Creating a Facebook Brand
Here are things to consider as you look at the big-picture marketing plan.
Storytelling
If your company or brand were a living, breathing thing—which we think it virtually is!—then your Facebook page is the day-to-day or week-to-week chronicle of its life. Your customers, fans, and followers are interested enough in it to give your business some of their precious attention. They want to hear the story of your business.
When we talk about storytelling, we don’t mean John Grisham novels. We mean showing your customers what your business is really about.
One excellent example of this is Southwest Airlines. The popular airline not only uses its Facebook page to promote its latest fares, but it also gives readers an inside peek into their business. For instance, to celebrate its fortieth anniversary in June 2011, Southwest posted classic videos and fun facts about the company on its Facebook page.
Good storytelling rewards current customers for their loyalty and brings on board new customers who are interested in hearing more from you.
Your Profile Picture
It may seem like a minor detail, but your Profile picture is a crucial element of your Facebook page. When you do a search on Facebook for, say, “cookies,” all the businesses are listed with minimum info—and a big picture. For many customers, the picture is their first impression—and everyone knows how important first impressions are!
When deciding on a Profile picture, keep these guidelines in mind:
• Make sure it’s in line with your company’s philosophy and goals. A picture of the family that owns the business may be appropriate for, say, a law firm, but it would make little sense for a motorcycle company or a large corporation.
• Keep it simple. It should look good both in mobile phones and home computers.
• Use a consistent image. If you have a well-established logo, use it unless cycling different pictures is a part of your marketing plan.
 | FRIENDLY ADVICE |
Keep your Profile picture consistent across all your social media marketing campaigns. When creating your Facebook pic, think about how it will look on Twitter, LinkedIn, and other sites as well as on your official website.
• Hire a professional photographer or artist. It’s worth it to spend a couple hundred or even a couple thousand dollars for a high-quality image that represents your business.
Other Details
Facebook asks you to fill in the following details as you set up your account: To fill or edit this information, click Edit Page in the right column (see Figure 6.3).
• Your Settings: How you’d like to post news on your Facebook Wall and how you’d like to be contacted by Facebook regarding your account (see Figure 6.4).
• Manage Permissions: How much freedom visitors will have to post on your company’s Facebook Wall.
• Basic Information: The bio, contact info, and other details about your company.
• Profile Picture: The option to upload a picture representing your business.
• Featured: The option to highlight a particular news item or graphic on the page.
• Resources: Links to helpful Facebook tips and tricks.
• Manage Admins: Decide who will have the power to edit the Facebook page.
• Apps: The list of applications connected to your business page. By default, it includes photos, links, events, notes, and video.
• Mobile: Information on Facebook Mobile.
• Insights: Statistics on your visitors, page views, and other data.
• Help: Assistance with technical errors.
Figure 6.3: Filling out info on the company page.
Figure 6.4: In Your Settings, you can determine your posting preferences and how Facebook notifies you.
Don’t worry: you don’t have to enter everything right now and, based on customer feedback, you’ll be tweaking things anyway. Aside from the Profile picture, however, you definitely need to knock out the following key details:
• Contact info: We know, you already entered your location when you created your account, but you can get even more detailed here. For instance, if you have a mobile business, you may want to include your cell phone number along with the office number.
• Bio: Keep your company or brand bio precise, focused, and short. Try to limit it to 30 words so the entire description fits under your Profile picture on the Facebook page; if it’s any longer, most users won’t bother to click on the bio to see the rest of it.
• Permissions: Determine how much control you want to give your visitors and how much you need to keep yourself. For example, do you want to let visitors write on your Facebook Wall without your signing off? (See Chapter 8 for details.)
A Word About Admins
The last important detail is choosing your admin, or administrator, for the account. This person has ultimate power over your Facebook page. You can choose more than one person to serve as the admin.
 | DEFINITION |
An admin is the person who has control over the Facebook page. He or she can add, delete, or modify any information on the page.
Your admin will be able to take the following actions:
• Add or remove members or other admins from the page
• Delete content from the Wall
• Modify the official business information
 | WATCH OUT |
Having multiple admins for your business page is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s nice to have two or three people be able to modify the page as opposed to having one person with all the power. On the other hand, if the multiple admins disagree on an action, having all of them “in charge” could lead to some serious drama. Choose wisely.
Managing a Facebook page can be a time-consuming process, so it is understandable that you may not want or be able to be admin. If you do have someone fill the role of admin, though, choose someone whom you trust.