chapter 2
Designing a Business Page
Your Facebook business Page is one of the most important assets you have in successfully marketing your business. You can drive lots of visitors to your Facebook Page and update your status frequently, but if you have not taken the time to create a well-designed Page, all these things are useless.
Designing a successful Facebook Page is deceptively easy. Any business owner can create a Facebook Page in less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, but it takes a bit of thought, planning, and technical tinkering to make your Facebook Page just right for you and your business and encourage visitors to take the action you want. This chapter helps you design a great Facebook Page.
Facebook Business Pages versus Traditional Websites
Designing Your Basic Facebook Page
Best Practices in Design and Content
Case Study: It’s a Perfect Day
Facebook Business Pages versus Traditional Websites
My friend Navin Ganeshan, chief product strategist at online marketing and web host company Network Solutions, has his finger on the pulse of how small business owners can successfully build their businesses online. In this chapter, Navin shares his insight.
As you start creating your Facebook business Page, it is likely to remind you of the process of designing a website. You face the same considerations regarding the logo, colors, and links, and you need to adhere to some of the same do’s and don’ts of design and content. And yes, you’ll most likely even experience the same writer’s block.
In the days before Facebook (hard to imagine, I know), small-business websites took on the full burden of creating a compelling presence, listing all the information that visitors wanted to see and serving as the place for visitors to interact with your business by commenting, sharing, and reviewing.
This was rarely done well. It took considerable effort from the business owner to create a welcoming experience that invited participation. Also, visitors had little incentive for participating, primarily because the experience lacked social context. Enter Facebook, which provides that social context by sharing your likes, comments, visits, and activities with your friends, and vice versa.
Your website and your Facebook Page are subtly differentiated in function, as outlined in Table 2.1. Think of your website as where you really want to convey the full breadth and depth of your business using your own unique style and descriptive content about your services. Your Facebook Page is primarily the point of interaction between you and your customers, where you speak to them directly and they talk back to you about your product or service.
While a Facebook business Page has strengths and limitations, ultimately, how you use it depends on your needs, the nature of your business, and your willingness to invest time. Some businesses configure their Page to support everything from product sales to customer service request tracking.
Table 2.1 Business Website and Facebook Business Page: The Subtle Differences
|
Website |
|
|
You have full creative control |
You have limited control |
|
Focus on presentation |
Focus on interaction |
|
Visitors expect uniqueness |
Visitors expect uniqueness, but in a familiar context |
|
Frequent content updates needed |
Content changes in real time |
Facebook Redesigns
In early 2011, Facebook made some high-profile changes to the layout and technology behind its business Pages. The most important of these was a switch from a proprietary technology called Facebook Markup Language (FBML) to a more flexible IFRAME layout. The IFRAME layout enables you to embed a website element (such as a picture, graphic, or other element) more easily inside another web page. The change was made as part of a move to HTML5, an update of the basic web coding format being rolled out slowly to improve compatibility with media tags and mobile devices.
The most significant change to business Pages has been the mandatory conversion to the Timeline format. The Timeline shows a chronological, diary-like, display of all that’s happened on your Facebook Page. You can see what’s happening now or last year or three years ago. With this change comes an entirely new anatomy of the business Page and how information is viewed and shared.
The largest change, aesthetically, is the addition of the cover photo in place of the photo strip. Instead of using a series of photos that constantly change (as the photo strip did) to identify and describe your business on your Page, the cover photo gives you a much larger space to use a dedicated image to convey your brand or image to visitors.
Timeline also changes the way your Page content is viewed. The different areas of content on your profile Page are now organized using links located beneath your cover photo instead of tabs at the top. These are referred to as views and apps. Despite the change, many people still routinely refer to the individual Pages as tabs. Photos, Likes, Events, and custom apps that you create for your business Page, such as a Welcome Page, are examples of the types of links that appear within the views and apps section of your Page.
Many new tools were added with Timeline as well, including pinned posts, starred or hidden stories, and milestones. Each of these tools allows you different ways of highlighting stories on your Page and managing how they appear to your visitors.
Here are the key components of the Facebook Timeline:
• Cover photo. This is a dedicated image of your brand, product, or service.
