If you own a business, you need a Facebook business page. If you have one, you need to make sure it’s engaging and up-to-date. If you’re thinking about starting one, be aware that it’s more than uploading some photos and posting content. It all starts with a comprehensive strategy for getting more leads.

Here are 5 tips for creating an engaging Facebook business page.

Keep Business and Personal Matters Separate
Creating a personal profile page for your business instead of a Facebook Business Page will put your company at a considerable disadvantage. When you create a Business Page on Facebook, you gain access to numerous content creation tools, paid promotional opportunities and analytics and insights. Plus, when you create a personal page, instead of a business page, it requires people to send you a friend request to engage with you.

Use Page Roles
You’ve probably heard plenty of horror stories of people posting personal content to their employer’s social media channels. You can avoid these kinds of publishing mishaps by assigning Facebook Business Page roles only to those employees or assistants who need it to do their work.

No Glam Shots, Please
You want to choose a profile picture that is easy for your audience to recognize. This can be anything from a company logo to a headshot.I recommend adding your company logo to your page’s cover and choosing your professional photo for the cover photo. It’s important to present a professional image but people like knowing there’s a real person behind the company.

Being recognizable is essential for getting found and liked, especially when it comes to Facebook searches. It’s what shows up in search results and is what is pictured at the top of your Facebook page..

Grab Attention With an Engaging Cover Photo or Video
Your cover photo or video takes up the most real estate on your Facebook page. Be sure to choose one that’s engaging and high-quality. The dimensions of the cover photo change frequently. Be sure you check on the official guidelines often.

No Call-To-Action Button? What a Waste!
Adding a call-to-action button to your business page is a great way to drive more traffic to your company website. The options for companies to add call-to-action buttons to their pages has expanded since their introduction in 2014. The best part about this feature is that you can get data on how many people are clicking on your call-to-action through the site’s view insights feature.

Creating a more engaging Facebook page will set your business on the path to gaining more targeted leads. Follow these tips to help your business make the most out of its Facebook business page.

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10 Simple Truths About Marketing Your Business Through Your Facebook Profile

When you think of marketing your business on Facebook, you immediately think, “business page”.  You’ve been told not to mix business with your profile and vice versa.  It’s true that your business page should be dedicated to business-related topics.  After all, you may not want your business connections seeing what you or your friends did at their bachelor party in Las Vegas.

The truth is that your personal Facebook profile provides some great marketing opportunities.  Start there to build personal relationships that can be turned into business relationships the right way.

Here’s 10 things to start doing today:

Tell Your Friends – If people don’t know what you do for a living, they won’t know  to contact you when they need your services.  Add multiple business related posts to your Facebook profile.  Spread them out over a period of time.  The 80/20 rule is a good measure of how many business-related posts are acceptable. 80% personal posts/20% business posts.  Be creative.  Instead of saying, “I just sold a house in the XYZ neighborhood”, try saying something like, “XYZ neighborhood.  You’ve got some new neighbors”.  Add a photo and link back to an appropriate page on your website.

Like or Comment – The above scenario will get comments, likes and shares from your friends’ friends.  When that happens, send the new contacts a friend request.  Start building a relationship with them.

Check Your Facebook Settings – Settings play an important role in how your profile is or isn’t seen by the public.  Go through your Facebook settings to be sure your profile can be seen by the general public.

Let Them Follow You – Set your personal profile to allow follows.  This allows everyone to see all of your updates without having to accept them as a friend first.

Mix Business and Pleasure – As you add business posts, keep them as personal as possible.  Subtly let your friends know about a business event you’re involved in or an award you just received.  People like doing business with people they feel connected to in a personal way.

Contact Information – When adding a business post to a comment on your profile, include a link back to an appropriate page on your website or blog.  Include your contact information.

Call to Action – As you make a business post, include a CTA that drives them to a freebie or something else of value.  This gives you an added opportunity to add them to your sales funnel, turning Facebook friends into clients.

Images and Videos – Posts that include images and videos get far more interaction than plain text.  Post photos and videos of community events, a house you just listed, getting an award, going fishing.  Start a conversation with images and videos.  Something as simple as updating your profile header and profile picture can get a lot of likes and comments.

