Thinking of creating a Facebook business page but have no idea where to start!? Well, from creating your business page to adding your first post, our Cheshire web agency have created your Facebook small business checklist, so you’ll be up and running in no time!

Facebook Business Stats

Still not sure if Facebook is right for your small business?

• Facebook is the third most visited website in the world, after Google & YouTube
• Facebook has 80 Million small and medium sized business pages
• Of these businesses, 6 million advertise on Facebook
• The average Facebook business post engagement rate is 3.91%
• Facebook Messenger is the most downloaded mobile app

Creating you Facebook Business page

After visiting Facebook Business Page Creation, you will be presented with two options… “Business or brand” or “Community or public figure”. Simply click “Get Started” in the “Business or brand”. ()

Next, you will be required to fill out some basic business information. First, you will need to include your business name, then you will need to type out a few keywords which best describe your business and your products/services. Finally, you will need to add some basic contact information including phone number and registered business address.

NOTE – When filling out business information, use the same username used on other social media profiles so users will be able to instantly identify it’s your business and find you when searching for your business.

Upload Profile Picture – This is typically your business logo. The ideal profile picture size is 360 x 360 with a minimum size of 180 x 180. Remember, profile pictures are circular, so make sure nothing is missing when uploading and editing your profile picture.

Upload a Cover Photo – The first thing any user will notice about your page. This is an opportunity to make a great first impression to showcase your brand, products and services. The optimum size is 820 x 312 – however this will crop to 640 x 360 on smartphones so it’s key to ensure your chosen cover photo will work and look great on any device.

Create Username and URL – By default, your new business page will be assigned a randomly generated number. Here, you can create a username which will generate your Facebook business page URL. Again, look to choose a username closely related to other social media profiles so users will be able to easily search and identify your business branding.

Building your Facebook business page

So now we have created your Facebook business page, we can now explore further opportunities to maximise it’s reach by adding further information to really build your facebook business page.

Create your call to action – What’s the purpose of your Facebook business page, buy a product? Book an event? Give you a call? By simply clicking on “Add a Button”, you can easily follow the steps to create your call to action button. Fill out the form and add your details and Facebook will create your call to action button for you.

Write a description – Write a short, brief summary of your business. Because you are limited to 255 characters, look to take this opportunity to include any SEO keywords based around any products and/or services.

About – This information is then added as a block on your Facebook business page so users can find all this information easily.

Create an Event – Have an event and want people to know it’s coming up? Facebook allows you to easily create and share your event. You can add the location, description and even photo or video to really make your event stand out.

Instagram – Do you have Instagram? Facebook allows you to easily integrate both accounts so you can create Instagram advertising straight from your Facebook dashboard.

Creating Your First Facebook Business Post

Now your Facebook business page is all set up and ready to go, it’s time to publish your first post… Simply click ‘Write a Post”

There are various post types to choose from, it just depends on what you want to achieve from your posts. From sharing pictures from your latest job to posting job opportunities, you want users to do something… Facebook has a post type of almost anything and are relatively easy to follow…

Monitor Engagement – Once you’re up and running and posting on your page, you will start to build up an audience of how users are engaging with your content. After you have posted content, as the administrator of the business profile, you will see an overview of the performance of your report, including how many users saw it and how many users interacted with the post (e.g. liked, comment, clicked the link etc…)

By monitoring the engagement, you can start to experiment on what type of posts work best for you. Attempt photo, slideshow, product or anything else and see how users are interacting with each type of posts, this will give you valuable insight into what works best for your business….

Schedule Post Activity – Sometimes, users will not necessarily see your business posts if they are in work etc or may not have the same call to action if the content is hours old. By researching peak times, you can actually schedule posts so they will be seen and reached when you know users are more likely to view them.

For example, let’s say you create a post at 10:30am, but you know users are far more likely to go on Facebook during their lunch break – you can schedule your post so it will automatically appear at 12:07 so you can reach maximum engagement.

Facebook Business Page Checklist

Now your Facebook business page is up and running and you know how to create your first post, now you can concentrate on testing out various ways to promote your brand and see what works best with results.

Thinking of expanding your audience reach with Facebook advertising? Read our Cheshire web agency small business Facebook advertising guide.

For more information on how to create your facebook business page or for any more advice on the art of growing your website, why not contact your local Cheshire web design agency?

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