How to Create a Facebook Business Page

If you've decided it's time to add Facebook to your social media strategy and start enjoying the benefits of being on the platform, this article is for you. Setting up a Facebook business page takes a few minutes and you can do it from your smartphone or tablet if you wish. Best of all, it's free! Follow the steps in this article and your new page will be up and running in no time.

?? Is Facebook right for your business?

If you go to the trouble of creating a Facebook page for your business, you should know that it will have a positive impact on your bottom line.

If you're not a big Facebook user yourself, you might be wondering if setting up and maintaining a Page for your business is worth it. Here's a quick overview of some of the pros and cons of creating a Facebook business page:

?? Benefits of a Facebook business page

• It allows you to interact directly with your customers: it's the most community-oriented social media platform, making it the perfect place for two-way communication
• Helps drive traffic to your website : by allowing you to easily share pages on your site, such as blog posts and product pages
• Helps you reach new audiences: through social sharing and highly targeted advertising
• Know your target audience: you can use your Facebook Page to help you learn more about your customers, gaining a deeper understanding that will help your broader marketing strategy.

?? The disadvantages of a Facebook business page

• Not suitable for all industries: Facebook doesn't work as well for niche and highly technical businesses because people use it mostly for hobbies
• Investment need: it takes time and effort to build a following and then continue to engage with the community you've built
• Potential costs: such as training staff to manage your Facebook page and to invest in advertising
• Requires a good level of responsiveness: customers sometimes use Facebook to contact a business when they are unhappy with it. You'll need to be prepared to handle bad reviews as well as good ones.

Facebook might be just what your business needs to connect you with new audiences, but another social network might be better for you. Before going any further, read this article on Which social network is best for my startup? For some tips on what the different networks have to offer.

?? Professional pages and personal pages

After establishing that Facebook is right for your business, let's begin by clarifying what we mean when we talk about "Facebook Pages."

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As a personal Facebook user, you have your own Facebook profile page connected to that of your friends. Your page may be visible to people who are not your friends, but this depends on your privacy settings, which can be set to public, friends only, or customized to include or exclude specific people from your friends list.

People who aren't your friends can "follow" you if you've enabled this setting, which means your content will appear in their News Feed, but they'll only see content you share publicly.

A business page works slightly differently. Everything you post is public and visible to anyone, whether they're logged into a personal Facebook account or not.

People "like" the Page rather than "friend" it, and those who liked your Page will see your posts in their News Feed. Like a personal page, you can allow people who follow you to post to your page, comment on your posts, and send you private messages.

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If you've already created a personal Facebook profile for your business, you can quickly and easily convert it to a business page to experience the benefits of using Facebook for business. Just click the "Get Started" button and follow the instructions.

?? What you will need before you start a Facebook business page

To make setting up your Facebook page as quick and easy as possible, it will help to have a few things ready before you begin.

Business Basics

Your page name is what people will use to find your business on Facebook, so ideally it should be the same as your business name.

If you have a common business name or are a franchise, it can be helpful to add something to your name to clarify who you are, so people know they're in the right place. For example, if your business was called Finance de Demain, the name of your Facebook page could be “ Finance de Demain Academy”.

You will also need a short paragraph of information about your business: what you offer, where you are based, etc.

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You'll be able to edit all of this information whenever you want after your page goes live, but it's worth taking the time to get it right from the start so your page looks neat and professional when you launch it. Add information such as your opening hours, contact details and a map of your location.

Profile and Cover Photos

You will need to choose profile and cover photos that present a good impression of your business. This photo should match your website branding.

You may already have a suitable photo that you've used in a marketing campaign before, or there may be one on your website that you could use.

To ensure fast loading times and optimal image quality, keep in mind that your photos will display at the following dimensions:

• Profile photo: 170 x 170 pixels on computers and 128 x 128 on smartphones; it will be cropped from a square to a circle
• Cover photo: 820 pixels wide x 312 high on computers and 640 x 360 on smartphones; your photo must be at least 400 x 150 to upload
• You can find more information about ideal file sizes and types for your images on Facebook's Help Center.

Your profile photo should ideally be your logo, while your cover photo is a “widescreen” image that runs across the top of your Facebook page. You can use it to show off your products, or perhaps your premises if you are a store, restaurant or local attraction.

Call to action

What do you want people to do when they visit your Facebook page? You can set a call to action to encourage them to visit your website, call you, get your app, or even donate.

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Deciding on the best call to action means thinking carefully about what you want to achieve from your Facebook page, so having a social media strategy in place will help. Of course, you can change your call to action at any time.

