Hopefully you found this article because you already know that your business would benefit from having a small business page on Facebook. If you need some validation, how about this:
AND…
Users access Facebook an average of eight times per day!
And I’m not saying these people on Facebook are going to friend your business and start to see what you post in your feed. I’m saying this is where their attention is. And if you want to put your business in front of them you need to show up where they are showing up. Once you’ve built a Facebook page, you can send highly targeted ads to those people most likely to visit your business.
YES YOU SHOULD BE RUNNING ADS ON FACEBOOK. END OF STORY.
(But if you want more on that, look out for my next post. Or Google it.)
And those ads that you run, that live in Facebook, should either take customers to your Facebook page or it should allow them to take an action right there in the ad.
Do not make customers take multiple steps or leave what they are doing to do business with you!
If you want them to email you, put the email in the ad. If you have a form to fill out, put it in the ad. If you have a phone number, an appointment calendar, a buy now button, a location finder, or a dancing clown that juggles spits fire… you see where I’m going. Put it in the ad.
Try whatever works for your business, or even better try everything!
You can test it all and see what converts the best. And best of all, it’s cheap!
And what if someone wants to know more about you, and clicks over to your Facebook page? Well, there better be some great information for them about your business or you’ve wasted a great opportunity to build a relationship.
Just like a website, your Facebook business page is a tool to build your reputation and connect with customers.
Here are some elements to be sure to include on your page:
1) An eye-catching masthead at the top of the page that functions across multiple devices. Facebook trims these pictures for mobile devices so make sure you look at all the trims to make sure it looks in all formats.
2) A personal introduction to your business within the about section.
3) A list of your most 3 or 4 most popular products or services with engaging descriptions and pictures.
4) A call-to-action button which can be used to send you an email, to set an appointment, to purchase a product, to sign up for content, to learn more about your company, or anything else that you think would drive an immediate action. Again, keep it simple.
5) A mix of posts that support your company story, provide education in your category, and capture the personality of your business. This should tie in to your broader content strategy which is a story for another post.
6) Any logistical information about your business such as locations and hours of operation, if relevant.
Those are the basic elements that every single business should include. You can also include videos you’ve created, reviews from clients, events you are promoting, and current discount offers if you have any.
One more time, the reason you are doing all of this is so that when you are ready to run Facebook ads, those ads are supported within the ecosystem Facebook which is starts at your ad and pushes through to your business page.
Don’t worry about how many follows or likes you get to your Facebook page. Worry about building ads that can reach a broad group of people that are perfect for your product.
And you just may get lucky enough that someone will care enough about your ad to want to know more about you and click through to your page.
If you’d like some detailed instructions on page construction with visual examples, here’s a useful guide from Social Media Examiner. And you can always find more useful marketing tips from me on my YouTube channel.