Facebook has grown in leaps and bounds since its launch in 2004. Currently standing on approximately 1.15 billion users it is the single largest social networking site on the planet.  Facebook provides access to millions of potential customers and clients, such brand exposure cannot be ignored.
Facebook can be used to promote your company through various methods, for example: a company personal Facebook page, a Facebook company page or a Facebook group. For the purpose of this article we will be focusing on the Facebook company page.

Creating Your Company Page

A Facebook company page can be created through your personal account, so go ahead and login.
Note: You may choose whether your viewers can see who runs the page or not.
To create a Facebook page, click on your home page on the left panel under “Pages and Ads”. Click on “more” and then create a page.  From here you can choose to promote a local business, company, brand product, and more. Once you’ve categorised your company, added your company name, and agreed to the terms, you are one step closer to starting your very own company page.

The next step is to choose an appropriate company profile picture; it is best to use some variant of your company’s logo, and to keep it consistent and similar to the pictures on all of your other social media sites. Next you will be prompted to provide basic information about the business. This gives you an opportunity to tell the viewer or potential customer what your company is all about. Be sure to make use of this tool, and to focus on your target market while constructing this small biography.

It is always best to keep your write-up relatively casual and reader friendly. Your biography should hold links within the actual copy. Links to various other webpages that your company operates on, from social media to an official website, should appear here.

Creating Interaction

Your company page popularity can be measured in the amount of likes the page has, however, a high amount of likes does not necessarily mean that your page is successful. The success of your company page should be measured by the level of personal interaction. A Facebook company page is truly successful when the members feel as if they are a part of something real.  In other words members feel like they can communicate freely with your brand and expect a swift and insightful response to their queries, on a personal level.

From the Facebook company page you can use your personal account to invite your Facebook friends or email contacts to like the page. Invite people who you think might be interesting in your product or company. Use your Facebook wall to share information with the people who have liked your company page. Anything you share will appear in their home timetable. If you grant permission, people will be able to write comments on your posts. A good tip to replying to people on your Facebook posts is to tag the person in the reply. This is done by typing in the @ sign followed by their name. This way, they would know that you are personally replying to them.  Facebook groups are also great for advertising new products, upcoming sales, and for promoting your website. The page should be the doorway for your potential customers to finding your company.

A  Facebook page can be edited and updated at any time, and should be updated on a daily basis if possible. Once you have 30 likes on your page, the Facebook ‘insights’ function will be made available for your use. This gives you statistical information regarding your page; for example, who visited the page, how many likes you have gained or lost in a selected period of time, and any other details of interaction that took place on your page.

Building Up Your Page

Now that you have your own personal Facebook company page up and running, and you’ve noticed that you have a few connections from the outside world, you might be wondering, “how do I maximize interaction, likes and interest?” This can be explained in a few steps. Firstly, you’d want to generate Facebook fans, and secondly, you’d want to keep them.
It’s important to know your demographics and how to connect to them in a casual way. This information can be obtained through the Insight tool. A great thing about Facebook is that it spreads your information to the friends of your friends and fans. Your posts will branch out, giving your post a ‘viral aspect’, and leading users back to your page from all over.  Let people know about your Facebook page on all of your other social media pages.  Post links on your Twitter, Tumblr, blog and company website linking to your Facebook page.

Use Facebook’s paid ad feature. This feature is very unique to most ads as it allows a person to add a specific demographic to your advert. To create a paid advert under ‘Pages and Ads’ click advert manager, choose your company page, and state that you want to promote your company or a specific post within your company. From here you can choose a headline, text, and an image. Then, from here, you can choose the countries and continents that the ad will be displayed in, the age and gender of the people viewing the ad, as well as their specific interest, and connections to your company. Facebook will narrow down a target market for you, giving you a rough figure of the people your ad might reach.

Now that you’ve built up a fan group for your Facebook page, the most important factor is to keep them. Constant interaction is a sign of a good Facebook page. When you have a large Facebook fan base, it’s important to keep a constant eye on your comments and posts to ensure that you reply to everyone and keep everyone happy. Employ an update strategy enabling you to fall into a routine of updating your Facebook page. Make sure that your content equals quality, and take time to think about interesting hook material that will fuel discussions and make your company Facebook page worth visiting on a regular basis.

Previous article in the series: Youtube Explained; Next article in the series: An Introduction to Twitter

Have any comments or suggestions? Drop them here or connect with me on Twitter @JulianKarstel

Julian Karstel is a Digital Marketing Consultant for Sound Idea Digital | @JulianKarstel | Julian@soundidea.co.za

Sound Idea Digital is a full service digital agency | www.soundidea.co.za

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