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Are you a new business wondering how to build a presence on the web in less than 24 hours, at no cost and without having to be a technical guru? In this article you will discover 7 tips for getting started with a Facebook Page for your business to help you start building your brand online.
Each month I have the privilege to meet with hundreds of new start ups through the speaking, workshops and mentoring sessions I lead, facilitate or participate in.
One of the most common questions I get asked is how to get started with developing a presence on the web that is a low cost for the new business entrepreneur to set up and something that does not take several weeks or even months to implement.
Putting aside a full interactive online and offline digital marketing strategy which is what I develop with my private clients, one of the platforms that has been working really well for a number of my mentoring clients is developing a presence on Facebook.
I am not talking about a personal profile on Facebook, but a Facebook page to represent your business. I certainly don’t recommend that your only presence on the web as a new business is Facebook – I would prefer you to own your own real estate, ideally developing your website with an integrated business blog, hosted on your own space in cyberspace.
But following the following five tips, you can be visible on the web today – as you know, it’s always helpful to point people back to information online either before or after you meet them.
1. Register Your Own Page On Facebook – you can register for your page either from the home page on Facebook – you do not have to have a personal profile to develop a Facebook Page for your business) or within the area that says ‘advertise’ (scroll to the bottom of the page of your personal profile)
2. Consider Your Key Words – Your Facebook domain name for your Facebook Page can include key words that people will search for you online – so think carefully when creating the name for your page
3. Create Your About Page – You can add a number of different tabs to your page to include for example importing blog posts or your Twitter feed (once you get those in place). However to start off, use the ‘Info’ tab as your ‘about page’, adding details of who you are, your company overview, your products and services.
4. Set Your Default Page – Set your ‘Info’ page as your default page so that if someone were to look for you on Facebook and they are not already a Fan of your Facebook Page, they will quickly get a sense of who you are and what you do. If you are prepared to invest just €8 a year or less, I would highly recommend investing in purchasing in a domain name for your Facebook Page which you can then domain map e.g. www.yourcompanyname.com – being able to customise your Facebook URL is meant to be coming soon so Colm Long of Director Online Operations at the European Head Office here in Ireland told me last week – but until then the Facebook URL is not user friendly. (You can always point the domain name to your website in the future, but this approach would allow you to put your domain name on a business card today, adding credibility to your business).
5. Pimp Out Your Profile – Take the time to upload photos and online videos of your products or services to add rich content to your Facebook Page and given your visitors the opportunity to learn more about what you do.
6. Update Your Privacy settings – Check your Facebook default privacy settings so that you can determine the information that you share including what information gets shared in the search engines – don’t be too over cautious. Remember that the reason you decided to create your Facebook Page is so that people can find your business online so you need to have key elements visible when people search for you.
7. Find Some Fans – Now you have your Facebook Page in place, you can invite some of your friends (who I am sure will be great supporters of your new business venture) to become Fans – and of course when they become a Fan of your Facebook Page, their network on Facebook will see this and might even be interested in taking a look, becoming a Fan and even may become a client or customer in the future. Consider the viral element of your Fan Page being like a ‘tell a friend’ strategy.
I would love to see every business have a website if not a business blog. But if getting started with finding a web developer and developing your brand online as a new start up is something you are not ready to do, do consider developing your Facebook age for your business. Once you have your page in place, you can then start to integrate your Facebook Page into your marketing plan – more of that in future articles.
And if you are a new business start up and have developed a Facebook Page, what other advice would you give to others setting up a new Facebook Page? Feel free to list your page URL with details of who you are in the comments if you are looking for more fans too!
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May 25th, 2009 at 9:44 am
RT @krishnade7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses http://tinyurl.com/qwuoaa
May 25th, 2009 at 9:47 am
RT @eumom: RT @krishnade7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses http://tinyurl.com/qwuoaa
May 25th, 2009 at 9:47 am
RT @krishnade: 7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses http://tinyurl.com/qwuoaa
May 25th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Nice post. One other thing I would add is the importance of branding. While Facebook offers little opportunity in this area you can upload your logo for display and if you already have a website you can extend the style of your written content there to your Facebook presence..
Other social sites like Twitter and Youtube offer somewhat more customisation opportunities for look & feel and you can take advantage of these to reinforce your brand and to help distinguish your business from the crowd.
