As a business owner, Facebook is the most important social media platform for you to engage with your customer base. Launching a Facebook page should therefore be a top priority for all small businesses. Moreover, if you do it right, you’ll attract new clients and, ultimately, make more money.
That said, building a worthwhile Facebook Business page takes time — it simply cannot happen overnight. But if you follow the steps below and are patient, you can grow your social media account into a lucrative extension of your business.
The best part? It won’t cost you a dime. Read on to find out how it’s done:
Step 1: Spend 5 minutes to setup your page properly
Setting up your Facebook page correctly will make sure that people who are looking for your service locally can find you. The about tab of your Facebook page is therefore the first page you should focus your attention on.
Choose the correct category and subcategories for your business and make sure all your data on this page is up-to-date. Take your time to write a meaningful and SEO-rich description. This means that your company name, your industry as well as the location you are offering your products or services in shall find mention in the 255 characters provided by Facebook.
Example for electricians:
XYZ Company name provides Electrician services in Hammersmith and around West London.
Facebook also uses your self-description to rank you in its internal search engine; it’s part of what determines whether your Business page will be presented to potential customers searching on Facebook for your services in your area.
Your Facebook Business page description will also define the language that appears about your page in search engine results. (called your meta description)
Step 2: Offer real value on your Facebook page
Running a Facebook page is often confused with running a digital billboard. Many small businesses harp on about their services on every Facebook post they produce. At first, this seems intuitive. The point is to advertise, right? But this strategy will result in stunted growth.
Yes, Facebook is a great tool to let people know that you offer a great product or service. However, no one will ever notice your pitch unless you first build an audience. That’s how social media works — it’s a battle for attention, and the competition is stiff. If you always say the same thing, and it’s always a direct sales pitch, the connections you have will scroll right past you.
Obviously your profession will determine the sort of content you share with your Facebook Business page connections. But there are common threads that run through all good social media posts: they are either entertaining, useful or (preferably) both.
Example for hairstylists:
Educate your followers about different hairstyles, special treatments they can do at home, or just straightforward tips to keep hair healthy. You use a new shampoo that you really believe in? Share it with your audience.
Offering this sort of advice provides real value. It fosters trust between you and your audience and, hopefully, will help you attract a broader one.
Plus, giving advice underscores that you’re an expert. When it feels like you’re providing free consultations, what you’re actually doing is promoting yourself as a knowledgeable professional. It will pay off if you keep at it.
Step 3: Switch-up the sort of content you post
People are different and so is their preference for the type of content they like to consume. That’s why you should test various ways of presenting your content. Find out what works for your audience, but also find out what works for you.
Videos are really popular right now and seem to get the most attention. Infographics are still valuable tools to showcase interesting connections between things and are easily shareable by others. Fotos and simple text posts are quick and easy to make and ensure you keep your fans entertained during more time consuming video posts.
Example for builders:
Videos of how to do small construction projects around the house yourself will attract a huge audience that will eventually come back to you if they have a bigger project to deal with.
But no matter how much your audience craves for your videos, you won’t get far if you just manage to create one video every 6 months, because you can’t stand the process of making them. So focus on the medium that suits you best and stay open to try out different options along the way.
Step 4: Invite your friends to connect with you
Once you’ve begun publishing valuable content on your Facebook Business page, it’s time to invite some people to join the party.
As it’s the case with real-world parties, your personal friends will be the first ones to arrive. Because they’re your friends, they’re more likely to share the content you post with their network of friends – and this is especially true if you post valuable content (see step 2).
If your first party, however, ends with a lot of disappointed clicks, it will be hard to even get your friends back to your page. In order to get the message out, just click on the more options menu under your cover photo and select ‘invite friends’. Here you can choose the people from your personal friends list, which you want to invite to your business page.
Step 5: Invite non-friends to like your Facebook page
Once a post gets four or more likes, you can also start to invite non-friends to like your Facebook business page. In order to do that just click on the link on the people that liked your post and a new window will pop up. Here you can invite people outside your friends list to your new business page.
Step 6: Make your page visible in all your communications
If people really like your content and you get great feedback on it, make sure to present it to everyone you get in touch with. Your email signature is the first place an icon with your FB link should go on.
But don’t stop there, print your Facebook page on your business cards and everywhere where people could see it.
Example for removals
Besides your business cards and email signature, you could also put your Facebook page on your van, so everyone that is stuck in traffic behind you, knows where to find your content.
Running a successful Facebook page is certainly not a sprint but rather a marathon. Building an audience needs dedication, creativity and a genuine will to give value to your fans. There is no single trick that will make your Facebook page an overnight success, but doing the right things at the very beginning can put you a couple of steps ahead of your competition.
