Considered the world’s biggest social network, Facebook likely already has some of your attention, one way or another. And, if you have a business, it’s important you optimize your Facebook business page to its full potential.
Check out our six tips to boost your marketing on Facebook.
Why you need a Facebook business page
About two-thirds of adults in the U.S. say that they are Facebook users, according to Pew Research Center, and about 74 percent of Facebook users visit the platform daily.
And to be considered relevant these days, every business must at least consider an active Facebook business page. Beyond just relevancy, though, a Facebook business page can help your business promote and/or share its services or products and engage in effective customer support. In addition, social media accounts do rank fairly high on search engine result pages. In other words, your social media presence can boost your search engine optimization (SEO).
A Facebook page can be considered your “micro-site” within the platform that highlights your business and shares various details with users.
Be sure to check out our snapshot of the challenges and opportunities of Facebook for small businesses as you’re optimizing your Facebook business Page.
The following are 12 tips to optimize your Facebook page and grow your business on “the social network.”
Choose the correct Facebook business page type
When creating your Facebook business page, you’re asked what type of page applies best to your business and purpose.
It’s important to choose wisely:
- Local business or place (Only pick this category if you have a physical location address. Don’t worry if you have multiple locations or more locations in the future.)
- Company
- Brand or product
- Public figure
- Entertainment
- Cause or community
Change your Facebook business page type
For the right messaging, it’s key to set up your page correctly from the start. However, if you’ve already created your Facebook page (or someone else did) and it’s not the right category, here’s how you can fix it:
- Navigate to your Facebook page
- Click “Edit Page Info” on the left side of your page
- Next to “Categories,” you’ll be able to select an option from the dropdown list
- Click “Save Changes”
Branch out with Location Pages (if applicable)
If your business doesn’t have multiple locations, you can skip this tip.
But if it does (or will), read on.
Think of Facebook Location Pages as the ability to set a “parent-child” page relationship for your business. Your main Facebook business page should be the “parent” for your brand, while the “child” pages are the location pages for your multiple locations.
Franchise Facebook location page example
As a simple example, consider the franchise business McDonald’s (and assume it only has three locations for the purpose of this example). There would be the main McDonald’s Facebook page and then three separate location pages for each of its physical locations.
This relationship means that you can post content to your main page that then automatically filters down to your location pages. It also means that users can interact with your location pages separately by checking in, giving you a rating, posting reviews and so on. And, of course, a location page can share its own content in addition to whatever is filtering down from the main page.
Find out more about how to set up location pages on Facebook.
Create a unique username for your page
A custom username for your Facebook business page helps users find your page (and tag it in posts) more easily. It also will give you a shorter and cleaner-looking URL.
So, instead of a “facebook.com” followed by miscellaneous numbers and more, it can simply be your brand name at the end.
Of course, you’ll want to keep your brand name in mind when creating your unique username. If your preferred username is already taken (which is always possible), consider slight variations, such as adding “the,” “co,” “inc” or other relevant options. Do your best to keep your username as consistent as possible across social media platforms.
Example Facebook page variations
Other Facebook page username variations include (but are not limited to):
- You must be an admin to create a username.
- Spaces or underscores are unavailable to use, but you can have periods separating words.
- Capitalizing any words to enhance readability won’t have an impact if users type lowercase letters to find you.
- Usernames must be between five and 50 characters.
Find out more about creating a custom Facebook page username.
Maintain an ‘SEO mindset’ when optimizing your Facebook business page
As we’ve already mentioned, active social media profiles rank well in search engine queries.
Therefore, it’s only in your best interest to include relevant keywords throughout your Facebook page. The keywords that matter for your website should matter on your page.
Don’t overdo it, though. Just like on your website, you want to consider the user experience first. Keyword dumping not only makes for an awkward (and ineffective) first impression, search engines often catch and flag such practices.
Fill out your page information fields
Sometimes, in the haste of creating a Facebook business page, a few (or many) relevant page information fields may go overlooked. The “About” section includes such information as your page name, description, categories, contact information, location and operating business hours.
Every field matters and should be filled out in a thoughtful manner. Remember, this is your opportunity to maximize the SEO value of your Facebook page and provide added value for your visitors as well.
When it comes to your operating hours, keep in mind that while Google My Business will allow you to set custom hours for holidays, Facebook does not. If you have special hours to communicate to your audience, be sure to post and/or advertise those separately on your Facebook page.
Go beyond the traditional cover photo
Cover photos have long been a fixture of Facebook page features. But now, you can go beyond the traditional image.
