Facebook is the third most visited website in the world after Google and YouTube. On average, one billion users visit the site each and every month. That is one out of every seven people on the planet.
And here’s what a lot of people don’t yet realize: Facebook is no longer just a website where people post pictures and talk about what they had for dinner…it has grown to be the most popular media website ever.
In fact, many experts predict people will turn more and more to sites like Facebook to do ALL of their online business – everything from shopping to reading news to sharing videos with friends.
Your customers are already there and are actively participating on Facebook. By setting up a Facebook Fan Page for your business, you are opening up a myriad of profitable marketing possibilities.
There are very few marketing tools more beneficial for business these days than Facebook. It is an extremely highly trafficked social site that could be great for your business.
What’s more, Facebook’s domination extends on to Smartphones and tablets as well as desktops. This is excellent news for your business because with the emphasis on mobile users and location based marketing it opens up many more opportunities for your local business. You can’t afford not to be part of this global marketing phenomenon.
With all that said, the 64 million dollar question is this: Does your business have its own Facebook page yet?
Perhaps you started one for your business but you didn’t really do much with it because you weren’t sure how to make it successful. Or maybe you don’t have a Facebook page yet at all because you either weren’t sure how to start one or you were worried you wouldn’t be able to do it the “right” way.
If that is the case, this article will help you build, brand and market your Facebook Fan Page effectively.
It is actually very easy to start and optimize a Facebook page and while it can take some time and effort to turn it into a success, the time and effort invested can be well worth it.
Before we go any further, I want to make sure you aren’t making a very common mistake that many sole traders or local small businesses make. You need to make sure that you are not using a personal Facebook profile for business.
This is important for a number of reasons, the first being the fact that you aren’t allowed to have a personal page for a business according to Facebook’s guidelines.
Another reason is because Facebook profiles just aren’t optimized for business. It’s surprising how many small businesses try to make it work anyway, but I don’t really see why you would since Facebook pages are so much better for business and are designed to help you.
How to Create a Facebook Page
It’s actually extremely easy to set up a Facebook business page and Facebook does a great job of holding your hand through the entire process. For that reason we won’t dwell on the technical steps because the reality is, there really aren’t many technical steps at all. Instead, I’ll focus on things like choosing a great page name and optimizing your page for business.
Simply go to http://facebook.com/pages/create to get started.
It’s a very straightforward process. Before you go dashing off I strongly suggest that you go through the rest of the article first before you actually create the page as it will make the whole process even easier.
The Elements of a Professional Facebook Page for Your Business
There are a few elements all effective Facebook pages tend to have in common:
• They have a great, relevant page name.
• They share items of interest to those in the niche.
• They offer great information.
• They are designed with the audience in mind.
People like to feel part of something great when they “like” a Facebook page. They don’t want to like a page that only promotes products and doesn’t offer anything of value.
As a guide, think about the Facebook pages you have liked yourself. Which ones do you interact with the most? Which ones have you liked but totally forgotten about? You don’t want your page to become one of the ones that’s soon forgotten.
An effective and engagingbusiness page knows how to stay relevant. For example, they will talk about what’s going on in their niche or industry. They’ll share the latest news, research, and information.
A good page knows when to promote and when not to promote. The best use for promotion on a Facebook page is list building.
Email converts new customers more effectively than any other digital medium. The key is having the right people on your list—the ones who want to hear what you have to say and are most likely to buy from you. That’s where Facebook comes in.
Your Facebook fans are probably fans because they already like your products or services. That’s a great start to finding a narrowly targeted audience that’s likely to buy from you.
A simple lead funnel gives context to the process. By engaging with your Facebook fans, you build trust. From there, you can ask your fans to sign up for emails that share information they’re interested in. With strong email and marketing tactics, you end up with sales and long-term customers.
Facebook apps are the easiest way to acquire email addresses for your list.
A good Facebook page is very active. You don’t want to start posting a little here and there but forget about it soon after. Keep your audience engaged—that’s what the very best Facebook pages do.
