan Pages

Customize Your Facebook Fan Page: Tips, Tricks, Applications

10 Tips & Tricks For Your Business’s Facebook Fan Page

Want help with your Facebook presence?  Contact us.