Making the most of Facebook for business
The popularity of online networking sites has grown exponentially, and Facebook is one of the most trafficked sites in the world and currently the most popular social media site with 500-million active users, of which at least half log onto Facebook on any given day.
This makes Facebook a potent potential communication channel for businesses. Some people have complained about businesses invading what they consider their personal social space, but Facebook has become a popular business tool since the introduction of Facebook business pages, more popularly known as fan pages.
On this page:
- How does Facebook work for businesses?
- Setting up a Facebook page for your business
- Making the most of Facebook
How does Facebook work for business?
Businesses can use Facebook to communicate with customers and potential customers through the use of a Facebook business page. Your business page on Facebook allows you to share links, videos, and photos. You can ask for feedback and information, or post answers to questions.
Like your interactions over other social media channels, your interaction on Facebook needs to focus on adding value, not pushing for sales. As a business page, your success is dependent on both the total number of people on Facebook who like your page and the number of people who interact on your page. The more people who like your page, the more interaction you’ll have on your page; and the more interaction on your page, the more your posts will show in the newsfeeds of your fans’ friends.
Facebook recently announced some changes to its business pages. This article will help you get started or keep up to date.
Setting up a Facebook page
Facebook business pages are easy to set up and there are currently six types of pages you can choose from.
- Local business or place
- Company, organization or institution
- Brand or product
- Artist, band or public figure
- Entertainment
- Cause or topic
Depending on the type of business you run, you might decide to create one or several pages for your business. You’ll need to enter some basic information and accept the terms and conditions, and your new page will be ready for you to use.
You’ll need to upload an image or logo and let people know about your new page. The “Edit Page” option on the top right-hand side of the page allows you to add more information about your business, including your mission statement, any awards you’ve received, details on your products, and your contact details.
The “Manage Admins” section of this page allows you to add other people to help administer, update, and post as your business to your new Facebook page.
Once that is done, you’re ready to start posting and interacting with people on Facebook. To access and update your page, click on the “Account” tab on the top right-hand corner. Then select the “Use Facbook as a page” option. This will bring up a list of the page or pages you manage. Clicking on the “Switch” option will take you to the selected account, allowing you to post or comment.
For more information, download the Facebook manual on using Facebook pages.
Making the most of Facebook
Branding
If you want to add more branding and personality to your Facebook presence, it’s not too expensive to have a static FBML Facebook landing page designed for your business fan page or to go with the slightly more expensive iFrames option. Telling people about your new-look Facebook page can be an effective way to encourage more people to look at your page, and hopefully click the “Like” button.
Facebook announced on 10th February 2011 that it will be phasing out support for static FBML in March and moving to iFrames. This means businesses still planning to get a new-look landing page would be advised to choose iFrame over FBML.
Applications
You can also use add-on applications for your fan page to add things like polls, contact forms, feeds from your Twitter, Flickr, YouTube streams, or your website, or even a shopping tab to allow people to buy products.
Adverts and competitions
To make the most of your Facebook page, you’ll need to get as many people to like your fan page as possible. You can do this through fancy landing pages, as above, by promoting your page with a Facebook advert, or by running competitions that require people to like your page or comment on your page to stand a chance of winning.
Your posts
As with all social media campaigns, what you post on these social media channels will have a large effect on your success. Keep your target audience in mind when you post. Keep your posts varied, make use of images, videos and other platforms, and focus on adding value to the people you hope to engage with over Facebook.
