By Kristin Shawd
Facebook is the top social media marketing platform for small to medium-size businesses, and likely it’s in your current marketing mix.
The question is, “are you using Facebook effectively?”
Effective use of Facebook is made up of many factors, including:
- Facebook Business Page optimization (below)
- Consistent, helpful posts that serve your user
- Posts that encourage engagement
- Boosting posts or utilizing Facebook Ads to accomplish your business goals (below)
This post will look at two of these: Business Page optimization and how to use boosting (or Facebook Ads) to further your reach and accomplish your business goals.
So, if you think your Facebook implementation could use some tweaking, or if you’re tossing around the idea of launching a Facebook Business Page, keep reading.
[If you're curious about Facebook’s advantages over other social media platforms, check out our blog post-Facebook: Why Most Marketers Can’t afford to Ignore It]
7 Tips to Optimize Your Facebook Business Page
So you’ve created a Business Page, but you haven’t gotten the attention or reach you hoped for. The first step we suggest is evaluating your page based on the following tips.
Tip #1 - Profile picture
Your profile picture should represent your brand. Typically a logo is best, primarily since the profile picture will be used in all posts, shares, and comments made by you; plus it's used in search results.
Each time someone sees your logo; you are building brand awareness, so use it as your profile picture. Unless, of course, you have a compelling reason to use an image other than your logo for your profile picture. Just make that decision thoughtfully.
As to size, your profile picture will be displayed anywhere from 36x36 pixels to 170x170 pixels. This depends on what device is used to access Facebook and where the profile picture is being displayed (newsfeed or at the top of your Page).
Also, keep in mind that it will be cropped into a circular shape in ads and posts. For this reason, we recommend you size your profile picture to 180x180 pixels as this leaves room for the crop. Remember to check how it looks at 36x36 pixels as well. You want to ensure your logo is legible at that smaller size.
Tip #2 - Cover Photo
Be sure to add a Cover Photo. This image is the largest graphic on your Business Page, and it should showcase your business. DON’T leave this piece of real estate empty.
Are you caught between a few images? Try them out to see how your audience responds to them. If you’re in an industry where it makes sense, you can change (or freshen) your cover photo periodically, perhaps reflecting seasonal changes or industry trends.
Your cover photo may also be a video rather than a picture. You may want to consider this as video attracts better than static images.
Remember a video can be made up of a single video clip, a collection of assembled video clips, several static images stitched together into a video, or a combination of these.
If you decide to try out a video cover photo, be sure to create a video that’s 20-90 seconds in length and sized to 820x312 pixels at a minimum (though 820x462 is recommended).
Below is an example of a video being used as a cover photo on Animoto's Facebook Business Page. We've captured just a snippet of this video, which follows Facebook's 20-90 second guideline.
As to the size of a static cover photo, consider the following:
- It will display at 820x312 pixels on computers
- It will show at 640x360 pixels on smartphones
- It will load fastest at 851x315 pixels as an sRGB JPG file that’s under 100 kilobytes
- It must meet a minim size of 400x150 pixels
Notice that the computer and smartphone dimensions are different image ratios (shapes). Make sure the critical parts of your cover image are within each of these and that no text is clipped.
Pro-Tip: Add a Description to Your Cover Photo
Many don’t bother to add a description to their cover photo but we encourage you to do so. Adding a story gives you another opportunity to share relevant, searchable information. This holds whether your cover image is a photo or video.
The following elements can be included in your cover photo description:
- use keywords and copy about your business
- add a link to your website
- add location
- tag yourself
Finally, while profile pictures and cover photos are uploaded as sRBG JPG files, Facebook suggests using a PNG file if your images contain your logo or text. It may give better results.
Tip #3 - Double Check Your Business Category
You were prompted to select a business category when you created your Business Page. Go back and double-check it to make sure you selected the best option. Facebook allows you to choose up to three business categories, but that doesn’t mean you should.
You should only select categories for which you want to be found. Your first selection should be the most relevant as Facebook will provide other Page options based on this selection (such as tabs and templates which are discussed below).
Tip #4 - Maximize the About Section
Two types of descriptions are available to you on your Facebook Business Page. The first resides under the About tab.
Here, a series of categories are available where you can add information about your business. If you were in a rush when you initially set up your Business Page (a common occurrence), it's possible you didn’t give careful consideration to all of these categories.
Perhaps it’s time to revisit them and provide your Page fans and visitors more detailed information about your company.
The following attributes are available under the About tab:
- Page info – your company launch date, which displays here is being eliminated in August 2019. Consider moving launch info into your Story.
- Interests
- Contact Info
- About Description
- Affiliation
- Company Overview
- Biography
- Awards
- Gender
- Products
- Personal Information
- Menu – restaurant menu or services menu
In today’s marketplace, people like to do business with people and companies they know and trust. So take the time to fill out these sections.
In particular, don’t neglect the following parameters:
- Link to your Website
- If you have a website, you want to drive traffic to it! So be sure to add a link whenever possible on your Facebook page. Especially here, as this is where visitors know to look for it.
