Setting Up Your Facebook Business Page

Phones are used at an incredible rate today. You may have been putting off getting a presence set up on social media because you don't have time, or because you don't think it's worth your time. Well, it's no longer just a "good idea" for most businesses to be on Facebook - with well over a billion people actively using Facebook every day, it's become a go-to part of almost any marketing strategy. At least having a Facebook page, even if you are not actively posting content there, will help your business.

To help you get serious about your social media presence, we're sharing a few insights for you to get your house in order. For more hints on creating and maintaining a profitable, worthwhile social media presence, go here, here, here, and here to learn more.

Step 1: Classification
To begin, go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php. This page will showcase six different classifications to choose from (they'll each provide more relevant fields for your desired page):

• Local Business or Place
• Company, Organization, or Institution
• Brand or Product
• Artist, Band, or Public Figure
• Entertainment
• Cause or Community

Once you've selected your desired classification, you'll be asked for an official name for your business page. Be very careful in selecting your name - even though Facebook allows you to change your name and URL once, it's not a walk in the park.

Step 2: Basic Info
Facebook will automatically take you through the following four basic sections to complete the fundamental aspects of your Page.

Finish "About" Section

The "about" section will be the main short description of your company. It will appear on your main page, so make it descriptive but to the point. Make sure you include a link to your company website as well (if you don't have a website, or your current site needs an update, let us know). Also ensure that this section makes you stand out, so you attract new visitors.

This is also where you can select your unique domain (that, as mentioned above, can only be changed once). For example, we at Level 11 Online Marketing chose to use the domain https://www.facebook.com/Level11marketing/ and we love it.

Upload Profile Picture

Your profile picture will serve as the main visual icon of your page, appearing in search results and alongside any comments you publish. While any perfectly square image will work, Facebook recommends that the size be 180 x 180 pixels.

Add to Favorites

Each and every individual Facebook user has a vertical navigation bar to the left of their News Feed. You can add your page as a "Favorite" item here for easy access. 

Reach More People

You'll be prompted to create an advertisement to draw attention to your Page. Whether or not you intend to do any paid marketing at this point, it's best to not run any ads at this stage because there's no compelling content on the page yet that would convince them to ultimately "Like" your page or go to your website.

Step 3: Admin Panel
With your page now live, Facebook will ask if you'd like to "Like" your page. You probably should avoid doing so at the moment because doing so will appear in News Feeds of those you're connected to personally to on Facebook. Without any content on the page, we want to save that action for when you're really ready for people to view the page.

In the top bar, you'll see the "Settings" tab. Click that, and along the left side you'll see a vertical navigation bar with different sections should appear. We'll focus on three important ones for now:

• Page Info: Just like in Step 1, you'll be able to add additional details about your business here. You'll be able to fill out more fields here based on the classification you chose.
• Page Roles: Whether or not you'll be the main manager of the page, there may be others at your organization who need access to your Facebook page. Here, you can invite other colleagues to make changes to your pages. Some common needs include responding to questions and reviews or uploading/adding content.

• Notifications: Here, you can customize when and how you'd like to receive alerts from your business page. Set a frequency that fits your social media marketing plan and schedule.

Step 4: Content
Now you can finally get to adding content. There's much to be said about what to do and say on your page, so get started by going here. Content is king, so don't post for the sake of posting. Have a clear purpose in everything you do. Let us know if you could use a few ideas on where to start.

Posts

The rest of your page will fill up over time as you post more updates. Facebook currently allows you six different posting options:

Plain text status
Photo with caption
Link with caption
Video with caption
Event page
Location check-in

Keep in mind that statistically, videos have the highest rate of engagement, followed by photos/graphics, and lastly plain text or links.

Cover Photo

This is the large, horizontal image that spans the top of your Facebook page. This is usually a branded image, but can be whatever you think will help to attract people to your page. The official photo dimensions are 851 x 315 pixels.

Invite Others

Now that there's content on the page, we can start strategically inviting users to Like it. It could be helpful to proceed in this order:

1. Invite colleagues to Like your page and its content to build some initial activity.
2. Invite supporters into your network. Encourage them to engage.
3. Invite customers. With some activity now on the page, they’ll be more interested and likely to hang around.

With content published and users invited, you'll be able to monitor the activity of your followers through the "Activity" tab.

Step 5: Measure Impact
To measure your efforts to ensure you're making valuable decisions, click the "Insights" option in the top navigation to see the following:

• Overview: This tab shows a 7-day snapshot of your metrics such as page Likes, post reach, and overall engagement. 
• Likes: This tab shows your overall fan growth and losses. If you're paying for additional visibility, it'll show a breakdown of paid and organic growth. 
• Reach: This tab highlights the number of people your page is reaching every day. If you notice spikes on a specific day, review what you posted that day to see if you can replicate that reach. If you're running ads or boosting posts, it'll distinguish between paid and organic reach. 
• Visits: This tab indicates where on Facebook your viewers are coming from. You can see the difference in visits on Facebook Timelines, your information tab, reviews, and others.

And just like that, you're done! Now, if you're serious about using your social media presence to generate new business, talk to us today! We know what it takes for brands of all types and sizes to achieve significant, measureable success and growth via social media, and we'll certainly know how to help you (or at the very least, we'll be able to give you some great tips to get you on your way to improvement).

About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo. We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization. Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members throughout Utah, Nebraska, Arizona, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams, resulting in powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!