Facebook Business Pages

Gone are the days when Facebook was only used by the trendy young things. No longer is it seen as a youth movement. Nowadays, having a Facebook business page is practically expected of any professional company.

Social media has gained in importance and status massively in the last few years. Regular social media updates have become a core part of any SEO digital marketing campaign, and, if done properly, will raise your web profile and, ultimately, increase sales. And best of all, its absolutely free!

Here are just a few tips on how to make the most of your Facebook business page:

• Update regularly – Aim to update your Facebook page between 2-3 times per week. Updates could include new products, new services, special offers, recent photos of completed projects, project diaries, dates for the diary, in fact, and relevant news.
• Relevant content – As tempting as it is to include photos of dogs in cute outfits, or cats in hats, do try to keep your updates relevant. That’s not to say that you can’t some fun updates every now and then, but keep the majority of your updates relevant and professional looking.
• Links – Make sure you link to relevant sites, including, of course, your own.
• Your business page is an open page, which means anyone can post on it. For this reason, make sure you check your page on a daily basis to ensure you have not picked up any derogatory spam comments along the way. If this does happen, delete the comment and ban the said commenter.
• Don’t use your Facebook page as your sales catalogue. Don’t try to push your products onto your followers. Ensure your posts are a good mixture of photos, business updates and the occasional product update. Most importantly, keep your updates INTERESTING!
• Put a bit of personality into your posts, consumers respond to people and personality, not generic posts. Offer some personal views, include some office news, perhaps an item on your latest team building event. The possibilities are endless.
• Incorporate some relevant news items into your page.  Likewise, include relevant content from other websites. The more you can update, the better.
• You will hear of companies charging silly amounts to build up your Facebook ‘likes’. Don’t be tempted. What is important on Facebook, and all social media platforms for that matter, is that your content is commented on, liked, shared, and generally talked about. You could have 1000 people liking your company page, but if they are not sharing your content, it means nothing. Try to build up a strong following and aim your content at your followers.
• Try to get your followers interacting with your page. Add a poll. It’s a great way to get an idea of what your customers and potential customers are thinking. Free consumer research which is easy to set up and gets results fast. Nobody can argue with that!
• Look for relevant business pages to like. Comment and share their posts. If you share theirs, they are more likely to share yours.
• Always acknowledge any comments and shares. People respond well to being thanked and are more likely to comment and share again if they know their comments are appreciated.
• If possible, link to your YouTube videos.
• Make the most of the tabs. Add events news, maps etc. They are a great place to include extra information on your company.
• Make sure you have filled in your profile details with, most importantly, a description of what you do and your web address.
• Ensure that your Facebook page is linked to your website. Your social media icons should appear on most, if not all pages of your website.
• Ensure that your company logo appears prominently on your Facebook page, preferably in your profile picture. You want to take every opportunity to build your brand awareness.
• Don’t completely rely on Facebook as your only social media contribution. Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ are all big players, and your social media campaign needs to incorporate a number of these sites if it is going to be truly successful.
• Remember that building a good following of relevant businesses it a long process. It won’t happen overnight. Neither will having a successful Facebook page suddenly boost your business and sales. Don’t get me wrong, it may do, but for the most part it is merely one cog in the giant machine that is digital marketing.