Unless you were born sometime before World War II, chances are pretty good that you have a Facebook page (okay, I know I have a handful of pals that are still holding out on Facebook… hopefully no offense taken!) But if you have your own business, having a separate Facebook page (or pages) for your company is a must! Social media has become a crucial part of how we interact professionally (if not personally), and that is not going to change.
A Facebook business page is really easy to set up; you can simply add a new page to your existing personal Facebook page. You simply click on the tiny little arrow at the top righthand side of your FB page and click “Create Page”; you will then be directed to a selection of different types of pages… you can select “local business”, “company, business or institution” and so forth. The process is fairly intuitive, and FB does have a good “help” section if you get confused.
(And if you need help with this, feel free to contact me, as this is one of the services I offer).
In any event, the purpses of this post is not to walk you through the step by step process of setting up a Facebook business page. I do, however want to make you aware of some important differences between the two kinds pages.
On a personal FB page, a user has “friends”. On a business page, a user has “fans” which can be either individuals or other business who “like” your page. Basically, your business page does not include all of your personal and social information.
What many business owners aren’t aware of is this: The most important focus of a FB business page is to build a community and stay connected with your members. It should be a forum for sharing information and collaboration. It is NOT a place to brag about your company’s many accomplishments. It is NOT a place to be narcissistic (and forgive me for saying this, but I do find many personal FB pages to have a narcissistic flavor…)
Think about who you would like your audience to be. Add information (in the way of posts) that is relevant and engaging. Encourage interaction by asking questions. Create interest with humor and compelling visuals.
Make a point of “liking” other businesses and organizations. This will also help to build your community.
I found the following article by Brian Rayl at Home Value Leads to be extremely helpful. Even though this article was written with real estate agents in mind, much of the material is applicable to any kind of business interested in setting up a Facebook page for their organization.
https://www.homevalueleads.com/real-estate-facebook-page-tips-listing-agents/
