How do I set up a Facebook page for my business?

Setting up and managing a Facebook page has become a vital part of the online marketing strategy for every business. A great Facebook page allows businesses to build up a subscriber base of other Facebook users, and is also a great way to generate word of mouth type referrals. In other words, when a Facebook user chooses to “like” your business Facebook page, the message that they have done so will go out to everyone in that persons friends list (usually 100′s of people) – showing them that they personally recommend your business! That’s pretty powerful word of mouth advertising if you ask us!

Facebook also integrates well with websites in numerous different ways. You can integrate your Facebook update feed as a news feed into your website, you could show the faces of the people who “like” your business on your website or you could just place a “like” button on your website to encourage people to subscribe to your businesses Facebook updates.

Many of our customers are initially turned off by the once fairly child-like image that Facebook carried – but we soon turn them around when we talk about some of the above benefits.

Now – there are businesses out there that charge a pretty penny to set up a Facebook page for you, but since it’s so easy to do we’ll explain how…

Log in to Facebook as yourself – under your own personal profile. If you dont have one, set one up – its free, and takes just a couple of minutes.

From your Facebook homepage (www.facebook.com whilst you are logged in) – scroll right down to the bottom of the page until you see the link (in blue) for “create a page”.

Chose the right catagory for yourself from “local business”, “company or institution” etc.
Follow the step by step instructions, making sure you add your website address when prompted (a great, powerful and relevant link to your website).

You can now get a bit creative with the branding of your Facebook page by adding a large banner – do this.
Once your page is set up – one of the best ways to attract subscribers is to offer good industry information via your Facebook page. Great content and publishing is what makes the web and blogosphere go round – so try to become a leading authority on what you do. Your content will, after time, bounce around the web like a rubber ball and you WILL generate traffic to your business.