• Profile picture. This is the smaller image that appears below your cover photo. This image represents your company and appears as a thumbnail in News Feed stories, ads, and Sponsored Stories, so it should be an image that your followers can easily associate with you, such as a logo. I cover customizing your profile picture later in this chapter.
• Views and apps. These are the boxes that appear below your cover photo and link to your photos, events, and custom apps (see Figure 2.1).
2.1 The cover photo, profile picture, composer, and views and apps boxes in the Timeline.
• Composer. The composer is the open box on your Page where you can post updates and photos, ask questions, or enter milestones. Posting regularly on your Page increases your reach to your audience and encourages engagement.
• Pinned post. You can pin, or anchor, a story so it appears at the top of your Page by using the Story Edit button and clicking Pin to Top (see Figure 2.2). The story will remain at the top of your Page for up to seven days.
• Star and hide stories. This function allows you to highlight, or star, important stories that appear on your Page or to hide stories that are not as engaging or relevant.
• Milestones. You can create milestones that define key moments of your business, such as when you opened, so they appear on your Timeline.
2.2 You can pin posts, star stories, or hide stories.
To see a full, detailed outline of all of the components of Timeline and the layout features, visit http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/Pages_Product_Guide_022712.pdf.
Because the changes make it easier to achieve a higher level of sophistication and visual effects, you can choose to design your own Page, as explained in this chapter, or choose to use one of the many Facebook Page design tools that have popped up (several with free versions) that make it much easier to get started. The choice is yours, and this chapter gives you information about each of the choices so you can get your Page up and running in no time.
Designing Your Basic Facebook Page
Once you decide that you are going to create a Facebook Page for your business, you can use a number of options to design your Page and publish it on Facebook. In this section, I explain the basic steps of creating and designing a Page using the standard Facebook tools. Though these tools are available to everyone and are quite simple, they only enable you to create a very basic Facebook Page without many bells or whistles. Creating a Page with these tools is a nice baby step for those who want to set up something simple or establish a basic presence that they will update later with additional designs and tools.
You must follow some basic steps to get your Page up and running in Facebook, which I outline in the following sections.
Creating a Facebook login
You more than likely already have a functioning Facebook login and may have a business Page already in existence. If not, you need to set this up before continuing. To set up a Facebook account, follow these steps:
1. Go to www.facebook.com. On the right-hand side of the website you see Sign Up.
2. Complete all the fields in the Sign Up boxes and then click Sign Up. You have now created a Facebook account.
You will notice that under the Sign Up boxes on the Facebook home Page there is a link to Create a Page for a celebrity, band, or business. By using this link, you can create a business Page without having a personal Facebook account. I strongly suggest that you do not create your Page this way, but instead create a personal account first to link to your business Page. By doing this, you will have better control and additional privacy settings available for your Page.
Creating a business Page
Once you have a personal Facebook account, click the Create a Page link at the bottom of your Account Settings page or go to www.facebook.com/pages/create.php (see Figure 2.3).
2.3 The option to create a Page is found under Account Settings on your personal Facebook Page.
You can create a number of different types of Pages, including Local Business or Place; Company, Organization, or Institution; Brand or Product; and a few others. Choose the Page type that most closely reflects your type of business. For example, if you are a retail business or restaurant and have an actual business location, choose Local Business or Place. If you provide consulting or business services and work from your home or a private office, then you would most likely want to choose Company, Organization, or Institution. Think carefully about what kind of organization you want to display. Some Pages, depending on the type, have limited features while others do not, which can require some unorthodox management headaches when your followers grow significantly. For example, a local business Page has an address while a company, organization, or institution Page does not.
Once you’ve chosen the type of Page to create, you need to specify the name of the Page, which should be your business name. After you design your main Page, you can add additional views and apps to your Page, which allows you to highlight different aspects of your business such as products, photos, and services.
Customizing Page content
Your Page content is the meat and potatoes of your business Page. Customizing Page content can feel like adding a fresh coat of paint and sprucing up the hand rails of an old house in that the details become important when considered together. Some Page elements are within your control from a design perspective while others are not, but they all work together as your overall business presence (see Figure 2.4).
