Along with ordering your brand new business cards, one of the first steps in starting a new business is creating a successful Facebook business page. Many business owners have seen the power of manning a successful FB page – more clients, higher Google ranking, and more buzz, all at no cost. When you’re just getting started, this might mean that you have to work on TWO Facebook pages – your business page and your personal page. I mean, who is more likely to support your business than your friends? Here’s some advice on how to make this happen.
The updated Facebook is always suggesting new people “you may know.” Go to your Facebook homepage and look to the right of the screen. You’ll see a list of suggested friends there. Add anyone that you know or that you think you might know. Then also add people who have a lot of mutual friends. If you get really ballsy, you can add people you actually don’t know at all. Just don’t get so trigger happy that you accidentally add the ex you purposely deleted from your friends list a while ago.
If this all works out, you’re about to become something of a public figure. So it’s time to start acting like one. Go through your Facebook photos and delete any that are incriminating or too personal. This means the one of you passed out drunk with magic marker all over your face and probably the one of your graduation from rehab that was taken shortly thereafter. Also the twenty vanity webcam shots of you making various sexy pouty faces, and the one of you in a skimpy bikini (unless you’re really, really hot). You should probably also go back and delete any posts you don’t want the world to see – like the ones where you were passive-aggressively fighting with your girlfriend of giving a play-by-play of your son’s potty training progress.
Once you’ve cleaned house, make sure your future posts are suitable for the general public. Pics of you baking or skydiving are cool, but please nothing about your emotional instability or fears about whether the mole on your shoulder is cancerous.
Go to your homepage and watch the feeds to see what friends are up to. Comment on their status updates and pictures, wish them happy birthday, and “like” stuff. People like the attention, and they’ll be compelled to visit your page back if they see you’re interested in what they’re doing.
You have a couple of options here. The first one, which seems to be rising in popularity, is to create a Facebook group. This has an advantage over the typical Facebook business 
page because members have the ability to be more interactive. To do so, go to your homepage and look to the right. You’ll see your groups there, and at the bottom you’ll notice the option to “create group.” Click on that and follow the instructions.
To create a Facebook business page, go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php and then select the type of page you want to build – for a local business, company, artist, product, etc. You’ll have the ability to link the page up with your personal page, and from there you can invite your friends to “like” your page. Invite everyone, even though you have to hand-click on every person’s name.
Invite members to your Facebook group and make sure you’ve created an “open” group where anyone can join and invite others. Post things that are interesting on your group page, and relevant to your business. You want to provoke conversations and reactions from members so that they will visit frequently and make a lively community on your page. Even if your page is for your divorce law practice, you can post funny marriage jokes, celebrity divorce news, and cartoons about marriage – there are plenty of them out there.
On your business page, post promotions, daily musings, and also relevant outside materials like the ones mentioned above. Always re-post your status updates to your personal page as well, so friends who weren’t roped in the first time will venture over to your business page, “like” it, and possibly take you up on your offer for goods or services.
You may be thinking, “But this all takes so much work!” Well, if there’s anything we’ve learned from the recent updates Google has made to its search criteria, it’s that content – genuine, original, relevant content – is king these days. There aren’t many shortcuts, but with a daily effort, your Facebook investment will likely pay off.
About Jenny DixonJennifer has been apart of the EliteFlyers.com team for over 15 years. She brings a deep understanding of web marketing, thoughtful strategies, that she's able to design, manage, print, deliver multi-media campaigns to meet all client's goals. Her personal portfolio includes high-end design and printing of business cards, flyers, post cards for elite businesses and individuals from all over the world.
