There are over 2.7 billion active monthly users on Facebook alone. Chances are some of your customers are on there. Deciding to create a Facebook page for your business is a no-brainer, but actually doing so effectively takes some consideration and planning. In this guide we will explore not just how to create a Facebook page, but how to use it as a tool to create a cohesive customer experience through brand-building.
What is Brand-Building, and Why Does it Matter?
When consumers choose to do business with you, they’re not always just purchasing a product. According to Hubspot, “interacting with these products provide experiences, and we buy them with that experience in mind.” Brand-building is crafting the experience you want your customers to have.
Most businesses aren’t able to compete successfully by product differentiation alone. In the highly competitive smartphone market, the products are getting more similar each year. Sarah can visit a store and come across two competing phones with similar specifications and be seemingly indifferent. But once she catches a glimpse of the phone with the fruit on it, she can only think of cutting-edge technology and an enhanced social status, making her decision much easier. The ability to be instantly associated with desirable traits is what brand-building is all about, and why it is so effective and essential today.
How to Set Up a Facebook Page
Now that you are familiar with brand-building we will have a solid foundation and purpose upon which to build our Facebook page. The actual setup steps and technical processes of setting up a business page may change over the course of time so this guide covers the essential elements that you will likely encounter no matter when you create your page. Please note that this guide is not all-inclusive but contains most of the critical features of a well-built Facebook business page.
1. Fill out (and double check) your page info
This step is fairly straightforward as it mostly pertains to filling your page with basic information about the business, such as hours of operation, contact info, location, etc. This part may seem tedious but don’t rush through it—it’s important that you get this information right to avoid confusing customers. Here are a few key points to remember:
Consistency is key. Make sure the info you enter on this page is consistent with your other social media pages, and more importantly your website. Keeping the same username across all social platforms to make it easy to find you and having matching business hours are a few things to look out for. Mitigating confusion and easily avoidable negative customer experiences is key to maintaining a positive brand image.
Fill out as much as you can. Facebook allows you to display a lot of detailed information on your page beyond the basics, such as your service area, price range and temporary service changes. While not all information may pertain to your business you should try to have as much as you can filled out, as long as you can do so accurately. For example, if your business’s price range doesn’t fit neatly into any of the ranges provided, it may be a good idea to leave this section blank to avoid misleading consumers.
2. Select your page template and tabs
Not all Facebook pages are created equal. A consulting business will not (and should not) have the same page layout as an e-commerce business. Facebook makes it easy to choose a template based on your type of business. If you are not sure or don’t fit one of the templates, experiment with them and choose the one that displays the most relevant information to your target audience. This also applies to selecting and ordering your page tabs. Make sure your followers don’t have to dig to find the information that they’re looking for (because most won’t).
3. Dress it up with images
Your profile photo and cover photo are the first thing your followers will see when they visit your page and will help them make their first impression of your brand. Make your cover photo effective by using imagery that clearly communicates the “why” of your brand, or the feeling or perception you want your customers to have when they think of your brand. Your page cover is not limited to one photo, so consider adding a slideshow of multiple images that showcases your competitive strengths. Or better yet, if you are able to include a video that immerses your customer in the brand experience.
Keep profile pictures simple and easily recognizable and avoid using text as much as you can in your page images. It is also important to keep in mind that many of your followers will visit your page on a mobile device, so make sure your images are perceptible on smaller screens too.
4. Configure notifications so aren’t missing out
Notifications are highly customizable on Facebook. Depending on your social media strategy and purpose for your Facebook page, you may want to be quick to respond to certain interactions. Facebook allows you to customize which interactions you receive notifications about, such as page mentions, post comments, check-ins, and more. This feature is extremely handy but being inundated with Facebook notifications throughout the day can be stressful and take all the fun out of running a Facebook page, so make sure you are receiving a manageable number of notifications, and that you are receiving the right notifications.
If you are a one-person show and aren’t able to constantly be monitoring your page, you can even get a single notification about all activity and updates on your page daily at a scheduled time. Take some time to set up your notifications and adjust as needed so you are not subconsciously ignoring those annoying, frequent notifications that aren’t as important, and make sure you don’t miss out on opportunities to deliver a good customer experience.
5. Let others in on the fun
If you work in a team or want to allow others to help manage the page, don’t forget to set up page roles. You can give different team members different access and permissions to the different areas and information on your page. For example, a salesperson might be interested in your page insights but you might not want them creating posts, so you could assign them the “analyst” role to give them access to this information while restricting their publishing priveleges.
To wrap it all up:
These are only a small fraction of the tools that Facebook has available for creating and publishing your Facebook page. Once you have these foundational steps completed, don’t hesitate to explore more advanced features like the Messenger auto-responder and the business app store.
Above all, don’t forget the purpose of your page. Facebook pages can be like a marketing swiss-army knife, but having a clear purpose and focusing on building your page around a specific call-to-action will be much more effective in the long run.
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