Ensure you have a good and high-resolution photo that shows the business at work. Add a summary that tells users a little information about your organization, brand, or product. It’s important that you relay enough information so that people know who you are, what you do, and what you offer, but not so much information that your visitors are overwhelmed. Customizing your Page and adding content is very easy and you should focus on the following elements.
2.4 The basic elements of a Facebook business Page.
Profile picture
Your profile picture typically represents your business logo. Use an image that scales well from 180 × 180 to 32 × 32 pixels, as this image follows your business as a thumbnail image in News Feeds, ads, and Sponsored Stories. This is usually the first element you want to customize because nothing is more uninviting to visitors than a business Page without a profile picture (see Figure 2.5).
You only need to add a profile picture if you didn’t upload an image during Page creation.
2.5 The default Facebook business Page.
Adding a profile picture is quick and simple and can be done by following these steps:
1. When your new Page is launched, you are on the Get Started page where you are prompted to Add an Image for your profile picture. Click the Upload an Image link.
2. A pop-up box prompts you to click the Choose File. Click Choose File and find the file you want to use as the profile picture on your computer.
3. Double-click on the file and the image will upload right away. After the file is uploaded, it automatically appears as your profile picture. (Note: If you don’t like the picture as it appears, you have to edit it outside of Facebook so it fits the dimensions allowed and then reupload the file.)
If you have uploaded an image as your profile picture, but you want to change it, it is still very simple but the steps are slightly different:
1. Hover your mouse over the existing profile photo.
2. Click Edit Profile Picture.
3. If you want to use an existing file, click Choose from Photos and you will go to your photo albums. Choose the photo you want to use and click Make Profile Picture for Page.
4. To add a new file, click Upload Photo or Take Photo. You are prompted to either choose a file from a location on your computer or to take a picture to add. (Note: You must have a webcam on your computer to take a picture to add.) After you take a picture with your webcam, click Save Picture.
5. After you choose the file you want to add, it automatically becomes your new profile picture.
Once again, make sure that the picture you choose for you profile picture is a good representation of your business and the image you want to portray to your Facebook following.
Business information
When creating your Page, you want to provide all the basic information about your business along with a description of your products or services. During the Page setup process you provide general information about your Page, but once it’s set up you’ll want to add more in-depth information. You can do that by following these steps:
1. Open the Admin Panel on the top right of your business Page and click Edit Page.
2. Click the Admin Panel, then click Update Info from the drop-down list to view Basic Information. A new Page appears that includes sections for you to complete, including Name, Start Date, Start Type, Address, About, Description, Mission, Awards, Products, Email, Phone, and Website (see Figure 2.6). Complete each of these fields with as much information as you can provide. (Note: You can go back any time and change this information.)
3. Click Save Changes on the bottom of the Page to save your information.
Again, tailor your information to fit your type of business and what information you want available to your followers. For example, if you’re a car mechanic, include what types of car repairs you can do.
2.6 Complete all the information about your business Page so that those that visit understand who you are and what you do.
Timeline posts
When you build your Facebook business Page, keep in mind what should be reflected on your Timeline. The Timeline is where your updates and posts are displayed. You can adjust who can post on your Timeline and add moderation filters through the Manage Permissions page (just above the Basic Information option).
Once visitors click the Like button on your Page, they then have the ability to see your Timeline posts in their News Feed. Timeline posts should be used to convey information about your company to your followers. For example, if you are a retail location and you have a new product you are introducing, create a Timeline post about the product. To create a Timeline post, follow these steps (see Figure 2.7):
2.7 Posting updates and pictures to your Timeline keeps followers informed on what’s happening in your business and encourages interaction.
1. Below the Cover photo on your business Page, there is a box on the left side that says Status, Photo/Video, and Event, Milestone. This is called the Composer. From this box, share or post the following:
• Status. This is text about your business, its daily happenings, specials, new products, and so on. The box automatically defaults to Status and you can type in the text box where it says “Write something...”
• Photo/Video. This is where you can add photos or videos that relate to your business or events that will appear on your Timeline.
• Event, Milestone. By clicking on this link you can add an event for your business. You can also add milestones that your business reaches here, such as anniversaries and opening of additional locations.
2. Once you finish adding the information you want to post on your Timeline in the appropriate box, you can choose if you want to share this with everyone by keeping it public or define exactly who you want your audience to be by targeting a location/language.
