These are the transcripts from the 10 Steps to Facebook Success for Your Business workshop at the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, September 28, 2010. The accompanying slide presentation is also uploaded.
3. 8. Getting “Liked” and joining Groups to increase your range
9. Page promotion
10. Bringing it all together to increase your Search Engine Optimization (SEO),
Return on Investment (ROI), and using Facebook Analytics.
It’s pretty ambitious to get through all that in an hour, but we’ll be available after the
workshop if you have specific questions, or if you’d like to request us to do a free
workshop for your group/office. We also offer complimentary 30‐minute consulting
sessions for new clients.
Step 1: Strategies and goals for your FB page
Another show of hands. How many of you opened a FB business page without
having a strategy or series of goals in place? Come on, fess up ‐ hundreds, if not
thousands, of business owners do that every day – I have done it myself in the past
when I was just learning about social media. We all have to start somewhere. If your
primary source of new business is referrals or word of mouth – as is the case with
most small businesses I work with – social media is just the latest resource to
capitalize on that and help you build and maintain a conversation with your client. It
also does a great job of increasing your brand awareness, or at the very least, sets
you apart from other local competitors who AREN’T doing social media or have any
kind of online presence.
Not every business needs a FB page so you need to ask yourself why you need one
before you start. Are your customers asking if you have one? Do you have the time
to set it up properly and maintain it? Social media is time consuming, especially at
the beginning. Although it is technically free, there can be a huge cost in the time to
set up and maintain an active presence. You have to have a strategy in place of how
you are going to use that time to make it more productive for your individual
company and what goals you hope to achieve through your FB page.
These questions will help you decide the best way to proceed, sets your timeline for
status updates and blog posts, and integration with other social media apps that will
help save you both time and money. It will take time to find all of the best apps for
your business and to set them up, but it’s not difficult and once you know what you
want to get out of FB, the easier it will be to set up only what you, and your target
audience, need. You can always add more later. Just like small businesses, FB is
flexible.
Step 2: Research Competing Businesses Locally through FB
5. Setting up your profile image and/or logo – what are the new standards?
Setting up your profile
Tabs
Set multiple admins
Starting the setup: all business pages should be attached to the business owner’s
profile page. It is almost impossible to attach the business page to another profile if
your employee leaves your company.
Log in to your profile page, look for the Accounts tab in the upper right hand corner.
Under the drop down menu, click the link to Application Settings. On the RH side of
the page, you will see Show. Click the down arrow and click authorized. Now Ads
and Pages should appear at the top of your list. Click and look for the “Create Page”
tab. Now just follow the steps for setting up your page.
Basic Settings: Once your page has been established, you can edit your basic settings
like country and age restrictions, wall settings, events, notes, etc. Once you have
added integrated apps, this is also where you will be able to edit them.
Setting up your profile image and/or logo: This is where things get a little different
from a business page and your profile image. Although many companies don’t utilize
it, Facebook gives you the option of adding a larger profile image to your page. It
used to be 600x200 pixels but was changed in August 2010 to 540x180. You can add
anything to this image including your logo, product pictures, your picture,
information about your business, and your contact information. Just click on the
grey question mark and go to upload a picture. Once you upload the picture, right
below you will see that you have the ability to move the image around so the small
thumbnail that is shown goes directly to your logo or image instead of in the middle
of the picture. Make sure you do this when you set up the profile image as they
sometimes don’t give you the option once you’ve clicked Save. If you don’t have the
capability to create this on your own, find someone in your local area or online that
will do it for a small fee. We generally charge $15 for a profile image if you need that
help.
Setting up your profile: Below your profile image, you will see a box where you can
input your profile information. Simply put, this is information about you or a
description of your business. It could be your mission statement, or just basic
information about what your company does.
Tabs: Across the top of your page, you will see a series of tabs – info, photos, and
discussions are the standard. Go under Info (look for the small pencil at the right top
of the tab to edit) and fill out the information about your company – as much or as
little as you choose. In Photos, create albums and upload photos of your product or
service, portfolios of your work, or other industry related images. If you click the +
7. Step 7: Setting Up Your Page – Dressing it Up with Integrated Apps
Blogs
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
SlideShare
RSS Feeeds
Constant Contact
Shopping Carts
Industry Specific – retail, real estate, finance, doctors, etc.
There are many ways you can integrate Facebook into your other social media
platforms and Facebook business apps. You can have your personal blog available
on your FB page, link FB to Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, SlideShare, RSS feeds and
more. If you sell specific products, you can put up an online store with the click of a
button. There are even industry specific apps that allow you to bring custom apps
right into your FB page.
One of the biggest reason to add these applications is that it cuts down on your
overall time with social media updates. Your tweets will post to your FB status feed,
and visa versa. Updating LinkedIn will auto post to your FB status. Have a new blog
post on your site or in WordPress. Now it automatically shows up on your FB page.
You can have all of these apps running in the background, or you can have a new tab
at the top of the page. If you have an integrated blog, you can have a “Blog” tab. It’s
the same for “Shop” or “Real Estate”. There are even apps that allow you to hold
contests and competitions for your “Likes”.
There are hundreds of business‐based applications that can help you customize
your site. To find these, go to Edit Page and scroll to the very bottom. Look for More
Applications and click on Browse More. On the left hand side of the page, you’ll see a
list of applications you can add to your site. Click Business. Below the icons, you’ll
see the most popular apps. Click on See All so you can see everything available to
you. If you see an application you’d like to add to your page, click the name or icon
and it will take you to their page and then click the button below their image that
says “Go to Application” or click “Add to my Page”, click Allow and then set up the
app to your needs. Be careful, not all apps are free. Know what you’re paying for and
make sure you’re going to use it.
8. Step 8: Getting “Liked” and Joining Groups
Find other businesses in the area – look at their “Likes” and friend them
Find complimentary businesses – look at their “Likes” and friend them
Search for groups who have similar (but not competitive) services or
interests – Look at their “Likes” and friend them. Use the search box at the
top of the page and enter a keyword for the type of group you are looking for.
It’s that simple.
Search for your company or your vendors and “Like” their pages – remember
you’re looking for quality, not quantity.
Client base
Prospective clients
Network business friends and Chamber members
Give discounts and coupons to your clients and prospects for Liking your
page. Use your status updates to offer specials only to your users.
Step 9: Promote your page
Create interesting and/or useful content
80/20 rule – 80% content vs. 20% sales content
Use images and links, news items, blog posts and ask your readers for
feedback
Ask questions or ask your user’s opinion. Invite them to comment on your
updates or links
Polls
Contests/competitions online
Discounts or coupons for joining and being active on the site
Encourage image uploads showing your users interacting with your product
or service
Post testimonials
Add a FB fan box or feed to your website
Add a “Like” button to your website that a user can click without ever going
to your FB page
Show how you are interacting with your community or clients and where
they can find you next
Promote through biz cards, email signatures, Like buttons and FB feeds on
your website, stationery, brochures, etc.
The biggest way to promote your page is to post interesting and/or useful content. It
doesn’t all have to come from you. Post links to blogs that you think will be relevant
to your readers, post quotes, have a relevant RSS feed that posts status updates, talk