- Add a short description (155 characters) in the section titled, "About" on the About page. This is confusing and seems redundant, but it is essential, as this short description is what is used when your Facebook page comes up in search results.
Make sure to include the following in this short description:- Who you are, what you do
- Relevant keywords
Pro Tip: Add a longer description of your business under the Story section
- Include details like history, mission, why you do what you do, services, links to your other social media pages
- Repeat here your phone number, website, and address
- 10,000 characters max—so you can give lots of detail
Tip #5 - Enable Two Call to Action Buttons
Have you enabled your Call to Action Button on your Facebook Business Page?
If not, why not?
It gives your page visitors a chance to interact with you and possibly become leads or customers.
There’s a wide range of options when configuring your Page CTA button, including:
- Book Now
- 5 Contact You options (phone call, web link, Messenger, email, landing page)
- Learn More or Watch Video
- Shop Now or See Offers
- Download and Use App or Play Game
But why stop at one CTA button when you can set up two CTA buttons on your Facebook page. Yes, two Call to Action buttons! To learn how to set this up, watch the three-minute video below.
Two CTA's on your Facebook Business Page is excellent. But it's not the limit. Indeed, it is also possible to have three CTA’s on your Business Page. As it is more complicated to implement, leave us a message on our contact form, and we’ll walk you through it.
Tip #6 - Customize Your Page with Templates and Tabs
You may feel like you’ve done a lot to make your Business Page unique at this point, but there’s another step you can take by adding other relevant tabs (or pages). This is done by clicking on Templates and Tabs under Settings.
Templates are a quick way to decide on which tabs to include, as Facebook has clustered them for you based on the business category you’ve selected (another reason why this selection is essential).
If you prefer to choose on your own which tabs (pages) to include, you’ll have the following to select from:
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Offers– List your current business offers
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Services– Highlight the services you offer
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Shop– Shows feature products
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Reviews– Allows people to view and leave reviews
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Photos, Posts, Video– 3 separate tabs showing photos, posts, and videos
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Live Videos– Show live videos only about your page
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Events– Lists your upcoming events
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About– Lists vital contact information about your page
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Notes– Space to highlight the information you deem important
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Community– List friends that have liked your Page
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Groups– List the groups that you’ve linked to from your Business Page
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Info and Ads– Shows add that you’re running from your Business Page
It may sound like overkill, but it’s worth it to fill out your Business Page and customize it to your needs.
Tip #7 - Create a Vanity (Custom) URL
Once you have 25 likes on your Business Page, you can convert your randomly generated URL (which Facebook assigns to your Page) into a custom URL. These so-called vanity URL’s are much more professional looking and much more practical when trying to advertise your Facebook page.
Once you customize your Facebook URL, you can’t change it. So choose the custom name thoughtfully. Make it consistent with your brand name, website name, and how you are identified on other social platforms, if possible.
Even if you optimize and customize your Facebook Business Page, it’s not a guarantee of the reach and engagement. That's where boosting Facebook Ads come in.
Boosting Posts on Facebook to Broaden Reach
You may have noticed that your posts don’t always get that many eyes on them. Facebook is ever changing its algorithm, and currently, it favors friends and family over businesses for organic reach (reach achieved without financial investment is called organic reach).
Having lots of followers doesn’t even guarantee lots of eyes on your Business Page content. Indeed, currently, less than 10% of your followers are served up your posts by Facebook’s algorithm.
So how do you change this?
One effective way is to start advertising on Facebook if you’re not already. Yes, there was a time when ad-spend wasn’t necessary on Facebook, but those days are pretty much over. While none of us like this, we do have to deal with it.
Fortunately, there is some good news too, especially if your budget is small. We’ve found through experience with our clients that small businesses can find success through boosting with a very modest budget.
Yes, you can increase the reach of your posts, and thus your brand awareness, via boosting...at a minimal cost.
Perhaps you’ve looked into this and been confused by the options within Facebook. Should you boost or use Facebook’s Ads Manager and create your ad there?
Well, that depends on what your goals are. Boosting a post you’ve already created is simple and effective if your goal is brand awareness.
To achieve other business goals such as specific conversions, you’ll likely do better creating a more particular ad type within Facebook’s Ads Manager. We’ll cover this in a later blog post.
Key Takeaway
Whew! I don't know about you, but I'm excited! There are so many options available to pump up your Facebook presence via optimizing your Business Page and beginning to boost your content. I can't wait until we can dive further into the details of boosting versus Facebook Ads.
Stay tuned...
About Mulligan Management Group
Overwhelmed? We get it. If you find it makes sense for your business to partner with a content marketing professional, our team at Mulligan Management Group will welcome the chance to discuss your needs. Contact us a call at 330-472-7673 to set up a free 30-minute consultation. We’re located in Hudson, Ohio, and our passion is helping our clients build their internet presence and expand their authority online.