Learn From The Most Active Pages In Your Niche?
One of the best things you can do is look at what’s already working within your niche. Do a search on Facebook for pages related to your industry. Which are the most popular? How many “likes” do they have?
This is great data for you. It tells you what you can aim for when it comes to your own Facebook page.
Take notes—what are these pages named? Some of them might be named after their business. Others might be named for the niche or topic.
Observe how does the admin interact with fans and “likers”
The more you investigate other pages (successful and otherwise) the more you’ll know how to get it right for your own page.
How to Choose a Name for a Facebook Page
If possible, try and keep your Facebook Page name short, as this will help when you go on to create Facebook ads, where the headline space in the advert (often the name of your Page) is limited to just 25 characters.
With that in mind, will you name your Facebook page for your business or title it something related to your niche in general? The choice is yours.
However, consider that if your business is brand new and don’t already have a foothold in the niche then people might not be inclined to like the page.In this case, if you name it for an interest of some sort, they might be more ready to like the page whether they know the admin or not.
Consider what’s most likely to get you an audience, what kind of reputation you already have in the niche, and what’s working for others out there.
Optimize Your Page
Don’t stop at just choosing your name. This is the time you’ll want to really fill your page out so that is friendly and welcoming for your visitors and does the job of helping to promote you and your business.
You’ll want a header graphic (cover photo) and profile picture, to start with. This should be something that’s consistent with your brand and the impression you want to leave.
Also, write a description for your business and link to your website. Fill out all the information on the page.
Sharing Great Content
After you’ve set your page up, you’ll want to start finding great content to share. You don’t really want to start promoting your page if there’s nothing interesting there for people to see.
To get the ball rolling, start by posting a short welcome message. You can then search Facebook for great content related to your industry or niche and share articles to your page. Find great articles and photos you can link to on the web.
Ideally, you should have several posts ready to go before you start trying to find likes for your page.
Getting People to Like Your Page
There are many different ways to get people to like your page. You can start by telling your existing audience base that you now have a Facebook page. Ask them to like the page for special offers, news, and great 
information.
You can also post to other pages on Facebook as your page. Post relevant, helpful, and insightful information and you might have people clicking through to like your page.
Make sure you link to your Facebook page from your blog or website. Put a link in any books or content you publish. Don’t be shy about letting people in your audience know that you have a Facebook page.
The fastest way to get likes to your page is to run Facebook ads. Run ads to your page that are highly targeted to your audience and show a clear value and reason for people to like your page.
Using Your Page as a List Builder
As wonderful as it is to create a Facebook page, make sure you don’t make the mistake of relying on Facebook for everything. Remember, that you don’t own any material or traffic you put on Facebook.
Your goal isn’t to get tons and tons of people to like your Facebook page; your goal should be to get people on your email list.
Yes, you’re going to put time and effort into building up your Facebook page, but what if Facebook isn’t here a year from now or 10 years from now?
You want to take advantage of the opportunities and audience it provides today but do yourself a favor and funnel those people to your email list as much as you can. It is your insurance policy, just in case things change in the future for Facebook and it’s popularity starts to wane. If things do start to go wrong, at least you will have a large target audience on your own mailing list.
That’s where you’ll get the real control and the opportunity to build relationships with your audience.
Creating Effective Facebook Pages For Business
It’s really not that difficult at all to create a Facebook page. It’s not too techie or complicated. But you do need to pay attention to what’s really going to get people to like your page.
To get the results that you want and expect, you need to fill out your profile, description, photos, and more. You do need to share great, helpful, entertaining content that will get people coming back for more.
When you start seeing results, you’ll really enjoy running a Facebook page and you will some great benefits from it. This will be a work in progress for you.
Start today and add more to your Facebook page every day. Work on getting those “likes” and funnel people to your email list.
Too Busy to Run your Facebook Marketing?
Now is the perfect time to get your business on Facebook. If you are too busy or are not confident to do it yourself, please contact us today and we can do it all for you so that you don’t miss out cashing in on huge potential profits for your business.