Facebook is an ever-growing platform with over 1.2 billion people with an account with over 665m daily active users and 751million active mobile users.
There are real opportunities for small businesses to increase their brand visibility and reach people they never had a chance to connect with before, build loyalty and increase sales. So what are the five questions most frequently asked by small businesses?
Q1: How do I set up a business page?
There are thousands of businesses out there that have a profile page (personal) for their business instead of a fan “like” page.
To set up a page there are a few existing links in Facebook…
– Home page – at the bottom of the page, you’ll see ‘create a page for a celebrity, band or business or click here https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/
– Within your personal page you will see links throughout to “Create a Page”
Q2: Do I need a personal page to have a business page?
‘No’ is the correct answer but it is advisable to have a personal page and to use this personal page to administer your business page. When you set up your business page, you will be asked if you are on Facebook and have an account. Then you say ‘yes’ and enter in your account details. This means that your business page will be administered via your personal account. Some apps need a personal account to be able to connect to a business page so its best to connect the two from the start to save on any confusion or issues down the line.
If you already have a business page and you cannot administer it via your profile you need to make yourself an administrator.
Go to your settings
Add email address of your own Facebook account (or the email of anyone you would like to be an administrator)
Don’t forget to make yourself a manager (it will default to Content Creator)
Q3: Will people on my business page be able to see my personal stuff?
No, your business page is separate to your personal one – you are just using one access point to administer both. People who connect with your business page will only be able to see what other people in the public can already see on your personal profile page. If you are unsure, it is advisable to review your privacy settings to ensure you are happy with what’s visible and to whom.
Q4: How & when do people see my content/posts?
This is an interesting one because Facebook has an algorithm that weights each piece of information posted based to some key factors. This algorithm has been changed recently, Facebook is trying to ensure that everyone sees posts that are relevant to them and their network. They are trying to improve the quality of what you see in your newsfeed. There are lots of factors that are looked at to determines if the post should appear in a users Newsfeed.
Did you know that over 95% of people who like your page will never go back to your page? They will engage with you via what they see in their news feed so it is important that you understand how their algorithm works. The factors they look at are:
Affinity: what is the fans relationship with the page? Do they regularly engage? If they do they are more likely to see posts in their news feed.
Weight: Text and images get best reach but they also look at the amount of engagement a post gets e.g. the more shares, comments and likes a post gets, the more reach it gets.
Time decay: how old the post is. The older the post the less likely it is to appear in the Newsfeed. There is now a Story Bump element, this looks at the most recent engagment and can bump a story back into a users Newsfeed.
Mari Smith (I am a big fan of Mari) has explained it really well here https://www.facebook.com/marismith/posts/10151634618840009
Q5: I have a ‘Friend’ page for my business, how can I make it a business page?
If you have a profile (friend) page, it is relatively easy to migrate it to a business page. Facebook provides helpful information here https://www.facebook.com/help/175644189234902/. You should be aware that when you migrate your profile to a page that all previous posts will be lost and everything will be lost except for your connections will now be likes and your profile image will still be visible. If you are migrating a page across it is important to build activity quickly so that you do not lose your fans’ affinity to your page which will mean decreased visibility and engagement.
So that is my round up of the top 5 questions I get asked . Facebook can offer your small business so much. It’s up to you to gain a solid knowledge of this powerful platform and get Facebook working for you.
Happy Facebooking 🙂