Your Facebook business page can attract attention and customers for your business - but only if it provides interesting information that helps people meet their personal or business objectives.
Before You Start, Consider Your Audience
Before you launch your Facebook business page consider what audiences the page will serve and what content they will appreciate most. What challenges will your audience face in the coming year? What are common buying considerations in your industry that you might be able to address right up front? Success for brands on Facebook means being helpful and providing value to fans of your brand. Success also means being transparent and honest about your offering.
Associating Your Page With Your Personal Profile
You can create a Facebook business page without associating it with a personal profile. But if you will be associated with the business long-term, you will probably find it more convenient to create the page while already signed into your personal account. In either case you may assign additional page administrators later.
Establish A Consistent Appearance and Message for Your Brand
Incorporate your company's official logo into a graphic that is 200 pixels wide by no more than 600 pixels tall. Taller ultra-vertical graphic images will allow for more messaging to be placed beneath the logo, but shorter more square ones may look better when shrunk down and placed next to your page's individual posts. Make your Facebook business page an extension of your brand by decorating it in as similar way as possible to your other branded marketing pieces including website, printed materials and signage. Looking at all of your marketing materials, what colors is your logo usually placed next to? What is the most common phrase or "tagline" you use? Use these same elements in creating your branded Facebook page graphic. Involving a graphic designer at this stage is helpful but not required.
Okay, Now Tab It Up
One way to allow your brand image to shine on your Facebook page is to add one or more custom tabs, which will appear to the right of Wall and Info tabs. For new visitors create a landing page tab or "Welcome Tab". This is relatively easy to do by editing the page, adding the FBML application and,with some simple code, your tab will be created. A graphic designer or social media consultant may be helpful with adding this and other custom tabs. There are plenty of free online tutorials explaining the process of adding Facebook page tabs.
Use image editing software to create an image that is 520 pixels wide and 500 or more pixels tall. A clear call to action near the top of the image can be added requesting that visitors "like" the page. Add a few words explaining what the page is all about. But keep the messaging short and dedicate this visual to clearly and simply showing new visitors what the business provides and why they might be interested in becoming a fan. If you plan on having a contest to promote your business page, the landing tab can be a good place to highlight the basics of how they can participate. With a little extra code, the tab can have additional clickable links, directing visitors to a welcome video, other tabs on the page or specific content on your business website. Once your Welcome Tab is complete set it as the "default tab for everyone else". Additional custom Facebook tabs can be added as well, to allow page visitors to easily access popular content without having to visit your company website.
For inspiration, do some research by checking out other brands' Facebook presences. See how they use custom page tabs to showcase special offers or help communicate brand value. If you're wondering how larger brands add even more customized fan interaction then check out the offerings from Avenue Social and Social Everest, (definitely not free services).
Next week: "Ready, Set, Post!"
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Guest blogger Bear Files is a web designer, branding consultant and owner of a Southern California graphic design studio. His company Evolution Design was founded in 1994 and serves primarily business-to-business clients in the manufacturing, distribution, construction and green industries. His interests include marketing, design, website analytics, mountain biking, and spending time with his family. He can be found on Twitter as @evolutionfiles. |
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