You can treat the top spot on your Facebook business page as a featured photo section by clicking on the “Edit” button and then “Edit Slideshow.” You also have the opportunity to upload a video to share even more about your brand with Facebook users.
Cover photos display at 820 by 312 pixels on computers and 640 by 360 pixels on smartphones. Any cover video should be at least 1250 by 312 pixels and between 20 and 90 seconds long.
There are still Facebook guidelines to follow, however, so be sure to review them.
Use the call-to-action button on your Facebook business page
The call-to-action button can enable users to easily interact with you, help them learn more about your business and so on.
Because there are a number of options to use this button for, consider your goals, what might make the most sense for your business and what users most likely would want or need to do when they visit your Facebook business page.
If you’re looking to increase website traffic, the best option is likely the “Learn More” button linking to your website homepage.
Generate leads from your Facebook page
For lead generation, consider using the “Sign Up” button to link to a webinar sign-up page.
Review all the options and see what fits best, and remember that you can change your CTA button whenever your goal or intention changes.
To edit your CTA button, click on it when you’re signed in. Then, “edit button.” You can select the preferred action from a list. You’ll be able to monitor the activity it generates in Facebook Insights.
Activate reviews for your Facebook business page
Engagement and real-time feedback are critical components to all social media. But before you blindly turn on the review section of your Facebook page, be advised that you should consider and plan an entire review strategy:
- What should you do if you receive a negative review? How should you respond?
- How about a positive review?
Know what your plan is and then definitely feel empowered to go for it. To do this, go to your Facebook business page, click on “Settings” and then under “General,” click on “Reviews.” You can then “allow visitors to review this page.”
Of course, if you’re not ready, be sure to “disable reviews” until you are.
Just remember that reviews are a great way to gather testimonials and highlight the value of your business.
Embrace Messenger on your Facebook business page
Facebook Messenger is a valuable customer service tool. However, just like reviews, you should have a strategy in place on how quickly you can respond and how you should respond to incoming messages.
Your responsiveness rate will appear on your page and shows users how efficient you are at responding to messages.
Of course, there are Messenger bots that can be used to help with the most basic of inquiries.
To activate Messenger for your page, click on “Settings.” Under “General,” click on “Messages” and then click on the button that says “allow people to contact my page privately by showing the message button.”
Organize your page tabs
This is an easy optimization to overlook, but it’s worth doing. Depending on your business, some of the available Facebook page tabs might be more of a priority for your business.
Facebook offers some templates that can help suggest a relevant arrangement of tabs. Under “Settings” and then “Edit Page,” you’ll see the various templates. You can also drag the tabs into a custom order that you prefer.
Claim any unofficial pages
If you search for your brand’s name and find other pages that appear to be your brand but aren’t yours, these are often unofficial, automatically created pages.
Fortunately, this is a solvable problem.
Facebook creates automatic pages almost as a placeholder, which gives visitors an opportunity to check in and post reviews and/or comments about the location. This can happen before or after you create your own page.
To solve for the existence of an unofficial page, you can claim the page and even merge it with yours if you want. The key is that you verify your main Facebook page.
Verify ownership of an unofficial Facebook business page
You can do this by:
- Phone call
- Utility or phone bill
- Business license
- Business tax file
- Certificate of formation
- Articles of incorporation
Once the page is verified (usually within 24 hours), you can navigate to the unofficial duplicate page, select “Is this your business?” from the drop-down menu. Choose “Merge into a verified page you manage.” Then, select your page from the drop-down menu and submit.
Because unofficial pages can pop up from time to time, it’s a best practice to regularly check for them.
Review your Facebook Insights
Monitoring your Facebook metrics and understanding what’s working on your Facebook page (and what’s not) plays a big role in continuing to optimize your page and your content as your brand, audience or even Facebook itself evolves.
Keep it simple but consistent when reviewing your page’s performance. Set at least one time a week to review and determine if anything needs to change about your strategy.
Conclusion
Regardless of the time and effort you invest into your Facebook business page and overall presence, it is not an adequate substitute for your own website. Think of it this way: If Facebook was shut down tomorrow, where could you be found online? Or, in a more realistic sense, what if you were reported and banned on Facebook? Always make sure that you exist on a platform that you own and control (such as your own website).
See the 13 biggest mistakes businesses make on Facebook (and how to avoid them).
Now that you have your Facebook page working for you and not against you, consider leveling up your digital marketing process. Consider DailyStory, with such features as automation and audience segmentation. Schedule your free demo with us today.