If you look at what kids are doing these days with even their Bebo pages, you start to see the increasing importance of look & feel branding.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:29 am
RT @krishnade: 7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses http://tinyurl.com/qwuoaa
May 25th, 2009 at 10:32 am
7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses – Krishna …: PODCAMP IRELAND Find out what’s hot and .. http://bit.ly/ppr8K
May 25th, 2009 at 11:01 am
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May 25th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Great article RT: @krishnade7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses http://tinyurl.com/qwuoaa
May 27th, 2009 at 4:45 am
This is a timely article, especially with the sudden boom in social media initiatives.
One thing to remember is to NOT mix up your personal stuffs with the business account. Just keep your personal stuffs off the business account or simply register another new Facebook account for your personal life.
You would not want your clients to see what you did during the boy’s nite out last Friday, would you?
Regards, Al
May 27th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses http://bit.ly/5wEwk
May 27th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
RT @mparent77772: 7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses http://bit.ly/5wEwk
May 28th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Al, I would say that there is of course a lifestyle factor involved here.
However, for me, one of the great benefits of social media is the opportunity it presents to humanise business interaction. It can really strengthen a relationship when you discover personal mutual areas of interest – oh, he likes that band too – empathy increases.
Also, a profile managed clinically with a firm line between the professional and personal to me would seem pretty artificial – professionals have the right to be human or at least, with my striving to be one, I hope they do!
I suspect that is one of the inherent failings in the longterm for a site like linkedin – you get a very limited view of the individual you might be interested in doing business with. A more rounded profile that covers one’s interests and activities outside work can so easily contain the little nugget of information that will tip a business decision.
Additionally you need to also ask yourself how effectively you can quarantine your professional online presence from your personal one. Even if you feel that you yourself can isolate them effectively, can you say the same for all your other friends/contacts. Those looking for you online may stumble upon your personal presence or discussion of your personal activities elsewhere and feel that much less trustful when they discover a gap between the two persona you present.
I also think that there is a generational factor at play here and point out the more general trend in society towards the realisation that ownership of a business suit does not a professional make..While I agree, you probably don’t want to jump around naked; wearing an online ‘t-shrt and jeans’ now and again can only be a good thing in my view.
I say remain mindful of who you are publishing to and the characteristics of the medium you are publishing in. It is hard to see how one’s escapades on a ‘boys weekend’ would really qualify as being of any lasting value to those who were not there or those they know directly though the medium you are publishing to has a practically unlimited lifespan and potential reach. This is not to mention the wisdom of that old adage, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas
May 29th, 2009 at 1:55 am
7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses – Krishna De: Branding, Personal Branding, Employer Brand… http://shar.es/X2RI
May 29th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Joe and Al thanks for your contributions.
I think there is a question for many business leaders to consider and that is what is their personal guidelines for engaging in social media.
Some people remain intensely private and do not even want to share a photo of themselves on their about page of their website or have a profile or short summary on the site.
While many of us know, like and understand that sharing more about ourselves especially if in an SME can help build trust and credibility with customers/potential customers, there are some people I meet who are still hesitant about this.
So how could we support them in becoming more comfortable?
And as for Facebook personal profiles and Facebook business pages, I think we have to create our own connection guidelines that we are happy to work with.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Krishna, this is turning into a nice discussion.
I also have encountered clients wary of any personal online exposure and indeed would have been more hesitant about it myself at the start.
I think one of the obvious questions people have to ask themselves is to what degree you can engage with and benefit from social networks online without being well, um, social
For someone like me in web development this was a relatively easy process, I guess largely because the online communities out there grew organically as the field developed and often there was an obvious and quick return. Over the years I have found these communities invaluable for sharing ideas, finding inspiration, learning new techniques and of course, networking and it often stuck me how little community there was in other sectors in comparison.
I have two clients in particular whose businesses could really benefit from the engagement social media brings, with well established communities of potential customers in both their sectors and I am all too familiar with how difficult it can be to get people to make that leap.
As a techie who mainly deals with small businesses with few dedicated IT resources, I would see a strong analogy here between people’s wariness of online social engagement and their general ‘technophobia’ for want of a better word and to me the two seem closely related.
One of the processes that has worked for me in the past on the tech side involved getting the client to take small steps over ground I had prepared already so, for instance, I might set up an IM account for them and build IM into their support mechanism – before long, those who never dreamed they would IM anyone are using the service transparently, focusing instead on the communication, as they should.
