How to Set Up a Facebook Business Page

I taught a class on Facebook for Business a few weeks ago so I thought it might be nice to turn my slides and presentation into a blog post.

This post will be what I use to teach my class. What you'll miss is my witty repartee and any knowledge nuggets attained by said repartee and any ensuing questions from what I hope to be, my very active class members!

This is an intro, so let's start with the Facebook Basics:

1. Log on to your personal Facebook account
2. Type in http://www.Facebook.com/PAGES
3. Click on the "Create Page" button

Now comes the fun part! Chose the type of business your page will represent. For the sake of this class, I'm choosing to set up a Local Business or Place. Fill in the information completely, and check off the box of terms and agreements. Then click on the get started button.

Voila!

You've got a Facebook Business Page!! Facebook has provided you a list of things to do now that you've got a business page.

IGNORE THEM ALL, for now!

Before you go sharing the page, importing contacts and posting status updates, you need to fill in the blanks as completely as possible, which means you have to go behind the scenes.

Click on those tiny little words at the top of your page, just under the name of your page, edit info. And thus the Content Management System or CMS of Facebook Business Pages is revealed. Just look at all of the information you can fill out to your heart's content.  And please, by all means, fill it ALL out! This is the stuff that counts for search engine optimization (SEO)! I'll let Google explain. 

But in the meantime: 

• Give detailed and specific information wherever possible.
• The boxes are different based upon the page that you have chosen to set up
• There will always be an About section. You will have less than 140 characters to explain your business.
• Use some of those characters to type in your business's ENTIRE URL.
• Use keywords in the description section, providing your URL once again.
• Fill out email and web address again.

Now let's look at Your Settings.

Your Settings determines how you post on the page and if you receive notifications via email. As long as the top box is checked, anything you post will be under the name of the page itself. Example: the Lutherville-Timonium Patch Facebook page features wall posts by "Lutherville-Timonium Patch" and not the site's editor Nick DiMarco.

If you uncheck it then you can post on the page as yourself.  This can be handy if you'd like to help drive some conversation on a post. 

If the second box is checked, that means you will get an email every time someone comments on a post or posts on your page.  This is incredibly helpful for page management.  If someone reaches out to your business via Facebook, a speedy response is appreciated and will help encourage more use of your business page.

Next on the left side of the page is Manage Permissions.

Manage Permissions is where you determine where non-fans land when they go to your page, what fans are allowed to post on your wall, and what shows on the page. Here you can also keep the page unpublished while you work on creating it.  And set up a list of words to block on the page. You can chose to prevent people from talking about your competition this way.

After Manage Permissions comes Profile Photo.  It's rather self explanatory. Upload a photo that represents your business. What you should know is that your picture is allotted 180 x 540 pixels of space so you should get creative and use that space to the best of your abilities! Keeping in mind that from the 180 x 540 pixel image, Facebook will pull a little 50 x 50 avatar of your business for use in the newsfeed.

Moving down the left side we come to the Featured setting

Facebook Business Pages are all about making a connection with people.  And what better way  to make a connection than to show them who's behind the page! This is how you do it!  Don't be shy, show yourself!

We're going to quickly glance over Resources and Manage Admins. Both are fairly straightforward.

You can add and delete admins in the Manage Admins section. The caveat is that you can only add people with whom you are Facebook friends. If you'd like to not establish a friendship with someone whom you'd like to make an admin of your page, then they simply have to like the page and you can select them from the list of people who like your business.

Resources is one stop shopping for ways to promote your page.  You can:

• Upload a CSV file of up to 5,000 contacts.
• Link your Facebook page to your Twitter account.
• Advertise on Facebook.
• Obtain code to install social plugin's on your website.
• Send an update to fans. This shows up in their Facebook inbox.
• And read some tips and tricks that Facebook has written.

Now onto the meat of the back end of Facebook Pages and what makes them like a mini website!

Certain Facebook Apps come preloaded, they're the tabs on the left hand column of your Facebook Business Page and include Photos, Notes, Events, Links and Video.  These auto-populate with their appropriate page updates. If you'd like to get a little fancier you can add Discussions, which is another Facebook created app. But the fun pages are the ones you create yourself or personalize in some way to really show off what your business is about.

To install any of these apps, scroll the down the page until you see the add to my page button under their profile picture, select the page on which you'd like the app installed, and it will appear on your page ready for you to take action!

I like to use Static HTML:iframe Tabs a lot because it is like a blank canvas! It's already programmed to fan-gate or like-gate the page so you don't need to know FBML. Fan-gating and like-gating, means that fans see one image while non-fans see another. Uses for Fan-Gating include, contest, coupons, and other incentives.  "Like our page and get XYZ" Like our page to enter to win XYZ".

You don't have to fan-gate with this app, but it's nice to know that you can. To use this app you need to have some knowledge of basic html.  The two most common ones to know are

• How to make an image appear: <img src="http://www.yourimagelinkhere.com">
• How to make a link work: <a href="http://www.yourlinkhere.com">Words You want to appear in blue with an underline</a>
• To make an image link simply combine this to form this :<a href="http://yourlinkhere.com><img src="http://www.yourimagelinkhere.com></a>
• When all else fails Google it!

There is a caveat to all of this: You must host your own image! Two great FREE services for this are Photobucket and Dropbox. Now image hosting seems complicated but it's not.

With Dropbox, you simply install dropbox on your computer, store your image in the Public file in dropbox and select to copy the public URL, then just paste that sucker into your code. With Photobucket, you upload your image to Photobucket and select to copy the public URL, then just paste that sucker into your code!

OK! Back to other great apps for your page, along the same lines as Static HTML: iframe tabs is HyperArts TabPress app. Same concept, same free awesomeness! For anyone who is looking to sell a product or service with a fixed price, I am head over heels in love with Payvment.

 It's robust, free, and easy to use. All you need is a PayPal account and the time to upload images, descriptions, and shopping details. You can even offer discounts to fans and Payvment will calculate them for you. I'll be honest, with these three apps you can do anything that any other app is offering.

I use Google Forms or JotForm to create contest entry forms, I add my MailChimp email widget to these apps and I create basic graphics using a free program called Inkscape.

The most important thing to remember when designing these pages is that you only have 520 pixels of width to work with. Once these apps are installed on your page and you've customized them, you need to do three things:

1.) On the Apps management page select edit settings and type in the name you would like to appear on the left side of your page.

2.) Go into the Manage Permissions section and select your newly named page as the default landing tab so all the new fans see your handy work and are able to take advantage of your fan-gated offer!

3.) Select edit info in the upper right corner and then click on edit under the list of apps that appears under your profile picture. Move your newly created app as close to the top of the list as you can.  Wall, Info and Photos can not be moved. Ok that's it, your page is now set up and you can go back to that first getting started page and do all of those things that Facebook suggests.  You're off and running!  

To view the original post and see the photos inline with the blog, please visit: MollyWhiteMarketing.com

And don't forget to become a fan of Lutherville-Timonium Patch on Facebook.