Maintain, Optimize, and Promote Your Facebook Business Page

So, you've set up your Facebook business page. Now how do you make the most of it? Here are some tips, gathered from Facebook itself, some shared web resources, and our own experience.

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Maintain, Optimize, and Promote Your Facebook Business Page (64 KB)

Maintaining and Optimizing Your Facebook Business Page

How often should you update your Facebook Business Page?

You should try to update your Facebook Business Page about once per day. This encourages people to follow you because they will know that you update regularly. In addition, your followers won't be scared off due to updating too frequently.

At what time of day should you update your Facebook Page?

Facebook users are the most active between 11:00 AM and 8:00 PM. Therefore, ideally, it would be a good idea to get your daily update onto Facebook before 11:00 AM, and definitely no later than 8:00 PM. However, even if you are late one day, posting late is better than not posting at all.

What should you post about?

• News
• Useful tips
• Tools
• Links to pages on your website
• Resources and links to other websites in your industry
• Photos
• Videos
• Events

What should I NOT post on my Facebook Business Page?

People don't go to social sites like Facebook to be sold to, so refrain from posting anything that could be interpreted as a sales pitch. If you have a new product or a limited time special offer, it's OK to announce it. But adding text like "Buy now" or "Contact us" with any regularity will generally turn off your followers. Your posts should be focused on sharing good information, not selling wares.

Where can I find ideas about what to post on my Facebook Business Page?

Check out what people are writing on your wall, whether as wall posts or comments. Are they asking questions? Maybe they have questions that you can answer in a Facebook Page wall post.

Find blogs in your industry. Use Technorati.com, AllTop.com and Blogs.com to find blogs in your industry. You should pick a few blogs to follow (this is outside of Facebook itself). When appropriate, leave comments on their recent blog posts, and then post a brief comment about this to Facebook (preferably with a link to that blog post).

Use Twitter's search. Find Twitter accounts of other people in your industry. Follow them and see what they are talking about. Then use these topics as idea generators for your Facebook posts.

Search LinkedIn for questions related to your business' industry. Answer these questions (briefly!) in Facebook Page wall posts (and also answer them on LinkedIn itself, with a link back to your website).

How else can you optimize your Facebook Page wall posts?

Make sure to use good keywords in your Facebook Page wall posts that you think people will be searching for. In addition, you should try to find opportunities to link to particular pages on your website – not your home page, but individual pages on your site.

Promoting Your Facebook Business Page

Invite Your Existing Facebook Friends to "Like" Your Page

To do this, on your Page, click the link "Suggest to Friends." A pop-up box will appear, and you can select which of your friends that you want to suggest the page to. You can also select them all. When you are done selecting which of your friends you'd like to send the suggestion to, click "Send Recommendations."

Invite Your Contacts

You can also share your Facebook Business Page with people who aren't your Facebook friends by importing a contact list from your e-mail or webmail application. To do this, go to your Page, click "Edit Page," and then click on the Marketing tab. Click on "Tell Your Fans." You can either upload a contact file from your computer, or tell Facebook to get a list of your contacts from your web mail.

Advertise Your Facebook Page On Your Website

Make sure you have a link to your Facebook Page on your website. If you don't know how to add the link, contact your web developer.

In the same vein, make sure that if you do email marketing, that you have a link to your Facebook page in your email newsletter template.

Offer Incentives

Offer incentives for people to "like" your page. Offer a prize to the n^th person to like your Facebook Business Page, and offer a prize to the person who recommended the page to them.

Run a Facebook Ad Campaign

Run a Facebook Ad Campaign targeting your demographics and invite them to join your fan page. To start a Facebook Ad Campaign, go to your Facebook Page and click on "Create an Ad." (Fees will apply.)