?? How to Create a Facebook Business Page

Now that you've gathered all the information and photos you need, it's time to launch your new Facebook page. It's a simple process, so it shouldn't take you long to follow the steps below.

Start

Open Facebook on your computer, log in to your personal account, and click "Create" at the top of the page, next to where your friend requests are. A drop-down menu will appear; select “Page”. Under “Business or Brand,” click the “Get Started” button.

Page name and category

You will now be asked for the name of your page. This will be the name of your business as well as the category in which your business belongs. In the category box, just type in a word or two that describes your business and you'll have some options to choose from.

For example, typing "Finance" will bring you many different types of finance and you can choose the one that best suits yours.

Full address

After choosing a category, you will then get an address box for you to fill in your business address. Don't worry, you can choose whether or not to display your full address or opt to only display your city and region.

If you don't mind customers calling you, you can also include your phone number.

Upload your images

Next, you will be prompted to upload the profile and cover photos you prepared earlier. If you haven't primed them yet, you can skip this section.

See how they look “in situ” and adjust them if necessary, as you might find that a significant portion of your cover photo is covered up by your business name or profile picture.

Complete your page information

Your new page is operational! Before going any further, it's worth clicking 'Edit Page Info' at the top and filling in as much information as you can about your business.

At the very least, you'll want to add a short paragraph of information about what you do and provide your contact information. If you have a website, link to it in the designated area rather than including it in the page description, as this will ensure it is a clickable link.

Configure your settings

Go to the Settings tab to configure your Page settings, such as who can find and post on your Page, whether people can share your posts and tag your photos, etc. Here you can enable messaging so you can use your Facebook business page as another way for people to contact you with customer service inquiries.

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You can enable a profanity filter and filter out comments containing certain words. You can also make other people 'admins' of the page so you can share posting tasks with colleagues or staff.

Set your notifications

Click on the "Notifications" tab in the left bar of the Settings section to choose the actions you want to be notified about. Enabling notifications will help you respond quickly to customers and prospects. But you can also choose to have a summary notification every 12-24 hours if you're worried about getting bombed.

?? What happens next after creation a Facebook business page ?

Setting up your Facebook page is just the start. Let's look at some of the activities you'll need to take the time to have a Facebook Business Page.

Writing articles

First, you will need to post regularly to get people to engage with your business. You might want to start planning your first posts to get the ball rolling. To give you some initial ideas, some of the things you could post include:

• Images or videos related to your business that readers might find interesting or amusing
• New blog posts that you have published on your website – this is a great way to promote new content and drive people to your website
• Questions and polls to encourage subscribers to interact with your messages
• Company News, such as new product launches
• The news you spotted about your business – what do you think of the story and what do your followers think?

If you're seriously considering using Facebook to boost your business, try experimenting with the type of posts you write and the times of day you post them. Slowly you will start to see what is working for your particular audience by looking at which posts are getting the most likes, comments, or shares.

Once you figure out what interests them the most, you can make sure your posts are relevant to them.

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Ask questions to encourage people to comment on their answers. The more comments you receive, the more likely your page is to be seen by friends of those who already like it.

Grow your audience

You'll want to start increasing the number of people who "like" your page, otherwise you're effectively shouting into an empty room. Here's how you can start building your following:

• Share your new page with your customers, your family and friends to get your first likes
• If you are on other social networks, let your existing followers know that they can now also follow you on Facebook
• Add a Facebook icon to your website and a line in your email signatures to encourage website visitors to follow you on Facebook
• Organize a contest – why not give away one of your products, asking people to like your page and share your post for a chance to win?
• Like other Facebook pages that link to yours and comment on their posts using your business page if you spot topics relevant to your business and have something to say
• If appropriate, ask people to tag themselves themselves or tag friends in your photos – for example if you hosted a business event – ​​so that their friends also see your business
• You might consider paying for Facebook advertising to accelerate the growth of your page. You can fine-tune them to people who like your competitors' pages, people who live near your business, and many other demographic filters.

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Manage your reputation

As your Facebook page gets established, you'll need to learn how to manage your reputation. This will allow us to know how to react in the unlikely event of problems such as customer complaints.

It's also good to see the nice things people are saying about you and make sure more people see them by replying and sharing great comments.

Monitoring your page

By using Facebook Insights, you can monitor your Page's performance to find insights into your audience, see which posts are performing best, and track how many people like your Page.

This will help improve engagement with your page, which in turn should help drive traffic to your website and generate business.

In short...

As with any social media platform, you will get the most out of Facebook the more you invest in it. Spend time interacting with people who like and comment on your page and you will have the beginnings of a loyal customer base. You are now equipped, any concerns leave me a comment.

Good luck