Facebook isn’t just for keeping in contact with your high school friends or sharing pictures of your children and grandchildren with your out-of-state relatives. Yes, everyone from your nieces and nephews to your siblings and even your mother are on Facebook.
In fact, 71 percent of adults who are online use Facebook — and that’s precisely the reason why you need a Facebook page for your business.
But you already know that and let’s assume you already have a page for your business. You’re part of the 41 percent of small businesses in the U.S. that use Facebook, and you’re one of the 40 million active small business Facebook pages.
Facebook is the social tool helping you reach your inbound marketing goals:
- Growing your business
- Increasing your annual revenue
- Reaching and connecting with a wide audience
- Developing and nurturing relationships with consumers
A recent survey asked consumers how social media platforms change the way they interact with brands via social media, and the main takeaway (at least for this article’s sake) was that the greatest percentage in each age bracket said they most expect businesses to be on Facebook.
But while they expect your business to be on Facebook, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve liked your page or follow your updates on their newsfeed. A high percentage of consumers expect you to be on Facebook, but that percentage drops when it comes to how many of them actually follow you on said platform.
That doesn’t seem right, or fair to your business. How can they expect you to have a Facebook page but not reward you for doing so by liking and following your page?
It’s simple—too many businesses merely aren’t good on social platforms.
Your customers and potential customers want to follow you on social platforms, but you have to give them a good reason to actually do it. In the Facebook world, this means creating a killer Facebook Business Page.
Since we’ve assumed you’re already one of the 40 million active business pages on Facebook, I’m not going to tell you how to create your page. Rather, I’m going to tell you what components you need to include and why those components will help with your business’s overall inbound marketing strategy.
Related Article: The Anatomy of an Engaging B2B Twitter Profile
Completed and Optimized ‘About’ Section
When you scan a business’s Facebook page, where do your eyes first go? If you’re like me, and most consumers, your scanning eyes fall to the ‘About’ section preview on the left-hand side of the page.
Being one of the first parts of your page they notice, you want consumers to get a good feel for what your business and page are about before deciding to click that ‘Like’ button or go back to their newsfeed. Keep this section concise, and throw in descriptive keywords that customers use in search queries.
They also can view your entire ‘About’ section by clicking on the tab at the top of your page. For potential customers, this is the first button they’ll click. They’re trying to learn all they can about your business, and there’s no better place to give them the quick rundown than here.
Be sure to include your start date, short and long descriptions (the short is what’s seen on the preview section mentioned above), link to your website and any company milestones.
Recognizable Profile Photo and Captivating Cover Photo
Like you know with your personal page’s profile photo, everyone sees this picture. It pops up in Facebook Search, is at the top of your page and is next to each update you share. Good image options for your business profile photo are your logo or a professional headshot of yourself if you’re the face of the company.
Like your profile photo, your cover photo is at the top of your page, but it’s different in that it’s 5x bigger, so choose wisely. Opt for a high-quality image that matches your brand and captivates all who see it.
You could even get really creative and integrate your profile photo with your cover photo, like Coca-Cola did.
Call-to-Action Button
Last year, Facebook announced a feature all marketers love and know works — a call-to-action button. Facebook offers seven options:
- Book Now
- Contact Us
- Use App
- Play Game
- Shop Now
- Sign Up
- Watch Video
This button is placed at the top of your Facebook page and allows you to link to any URL you wish. This feature is a great way to drive more traffic from your Facebook Business Page to your website.
Zappos is known for its fantastic customer service and that shows on their Facebook page. One way it shows is using Facebook’s CTA button “Shop Now” on their header image to make it easier for their customers to start shopping on their site.
Authentic and Inspiring Content
Seventy percent of Facebook users check their newsfeeds at least once a day. They’re looking for fresh, new content, which means you should be consistently posting useful, interesting content. You know your audience best so you know what types of content they prefer, but don’t just post videos to your timeline. Videos are the more engaging Facebook content type, but you want to use a variety, i.e. blog posts written by you and from other relatable sources, images and videos.
The Gold’s Gym Facebook page does a great job of this. They regularly post a variety of content, and doing so has allowed them to reach a wide variety of people, have more than 500,000 people who like their page and tons of likes and shares with each post.
Related Article: Why No One Likes You On Facebook
Updates Made With a Human Voice
Posting content is an important component. Another important component is posting updates using a human voice. People want to interact with other people, not an impersonal business. Be sure whoever is in charge of posting on your page, be that uploading content and responding to comments on posts, writes with a likeable human voice that still matches your business style.
Facebook is an effective marketing platform for finding and engaging with your customers and potential customers. When you follow the above-mentioned guidelines for creating a killer Facebook Business Page and correctly use all of Facebook’s other features, you’ll create an overall great user experience, which results in meeting your inbound marketing goals. It’s a win-win situation for you and the consumer.