Facebook is the most widely used online social networking service. More than 1 billion people rely on it, including many near every business in the U.S. Users tend to be young (18 to 29 years old), although more people 65+ are using it.
Having a presence on Facebook that is regularly updated can help grow a business by keeping the business at the top of people’s minds. Posts can include ideas related to the business, industry news, sales or specials, new product lines or even humorous links.
A businessperson begins by verifying their Facebook page. Verified pages help businesses control their content.
Secondly a business sets up their Facebook page, ensuring that the business is slotted into the right category, the business profile is complete, images are set up correctly, physical address of the business is right, the business website link is correct and contact information is accurate. Congratulations, you have your first link to your website.
Once a business has 25 Likes, change the Facebook URL to a vanity URL. A vanity URL is easier for people to remember.
25 Likes is just the start. On a national scale, the click through rate when people read a post is just four clicks out of every 10,000 views. Locally, every click is valuable because every reader lives near the business or knows someone who could become a new customer.
Facebook uses EdgeRank to organize the massive amount of Facebook activity and select which stories to show whom. The more a business posts material people actually read, the better.
Facebook Insights, once a business reaches 30 likes, is their analytics. Available information includes page likes, post reach and reader engagement.
Lastly, feel free to engage with visitors. While this takes time, and most retailers will insist that they have no extra time, thank Facebook visitors for posting something positive and fix it when it’s negative.