Creating A Facebook Business page

Nearly all of us have a personal Facebook page, but what if you want your business to also have a Facebook page – what’s the best way to do this?

Well firstly don’t use your actual personal Facebook account for your business, it’s not professional and letting your clients see what you’re up to personally or letting them hear your personal opinions probably isn’t a good idea.

So how do you go about setting up a business page. Well firstly you do need to have a personal Facebook account as you’ll use that to create the admin user for the business page.

When you’re logged in to Facebook (desktop version) click the arrow in the top right corner to reveal its drop down options and click ‘Create Page’ and select the page type that best suits your needs from the options listed below:

1. Local Business or Place

Generally this is most likely to be the option you’d choose as it’s the most flexible solution and assumes that you have customers who’ll regularly visit your premises – I’d also recommend this for charities too as it has ’cause or charity’ as a business category.

2. Company, Organisation or Institution

Ideal for companies that don’t normally have customers visiting their premises or if you’re a business that has multiple geographical locations.

3. Brand or Product

Used for businesses that sell their products through retailers or resellers (ie. Branded soft drinks, computer brands etc)

4. Artist, Band or Public Figure

This pretty much ‘does what it says on the tin’ – just make sure you select your category carefully.

5. Entertainment

Generally reserved for ‘entertainment’ related businesses which could include concert tours, TV shows etc.

6. Cause or Community

Carefully review all the other options before considering this one (even whether a ‘group’ might be better for you) as this page type can be very restricting and normally ‘Local Business or Place’ or ‘Company, Organisation or Institution’ page options can cover most categories including causes or charities.

Once you’ve chosen your page type it’s time to choose a business category that matches your business (the available options vary depending on which page type you’ve chosen). Then fill out some basic info on your business – nothing too complicated thankfully, agree to Facebook’s T&Cs and then you’re ready to begin populating your business page. Don’t forget to check your page settings (in ‘Settings’) to ensure the right level of ‘visibility’ for your page.

Add a description and your website address, if you have one – it all helps your discoverability.

Add a profile image (currently 180 x 180px 72dpi .JPG) – I’d suggest this is your company logo. Then find an eye-catching cover photo (currently 851 x 315px 72dpi .JPG).

Create your first business post and don’t forget to update it regularly with new posts. You can schedule posts easily in advance too. You can also add additional Facebook admin users via ‘Settings’ to help you manage your business page, if needed.

Summary

So that’s the basics of creating a Facebook business page but thats just the beginning – you’ll need to consider how you’ll promote your business page, how you’ll attract new followers and how you’ll keep the page fresh.

HELPFUL TIP – If you want to ‘like’ another page (as your business) go to the page you want to like and click the three dots/three lines icon below/within the page’s cover photo and select ‘Like as Your Page’ from the dropdown list and then click Save!

In recent months Facebook has decided to reduce the visibility of business pages (probably to get you to use their paid advertising if we’re being honest) so it’s important to ensure that you offer your followers strong, unique and shareable content.

Facebook is constantly changing its personal account and business pages settings so it’s worth making sure you keep up to date with the changes and adjust if necessary.

If you need any help or advice on your Facebook business page or you just want to know more about how social media can help your business get in touch with me at http://paulkirkdesign.co.uk or at @PKirk_designer