You’ve set up your business, you’ve hired your team and you’ve put up the Christmas decorations. But what next? What should be your first step into digital marketing?
Facebook should be your first phase in the digital world. It’s free to use and has a pool of 2.45 billion users for you to market to all over the world. On top of this, Facebook advertising is arguably the most powerful and detailed social advertising platform, and you’ll need a Business page to advertise.
First steps of the Facebook business page
To step up your Facebook business page, you need to go to the Create a Page section on the social media site here. Facebook describes the step as ‘Connect your business, yourself or your cause to the worldwide community of people on Facebook.’ You can then select whether you’re a business or brand or a community or public figure. After selecting the business or brand tab, you’ll be asked to enter a page name and select a category for your page to fall into.
For your page name, you should make it your business name, so people can easily find you on the social network. If you’re a branch of a bigger company, simply use the name then put the location next to it. For example, Giraffe Social Media – Portsmouth.
You can type a few words into the box and Facebook will try to allocate a category for you. There’s a lot to choose from, so try to find the one that’s most relevant to what you do and what your product is all about.
There are also policies for you to look through before you open your page. Make sure it’s following all the guidelines and regulations that Facebook have set, otherwise your page will reach a limited amount of people, or even worse, it will get shut down completely.
After you’ve selected your category, you can then input your company’s important details, like the business’s address and phone number.
Brand new
After you’ve set up the page, it’s time for your next steps – the branding! You’ll have to choose both a profile and cover photo for your Facebook page. Your profile photo needs to be 170 x 170 pixels and the cover photos needs to be 820 x 462 pixels, so you could use a software like Canva and its custom dimensions tools to make sure both photos fit perfectly. Ensure they are not blurry and are of high quality. Your profile picture could be your logo, just make sure it fits into the small box all your audience will be greeted with upon arrival of your Facebook page.
Going forward
When you’re all good to go, Facebook will offer you some tips on what to do next and what to fill out to make your business page brilliant. You’ll be suggested to create a username, that will sit after Facebook’s URL in the browser. Make sure it includes your business name too as it’s another way for customers or clients to find and interact with you.
Other things you can add include: a description, three more categories, more contact information, your location, your opening hours and even a price range for your products or services if you wished. Although all these things are optional to add, the more information you have on the page, the more legitimate you look. This means new customers are far more likely to trust your business page, rather than a profile with no images, no info and no telephone address.
Your description should be well thought out and provide relevant information for your customers and clients. You need to sum up your business in one or two sentences, so people know what you do instantly, without trailing through loads of information.
You can also add a call-to-action button on your Facebook page too that will encourage users to click through or do something. This could be to send you a message on the platform, email you via your chosen email address or even give you a call on the number you’ve provided.
Chop, change and customise
When you’ve filled out everything you need to, Facebook will offer you the chance to chop and change your Facebook page. The social media platforms offer templates for businesses to choose from – these will give you default buttons and tabs that relate to the category you’ve chosen. Some of the templates you can choose from include ‘Services’, ‘Shopping’, ‘Venues’ and ‘Business’. You’re likely to find one that applies to your business.
You can customise your tabs too, to be most relevant to your page. For example, for Giraffe Social Media, we might want to prioritise tabs like ‘Services’, ‘Reviews’, and ‘Posts’. Whereas, a clothing store in London may opt for ‘Offers’, ‘Events’ and ‘Photos’. You can move them around on the left side of the page, so the ones you most want people to click sit right at the top of the sections.
The final stages…
You’re almost ready to start posting! But first, add the team members responsible for your social media and digital marketing as admins or editors to the page. Admins have the topmost authority on the page and can change and remove anything they please. They have full creative control and can add other people to the page too. On the other hand, editors have less control. There are more page roles, like moderators and advertisers, if you really wanted to delegate the job to your employees.
Publish your first post
It’s time for your first post – but where do you start? You could share a picture of your team with a welcoming message or share a link to your website.
Facebook has provided brands with lots of options to share different kinds of posts to their audience. There’s a whole range of different post types for you and your business to explore, apart from the usual photo and video share. There are polls, milestones and the options to ‘Write Notes’, tag a product, check in to a location and share how you feel or something you’re excited about. You can even organise a ‘Watch party’ and gather your audience to watch a Facebook video together.
As social media specialists, we help businesses all around the world reach their digital marketing objectives. If your business needs help with Facebook advertising or social media marketing on Facebook or any social platform, get in touch today!