Perhaps a similar process would be helpful in encouraging those wary of online social engagement. For instance, in the case of some of the small businesses I deal with I am starting to look at the possibility of using automated posting to Twitter to announce content updates/events – this requires no action on behalf of the client initially but my sense is that clients will find themselves ‘pulled in’ naturally if their content is engaging enough for others. Obviously this idea isn’t suitable for all sectors or content but I do see it as one possible way of ‘preparing the ground’ to facilitate clients taking that all important first step.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Joe – thanks for taking the time to post in such depth with your ideas and suggestions.
One thing that has worked really well for a company I worked with some time ago was building on the idea of yours about the IM account.
The company added their Skype ID on their website and they were really suprised about the number of enquiries that they got and not they were not spammed. The conversations were with people not just in Ireland and they found that making their Skype ID visible on their site they were able to start to talk to potential client s by test and then they transitioned to a phone call – and for those clients that English was not a first language it was ideal.
Yes those IM’s turned into €’s.
I describe that as being easy to do business with – so yes that is a great idea of the IM account you are setting up for your clients.
Why not also set up a listening channel for your clients with key words – such as using NetVibes and setting it up to bring in a couple of blogs for them of key blogs in their niche/influencers in their sector, a news feed and Twitter search/Google Alerts. I suggest that to many PR firms who attend some of the workshops I host.
And of course you could add searches for their own content/name/brand name when they are mentioned.
I’d suggest that they then use those news feeds as things they might review and share in their Twitter account – I think if they were just to broadcast their content they will get little engagement an it will offend many people – a bit like pushing out your business card at an event but never stopping to listen to the people you meet and ask them questions.
You could ‘brand it’ for them and they could use it as an easy dashboard to follow news and keep them informed on what is happening.
Kee us posted on successes with your clients won’t you?
May 29th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Great input here from @FreelanceWebDev about how private or open we want to be on the web – what do you think? http://is.gd/IXVT
May 29th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Business branding: getting started with Facebook http://is.gd/IXVT (via @FreelanceWebDev @krishnade)
May 30th, 2009 at 10:19 am
The listening channel is a nice idea, I do it myself but never put a name on it nor did I think of doing it for clients (doh) – an easy and quick setup for a lot of gain.
By the way, with the automated tweets, I wasn’t suggesting that it would be just a stream of client announcements – the account setup would involve seeking out other tweeters in related areas to try to generate some dialog for the client to be pulled into and it would be something I would monitor (on my own listening channel) to see if it was gaining traction.. The main point was removing the hurdles of setting up the account, adding some friends and the necessity to deal with another scary interface for clients. Once there is some useful dialog going on, the medium of the conversation seems to become less important and people become more open to learning how to use it in their desire to communicate.
June 14th, 2009 at 1:35 am
7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses – http://ow.ly/cLXT
June 14th, 2009 at 1:35 am
7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses – http://ow.ly/cLXU
July 13th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
[...] 7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses From Krishna De’s BizGrowth News: Basics for new businesses who want to get started with a Facebook Page to build their brand online. Includes tips on registering your Facebook page, choosing keywords, creating an about page, setting a default page, designing the look of your profile, setting privacy setting and finding fans. [...]
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:40 am
[...] De lists 7 ways to get started on Facebook for new businesses which is also an interesting take with plenty of comments [...]
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:45 pm
[...] 7 Tips for Getting Started on Facebook for New Businesses – from Irish branding expert Krishna De [...]
July 29th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Reading: http://twitthis.com/ho8y5j
September 17th, 2009 at 12:08 am
RT @JeffHurt: 7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses by @krishnade http://ow.ly/pFHQ
October 20th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
[...] 7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses from Krishna De’s BizGrowthNews [...]
January 9th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
[...] 7 Tips for Getting Started on Facebook for New Businesses [...]
April 1st, 2010 at 9:24 am
[...] http://www.krishnade.com/blog/2009/getting-started-with-facebook-pages/ [...]
April 4th, 2010 at 12:31 am
#nism Here are 7 Tips To Getting Started On Facebook For New Businesses. See: http://tinyurl.com/qwuoaa
July 30th, 2010 at 3:46 am
Very good article in helping you to get started into your Facebook Pages. Remember to provide a proper keyword… http://fb.me/BLmMiphX