How to Create a Facebook Page for Your Business

The business application of Facebook is growing fast and it has become an inevitable part of an online footprint for your business. Called Facebook Pages, this application has made it possible to develop a collection of online pages similar to a web site using the free tools provided by Facebook. At heart it remains a social marketing application like your personal Facebook profile, but it allows for many useful business applications.

You can:

• Create a page that will be found independently by search engines (as if it were a business web site)
• Add additional tabs or pages to your Facebook Page (Notes, Events, Reviews, Videos and more)
• Determine which page will open first. The Wall is by default the home page.
• Use your Wall page as a place to generate discussions, do market research and showcase news feeds through status updates.
• Obtain a vanity URL for your business as soon as you have more than 100 fans (such as http://www.facebook/etsy for the online craft e-commerce site etsy.com).
• Market your unique Facebook URL on promotional material and business cards.
• Appoint one or more administrator(s) to update the content of your Page
• Add photos, videos and information on a regular basis.
• Send an email to all fans at once (but use this feature with discretion).
• Have your Page go viral. Your Page updates will show in the news feeds of your fans’ profiles where their friends could in turn see it and choose to join or comment – and so the circle widens.

How to Create Your Page
Facebook currently offers three main categories in which to create a presence online: Personal Profiles, Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages. It is this last category we are exploring here.

Personal Profile
To start creating a Facebook Page for your business and have all its options available to you, you need a personal user profile. Do not be concerned: fans of your Page will not have access to your personal information. You can create your Page first and then link it to your existing personal profile or create a new one if needed. It is possible to create a Business account only but certain limitations will apply.

Signing Up At the bottom of the Facebook Home page is the option to Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business. Select the Create a Page link and follow the steps from there. The options for Pages are "Local", "Band, Product or Organization" or "Artist, Band or Public Figure" Each main category offers a drop-down list in its sub-categories. The option that gets chosen here will determine which fields are available in the Page template that you create, so consider this choice carefully.

Facebook Pages come pre-installed with custom functionality for each Page category. These are the applications and information fields Facebook believes will be most relevant to the category you have selected when creating your Page. For instance, a music Page comes pre-installed with a music player, video player, discography, reviews, tour dates, and a discussion board. The information fields that are available for you to write in are determined by the Page category that you selected when you first set up the Page. You aren't able to change the category of your Page after you've created it, so if you would like different fields, you'll need to delete your Page and create a new one.

Fill Your Page with Interesting Items

Before adding content to your Facebook Page, decide what your main objective with the Page is, who your main audience is and what key messages you would like to convey.

Photo Albums - Select the Photos tab to create photo albums and post and share photos. These can be product photos, images of your facilities, your team or business activities. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Notes - Think of Facebook Notes as a blog feature on Facebook: you can share your life,
activities, thoughts and more with people on Facebook through written entries. They can
comment on your Notes and you can even import your existing blog from an external site.

Discussion Boards - Discussion Boards can be used by you to spark a conversation among
people you are connected to and get feedback on a particular topic or for users to start
discussions on their own.

Events - Set up an event and invite fans and friends. An open house, a sale, a launch event or a celebration, fundraiser or client appreciation event - these are a few examples. Add photos, videos and relevant information. Post links and start and generate comments.

Additional Tabs - Add additional tabs as needed to your Page. Move and drag them around into a different order. In your settings, choose which tab you'd like as your home page. Search and add applications with additional tabs as appropriate.

Marketing Your Page
Once your site is complete and published, it is time to promote it and invite friends to become fans. Once you hit the 100-fan mark you are eligible for a vanity URL such as facebook.com/etsy.

There are numerous ways to promote a Facebook Page, which will be a topic for next time. Don't be afraid to try and experiment.

Other Resources
Guide to Facebook for Business