With just four quick steps, creating a Facebook page for your business is probably the easiest How-To you’ll see in REMODELING this year. (Seriously, it takes, like, 3 minutes.) But the key with Facebook is not just how to set up the page but how to make it vibrant — and how to determine if you need a page in the first place.
[ STEP 1 ] Need It?
Five years ago, if you built and marketed a website, people would visit it, says Marty Gould, president of Focalize Consulting. Now it’s not so simple. “Social media has changed how people use the Internet,” Gould says. “A company website is no longer a destination — it’s just part of the online ecosystem.”
Gould says that a homeowner curious about a remodeling company may well visit Facebook before checking out the company’s website. Facebook interactions give the prospective client a feeling for the company’s culture, attitude, and reputation.
Four steps is all it takes to create a Facebook page for your business.
- Visit www.facebook.com/create and click the "Create a Page" button on the far right.
- Choose the type of page you want to build. "Local Business" will make sense for most remodelers.
- Fill in the blanks with your basic company information, agree to Facebook's terms of service, then click "Get Started."
- Rejoice! You've done it! Once your page is up, Facebook walks you through everything from adding a profile photo to inviting people to "Like" your page.
Mike Patterson agrees. “I created my Facebook page because it seemed to me that a website only was too static,” says the president of Patterson Builders-Remodelers, in Gaithersburg, Md. “Clients who are interested in what I have to say, who like my style, those people have already developed a bond with me and qualified my company before we’ve even met face to face. That first sales call is more like chatting with a neighbor than selling something.”
Key to success: Check around Facebook to see if your competitors are there. If they are, chances are you should be too.
[ STEP 2 ] Plan It
A cardinal sin of social media is having a public platform and not using it. “One of the biggest mistakes a company can make with Facebook is to start and then just stop,” says Corey Perlman, owner of Web consultancy eBootCamp. “Leaving your page hanging on the vine doesn’t just look bad, it also invites spammers, which really diminishes your brand.”
Once you’re prepared to spend time building and using a Facebook page, determining who will manage the page and its content is the next important step. At Meadowview Construction, in Georgetown, Mass., company president and self-described social media junkie David West manages the company’s Facebook page. “My personality comes through,” West says, “and the page has a fun, funny tone that’s refl ective of me and my business.”
But Gould says business owners shouldn’t feel obligated to shoulder all the Facebook responsibility. “Everyone in the company should be empowered to be a content provider,” he says. “Remodelers can outline with employees what type of content belongs on the site and how to share it in a way that will keep users engaged.”
Key to success: Facebook posts should refl ect the company’s personality while staying relevant and professional. Use common sense and decorum.
[ STEP 3 ] Build It
Building a page is the easiest part of the Facebook process. Follow the four quick steps at right and you’ll be part of the social media world in no time.
Key to success: Be prepared to populate your page with content right away so your first fans have something to see. Project photos, seminar and event dates, and a “welcome” post are good options to start with.
[ STEP 4 ] Share It
Facebook has built-in tools to help you invite friends to “like” your page. Beyond that, businesses should add a “Find us on Facebook” link, badge, or Facebook logo to their site, newsletters, print ads, and other communications.
Key to success: Once your page has 25 fans, visit facebook.com/username. There, you can create a “custom URL” that will make your page easier to find. Remodeling can be found at facebook.com/RemodelingMagazine.
[ STEP 5 ] Use It
New social media users often wonder how frequently they should post. Perlman says there’s no magic number, but once a day is a good rule of thumb. “Vary the time of day that you add content,” he advises. “If you’re always posting at 9 a.m., you will only reach people who are also on Facebook at 9 a.m. Users who check their page at lunch might never see your posts.”
Luke Syers, marketing coordinator at Highcraft Builders, in Fort Collins, Colo., posts as often as good content presents itself. Facebook, he says, doesn’t have to be time-consuming.
“Social media is a task I fit in between other work,” Syers says. “I always make sure to post at least one item on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter on a weekly basis. I do spend a little extra time trying to network with other local companies by liking their pages or following them and hoping they return the favor.”
West prefers a higher posting frequency. “If you think people will see everything you post, you’re wrong,” he says. He estimates that most users only see about one third of the posts on their feeds in a day. Using that estimate, West says, “if you want people to see one post from you every day, you have to post three times.”
But users shouldn’t feel pressured to post multiple times a day. “The company should update as often as it can come up with things that are of interest to the people who it’s trying to cultivate as customers,” he says.
Key to success: Use page insights and post analytics to monitor the types of posts that generate the most feedback, and even the days or times of day that seem to be most popular among your page’s fans.
Resist Temptation
Web experts and Facebook users agree on one thing: a Facebook page should not be considered a primary sales tool.
“Business owners have to see Facebook less as a billboard and more as a platform for engaging their community,” says Corey Perlman, owner of eBootCamp. “When I use Facebook, I ask myself how our company can help people, even if they don’t hire us. You have to make it about the people using the page. Not about yourself.”
David West agrees. “Facebook lets you show people who you are personally,” says the president of Meadowview Construction. “I can tell someone I’m trustworthy, but on Facebook I can post information that illustrates that, like examples of construction dos and don’ts, articles about trends, or news in our area. I try to be an information source, even if they don’t hire us.”
Ben Thompson, president of Thompson Remodeling, in Grand Rapids, Mich., says communicating on Facebook can help to build relationships offl ine. “Facebook is great for checking in with clients and seeing what’s going on in their lives,” he says. “Then, when you meet them out in the world, you can engage them on topics you know are important to them.”
Perlman says that once a company has eff ectively engaged its fanbase, “then you’ve earned the right to softly promote your business.”
Dual Personalities
Many business owners wrestle with the question of how best to interact with clients and prospects on Facebook. Should you be “friends” on your personal profile? Create one profile for personal use and one for business? Or is a company page the way to go?
Facebook’s Terms of Service helps answer those questions, specifically stating that users may “not create more than one personal profile.” As such, a company page is usually the best option. It lets the business owner maintain a personal profile on Facebook for friends and family while simultaneously building professional relationships on the company page.
Fear not: neither the twain shall meet (unless you want them to). Personal friends must “like” your company page in order to interact with it, and “fans” of your page must specifically request to be your friend (or you, theirs) for either of you to see interactions on your personal profiles.
—Lauren Hunter, associate editor, REMODELING.