Focus on Facebook, pt. 3: How to Make a Page

I’m back home in Illinois after another day of airports — given all the time sitting around, I had plenty of time to plan out tonight’s post. So, without further ado, here’s part 3 of my series on Facebook — how to make your own page.

Create a page and get more “likes”!

I’ve made two Facebook pages in the past: one for my dad’s small business and another for a literary magazine I edited way back when. In both instances, the pages were crucial in our marketing and raising of awareness. Best part? They were super easy to make and set up. And it’s not as though I’m especially computer savvy, so I’m confident everyone can be just as successful by following these simple steps:

1. Start With a Personal Facebook Profile
In order to create a Facebook page for your business, you must first have a personal one. Chances are you already have a profile to keep up with your friends and family, but if you don’t — and you don’t want to entrust another employee with your page — it’s as simple as visiting Facebook.com and filling out the information to sign up for free. You can use the page as much or as little as you wish; it’s just necessary as the first step to building one for your business.

2. Create Your Business Page
From the homepage on your personal profile, click the pages link in the navigation bar located on the left side of your screen. From there, you’ll fill out a number of self-explanatory fields: type of page or business, name, address, etc. Then, click “Get Started,” and Facebook will lead you through the rest of the simple process. The page is accessible from your personal profile, without a separate password, and you can assign other employees, family members, etc. as “Admins” who also have editing and posting power for your business page.

3. Personalize Your Page
There are a number of options to personalize your page, and it’s important to take advantage of them if you want to create an attractive, useful tool for marketing and community building. You’ll need to add an “avatar” or “profile picture,” some “About Me”-style information, the URL of your website, if you have one, and contact information. Filling out these categories will add personality, character, and important information for your customers and fans. Being both descriptive and succinct is important, so being creative and direct (and editing) is valuable. Play around with it, have some fun, and revise, revise, revise!

4. Invite Friends & Fans
For your page to be useful, you’ll need to get people to “like” it. You can invite your own friends, have your friends and employees invite friends, etc. Sending out an informative email, if you have a mailing list, can also direct people with their own profiles to your new page. You can also purchase Facebook ads, which we’ll go over in more detail with the next post. If you want your page to be profitable, find ways to get people to “like” it and participate by posting on it themselves.

5. Update Frequently!
Marketing through social media is successful because it lets your fans and customers feel like they’re a part of your community. Any post you make pops up on the personal profile of each of your fans. They can interact with you through posts on your page, comments, and messages, to which you can respond again. You can post statuses and share links; you can advertise or offer deals, limited time offers, and discounts. The possibilities are endless!

My next post will go over Facebook-related marketing strategies in more depth, but if you have any other questions feel free to leave a comment below or contact us here.

(For additional detail on creating a page, try this link.)