Facebook: you are doing it wrong!
Imagine if you were using your smartphone exclusively as a clock…. Sounds like a waste of technology, right? Now think about how you are utilizing your Facebook business page. There’s a chance you are not taking advantage of some important features. Find out how to take your Facebook page to its full potential whether you already have one or are getting ready to set it up.
1. Page name
When you set up your Facebook page you will get an option to name it. It could be the name of your business or a combination of keywords. Facebook pages get indexed by search engines, so think about what you want web surfers to type in to find you. Make sure to stay consistent throughout your online outlets (websites, blogs, and other social media accounts) and choose wisely, because once you get 100 fans you won’t be able to rename your page!
2. Custom URL
Facebook automatically assigns an URL to your business page, but it’s usually long and hard to remember. Once you get 25 fans, you have an option to claim a custom, aka “vanity,” URL. It will look like www.facebook.com/thenameyouchoose. Your URL doesn’t have to be the same as your page name, but it’s a common practice to keep things consistent. Besides being memorable and free, the custom URL is short enough to fit on your business card and other marketing materials. Be sure to double check the spelling, because you can’t make any changes to your URL once you click “confirm.”
3. Profile Picture
A few tips on how to use your profile picture space:
– Tell who you are and how you can help
– Announce new products/services
– Showcase your best-sellers
– Display what other social networks you are on and how to contact you
– Show customer appreciation: pick a fan of a month/week and feature them
– Make sure the top 180 x 180 square has a clear picture of you/your brand name, because it will be used as a thumbnail whenever you post something on your wall.
4. Photo Strip
Just above the wall on your fan page there are five thumbnails. By default, these are your most recently uploaded photos both from albums and your wall posts. You can take control over this valuable space by choosing which pictures appear in the strip. Get inspired by how other companies use the photo strip space and follow this tutorial to set up your own. Take into account that the order of these images is not fixed, which means they’ll rotate whenever each user loads the page.
5. Featured Likes
As an administrator of your Facebook fan page, you are able to switch between your personal profile and your fan page. When you switch to use Facebook as a page, your business can “like” other people’s posts, photos and even other fan pages. Facebook will feature five pages your page likes on the left side under the fan count. You can choose which companies to showcase, which creates a window of opportunities. You could partner with other page owners and promote each other’s pages that way. If you are selling wine you could team up with cigar or cheese vendors as long as you don’t send your customers to your direct competitors.
6. Tabs
Facebook does limit how you can present your business and interact with your fans. However, there are plenty of third-party applications that smoothly integrate into the platform and offer you some flexibility. In fact, they offer tones of options in terms of how you want to welcome, engage, entertain or educate your fans. I won’t go into details right now, but stay tuned to find out how utilizing tabs on Facebook can help you grow your business.