Facebook has become a common tool in helping businesses stay connected with their customers. Some smaller businesses even forego having a website entirely and have focused on building a Facebook Business page instead. Obviously, there are many benefits to having a business website, but the point of this article is that Facebook is one (of several) essential tools in your online marketing toolbox.
Over the years I have seen many scenarios where companies have duplicate business pages, business pages with incorrect information, company pages that are essentially inactive, etc. The range of possibility for error is quite broad. Let’s talk about how to properly build a Facebook Business page and manage your page so your target audience can better find you online.
How to Build a Facebook Business Page
Facebook can be a great marketing and connection tool for small businesses. Unfortunately, when the setup and strategy isn’t managed with a central plan, the results can be confusing at best.
Before you create a Facebook Business page, make sure to check that there isn’t one already existing. If you have several branches or locations under slightly different names, make sure to search under those terms as well. But if you’re starting out fresh, a Facebook Business page is pretty easy to create. Just follow these steps below:
1. Go to www.facebook.com/business and select “Create a Page”
2. Next, you’ll be prompted to select your small business “type.” Once you do this, you’ll be prompted to add further details about your small business (like your business info). After you’ve completed this section, select “Get Started.”
3. Add your profile and cover images for your profile. To do this, hover over your profile image and cover image sections. You want to choose images that are high quality, clear, and display your logo in some way (your brand logo is a great idea for your profile picture). Once you’ve chosen your images, select the “Upload Image” option.
4. Fill out your “About” section. This is where searchers will find all your small business info, including your contact info, your “About Us” section, the year your business was established, and so on. Make sure to fill out all relevant sections in this area!
That’s the basics of how to create a Facebook Business page. Once you get your page up and running, you need to start posting and promoting your content! Let your customers, employees, and your general target audience know you’ve created a page and invite them to follow it. Make sure to interact consistently on Facebook by posting regularly and responding to any likes, shares, and comments your receive.
How to Merge Two Facebook Business Pages
Facebook does allow you to merge business pages, but only under certain conditions.
You may be able to merge two Facebook Business pages into one if:
– You’re an admin of both pages
– Your pages have similar names and represent the same thing
– Your pages have the same address, if they have physical locations
I should mention that you want to be cautious when merging pages as well. Some information will move during the merge, but other information doesn’t. According to Facebook, posts, photos, reviews, ratings, and the username of the page being merged will all be lost. It’s also important to note that a merge is irreversible, so make sure you’re merging the right page into the other.
Alright, now that we have the basic info down, here are the 3 steps to merging two Facebook Business pages into one:
1. Go to facebook.com/pages/merge
2. Select the 2 Pages you want to merge and click “Continue”
3. Click “Request Merge”
How Often Should I Be Posting?
“How often do I need to post on Facebook?” This is a popular question that I’ve seen a lot, regardless of the social media platform in question. The short answer is, “however often your audience wants it.”
Let me explain this a little deeper.
You should be creating useful content for your audience, not yourself. Basically, if you have a large portion of your target audience that’s active on Facebook or following your page, you’ll probably want to push out content and posts more frequently. If you have fewer members of your ideal audience using Facebook, you’ll want to post less. However, HubSpot does suggest posting 2-5 times per week, while prioritizing content quality over quantity for best results.
Additionally, Facebook focuses more on what you post rather than how often. Posts, articles, images, videos etc. that have an emotional aspect tend to perform the best because they get shared and large amounts of people can connect with them. I’m not saying every post you publish needs to be an emotional underdog story, but if you want your posts to perform well they need to have some element of connection to them.
Sympathize with your readers. What problems are they facing that you can help with? Provide a free resource your followers can use to broaden their understanding or education of a topic. Every article you write, every video you create, every infographic you design needs to benefit or relate to your audience in some way!
In Conclusion
Hopefully you find this article helpful in how to best create and maintain your Facebook Business page. Social media is a great marketing outlet that every small business has access to and shouldn’t be avoided just because it’s not understood.
Have you had some unique experiences with Facebook Business pages? Feel free to post in the comments below. We’d love to hear your stories!