It’s Okay to Brag – Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to brag about ourselves.  We don’t want to sound pompous.  When something happens to you professionally that’s a source of pride, let your Facebook community know.  This gives them an opportunity to celebrate with you.

As you see, there is a way to mix your Facebook business pages with your profile.  It takes a little finesse, but the results can be impressive.  To learn more way to generate leads through social media, watch my 3 1/2 minute video.  Great tips!

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How to Give Your Facebook Business Page a Growth Spurt

Over 1.3 billion people are active users on Facebook.  Just about half of them log into Facebook every day, providing marketers with a great opportunity to promote their business and increase sales.  Facebook marketing success is not guaranteed.  However, there are some things you can do today to find Facebook business page success.

The No-Brainer – Facebook marketing success begins with a good Facebook business page.  Utilize every Facebook opportunity available to create a complete and interesting branded page.  Check back often to see if there is anything you can add to your page.  Always keep your information up-to-date.

Brand Yourself – Add you professional photo and business logo.  Brand your Facebook page to your website and other social media pages.  Your visitors will become acquainted with your brand, creating a connection with you.

What Do You Want Them to Do? – Add a Call to Action button to your page.  Facebook has a variety of buttons that can be customized for your page.  One my favorite features is the “Services” tab.  These can be used as a ‘call to action” tab that is linked to your website or landing page. Add a post on your personal profile asking your friends to like your business page.

What Do You Do?  – When deciding whether or not to accept a friend request, I first take a look at their business description.  This information is invaluable.  It gives visitors a description of your business, contact information and a link to your website, blog and other social media accounts.

Facebook Groups – One of the best ways to connect with people who are interested in what you have to offer is through Facebook Groups.  This gives you more online exposure and opportunity to share your expertise.  Become the one they think of when they need your services.

Post Often – Posting 2 or 3 times a day increases your chances of more people seeing your post.  Choose different times of the day and evening to see when you get the most activity.  Likewise, pay attention to the types of posts getting the most response.  Use a social media hub like HootSuite  to schedule posts in advance.

Be a Socialite – Not a Bore – Posting your Just Listed and Just Sold property listings is acceptable.  It’s not acceptable to post only ads.  Get involved in conversations that build relationships.  Sprinkle your ads within the many posts your followers will enjoy and be entertained by.

Check Your Settings – Facebook business page settings are important.  They give you control over who can contact you, who can see and publish to your page as well as many other settings.  Check your settings periodically to make sure they haven’t changed.

Set aside some time today or in the near future to take advantage of these tips.  Watch your Facebook audience grow while building your brand.

The post The Never Ending Pursuit of Facebook Business Page Success appeared first on Second Self Virtual Assistance.

Every Realtor® is told that they need a real estate Facebook business page. So, they go through the process of creating a page, adding a business cover and profile picture as well as their business description. That’s all well and good but it doesn’t make it a successful real estate Facebook business page.

Here’s two things you should be doing to make your real estate Facebook business page successful.

• Find Your Audience – Don’t stop at uploading your contacts list and asking them to “Like” your business page. Go one step further by using Facebook’s Graph Search option. In the example below, I searched for real estate agents. That brought up a couple of pages as well as posts from friends and groups. Use these lists to find and interact with the people in your real estate market niche.

• Facebook Ads Manager – This feature is so easy to use. You just pick the goal of your ad and Facebook walks you through the set-up process. In the graphic below, I chose the “send people to your website” option. From there, every step is intuitive. You create your pixel, set up a budget and target audience. Here’s the Facebook Ads Manager page to get started – https://www.facebook.com/ads/create/

Whether you’re boosting a post or creating an ad on Facebook, these 2 tips are a great way to showcase your property listings, target communities and notify people about events. It give you a targeted way to send people to your website, reach more people in your demographic, collect leads and promote your page. Take a look at your Facebook page. Make sure you’ve taken care of the basic set-up and then move ahead to Facebook boosts and Facebook ads.

Here’s another post you might be interested in, Social Media Marketing – Get Results by Being Involved.

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