Cara Schoettes, Marketing Director
Your social media presence is the best public extension of your business. While your website functions as a representation of your brick-and-mortar location, your social media can act as the representative of your business’s personality. It is a place to connect, to share, to update, and to grow.
For many small businesses, leveraging social media can be daunting in nature, but there are a few simple steps you can take to get the most out of your account without spending hours each week of your valuable time.
Let’s start with your page setup.
Creating a Business Facebook Page
- Start with a simple page creation at facebook.com/pages/create. Be sure you select the most accurate category, and fill out all of the necessary fields.
- Next, you’ll want to establish a Business Manager profile. This is a simple process that is good to have as you grow your account, work with agencies, and run ads. It is better to set it up from day one.
- Now let’s make your profile pop!
- Make sure your profile picture is your logo. You may need to resize it to fit fully into the display circle.
- Select a cover photo that tells a visitor something about your business. It should include a photo, and feel free to add some text to it with a key tag line or a few of the services you provide (create something custom using a tool such as Canva).
- On your homepage, select “+Add a Button” to have a contact button just below your cover photo. Choose what you would like it to say and what action it should trigger. Remember, this is your Facebook page’s call to action, so it should be your primary goal for users.
- In the lefthand toolbar, select “Edit Page Info” and make sure your name, username, description, categories, and contact information are completely filled out. If your business has an Instagram account, be sure to link that under “Other Accounts” at the bottom of this page.
- Next, select “Page Settings,” and then “Messaging” from the lefthand toolbar and set up your messaging service how you would like it. You can customize your page experience by adding a greeting, linking this same messenger on your website, or creating automated responses for when your office is closed.
There you have it, these first steps are considered essential to making your page work for you. I also encourage you to spend some time exploring the other features listed throughout your new account and making adjustments based on your business.
Now it is time to start posting on your account. Here are my best tips to keep in mind as you get started.
Tips for Running a Successful Page
Post, post, post. There are many ways to go about this and a lot of people claiming they have cracked the code to post engagement. My best advice is this–just post. There is a lot of nuance to posting, but the most important thing for most businesses is to show followers that you are active. This can include things such as helpful blogs, staff intros, tips & tricks, events, sales, new products, a potluck at the office, and so much more.
Aim to post at a bare minimum of once a week. I recommend using a scheduling tool to make sure you can stay on top of posting as well. Type out 4 posts at the beginning of each month to make sure you stay active. Then, as you come across content in your day-to-day operations, add that as a post.
Increase your following. Without other users liking your page, you are just posting into a void. There is no magic number of followers that is good, it depends on your business. Be sure to ask your existing staff, friends, family, and community members to like the page. I also recommend talking with any existing clients about the page so they can keep up with you that way, and be sure to link it on your website.
Make sure you are engaging your audience. Facebook isn’t a one-sided posting service. It is a community-building platform so be sure to always respond to messages and comments. A great way to increase engagement is to ask questions in your posts, host giveaways, or post the answers to frequently asked questions. Start a conversation and keep it going.
Consider running some advertisements. Facebook advertising can get overwhelming quickly. But I like to recommend boosting some of your posts to increase traffic, and even running some simple campaigns to increase the number of likes your page has. Without people liking your page, few people are seeing and engaging with those posts. When in doubt, work with an agency to help manage these advertisements and let the experts handle it.
No matter your personal use of social media, it is an important tool for your business. Many potential customers use it as a tool to get to know you and see how active you are, and many existing clients use it as a way to keep up with what you are doing.
If you don’t have the staff or the experience to handle your social media accounts yourself, or are looking to run some advertisements, reach out to a digital agency you can trust to step in and help.
Best of luck, and we’ll see you online!