With being the second most accessed site in the United States for 2011 (Nielsen Media Research) and with close to 1 billion worldwide users, creating a Facebook Fan/Business Page is a great way to kick off your company’s initial social media efforts.
For the next few posts, I will touch upon various tips on how to maximize your company’s Facebook account by using Points Group’s social media process.
Let’s begin with the creation of your fan page. Here are some simple but essential tips to remember:
Log-in E-mail Address
Use a company E-mail address as opposed to a personal one when creating your company’s fan page account. Also, be sure NOT to create the page within a personal Facebook account. This is primarily for professional purposes.
Example: [email protected]
Note: This could be either an actual company marketing E-mail account or you can create an alias directed to your social media manager’s E-mail as well.
Proper Categorization
Be sure to categorize your company under the correct topic and category within that topic to assist in search results.
Example: If I owned a local restaurant, I would choose “Local Business or Place” and within that topic I would choose “Restaurant/Café”
Profile Picture
Initially, I recommend using your company’s logo as your profile picture. This helps with brand identity whether it’s already established or if you are still building it. Once you start to leverage your page, you may change your profile picture with a custom design in conjunction with other efforts, competitions or campaigns, but regardless, I recommend for your page to always have your logo presence.
Basic Information
Since “fans” visit fan pages to access information, it is essential for you to fill-in as many of these fields as accurately as possible about your company.
One field I find extremely important for marketing purposes is creating a customized username.
This allows your company to easily promote its Facebook page with a shortened URL within your marketing strategy and efforts.
Example: Instead of your fan page URL being: https://www.facebook.com/pages/PointsGroup/20582636631108865
It will simply be: http://www.facebook.com/PointsGroup
You can create a customized username when you obtain 25+ fans, or you can request a verification code be sent to your mobile device.
Note: Be sure to make your username as relevant and easy to remember since usernames are permanent once created.
Manage Permissions
Facebook enables you to put restrictions on countries and age. Be sure to fill this out best according to your page’s content.
The main reason to create a fan page is to interact and “listen” to what your fans have to say. So, regarding your fan page’s wall permissions, I recommend to show “all posts” which includes what you and your fans post and to give all “posting ability” as well.
Note: Designate someone to regularly monitor and respond to your page’s activity to eliminate any negative or inappropriate feedback/comments.
There are some of my simple tips for when you initially set up your company’s Facebook fan page. In posts to come, I will cover tips about posting, building your fan base, customizing your page, call to actions and MORE!