3. Click Share to add your post to your Timeline.
You now have content added to your business Page Timeline for all your fans to see when they visit your Page. Again, this is a great way to share information about your business and encourage your fans to interact with your Page, as any content you share will appear in their News Feeds.
Cover photo
The cover photo is the large photo that appears at the top of your business Page. The cover photo makes a strong statement to users when they land on your Page, so you want to ensure it’s something that captures the essence of your brand, product, or service (see Figure 2.8). This can be a single photo, a collage of photos, or a photo that incorporates your business logo, tagline, or other information. Whatever the image is, for the best quality it should be 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall and less than 100KB. If it is not these dimensions, it will be stretched to fit these dimensions, which may severely alter its appearance. Also, your cover photo may not contain the following:
• Price or purchase information (such as 50 percent off)
• Contact information that is intended for your About section, such as web address, e-mail, or mailing address
• References to use interface elements, such as like or share or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”
2.8 Starbucks uses a fun photo collage as its cover photo.
Views and apps
The views and apps boxes that appear under your Cover photo represent different areas of information about your business. In addition to the standard views such as the Photos, Likes, and Events, Facebook also lets you create other Pages or add other applications such as Restaurant Reservation or Product Catalogs (see Figure 2.9).
2.9 Views and apps appear under the cover photo on your business Page and give you and your visitors quick access to the main features and applications you’ve added to your Page. The applications you see are specific to each individual Page and depend on what applications you’ve added to your Page.
While adding applications is a more advanced step and outside the bounds of this book, there are certain applications, such as the Welcome Page, that are a nice addition and easy to add (see Figure 2.10).
To add a Welcome Page from one of the applications within Facebook, follow these simple steps:
1. From your personal Facebook Page, type Welcome Page app in the search box. A list of applications appears with the most popular at the top. You can click See more results to expand the selection that the query returns.
2. Choose the application that you want to use and click Go to App on the right.
2.10 A Welcome Page is a nice addition to your business Page and a way to convey additional information to your visitors.
3. Review the information on the Page and, if you have multiple Pages, choose which Page you want the app applied to. Once you’ve reviewed it, click Add to My Page.
4. The Welcome Page now appears on the business Page and can be accessed and configured by clicking Welcome in the box below your Cover photo. With many of the applications, you now can configure and edit this Welcome Page with any specific options available.
You can follow these same steps to add other Page links or applications to your business Page. Just search for the specific application that you want to add. Be aware that while some applications are very simple to add to your Page, many others require a more advanced level of knowledge and possibly development skill.
Applying Page settings and adding admins
Once basic information and content are added to your Page, you are going to want to review your settings and manage your permissions. To review your current settings, follow these steps:
1. Open the Admin Panel and Click Update Info from the drop-down list at the top of your Page.
2. In the left-hand column, click Your Settings.
3. You have the option on this Page to change your Posting Preference and Email Notifications. Choose the appropriate settings.
4. Click Save Changes to save the settings.
Next, review the permission settings for your Page. Follow these steps:
1. Click Manage Permissions in the left-hand column. Here you can see your specific settings, including Country Restrictions, Age Restrictions, Posting Ability, Moderation Blocklist, Profanity Blocklist, and Delete Page (see Figure 2.11).
2. Go through each setting and adjust to fit the needs of your Page and business. For example, if you don’t want your fans to be able to post comments to your Timeline or comment on existing posts, deselect the Everyone can post check box in the Posting Ability section.
3. After reviewing all the settings and ensuring they are set to fit your needs, click Save Changes on the bottom of the Page.
You can go back at any time to adjust your Page settings or permissions, should you choose.
Like any other aspect of your business marketing plan, managing your Facebook business Page takes time. As your social media engagement grows, you might find that you don’t have the time to manage the Facebook Page. That’s okay. The beauty of a Facebook Page is that you can ask others to moderate and manage the Page for you.
2.11 Manage your permissions to ensure that you are allowing only what and who you want on your Page.
There are five different admin roles that you can choose from, each with different capabilities. Figure 2.12 outlines each role and what it can do.
2.12 An overview of the five different administrative roles and their abilities.
Admins can be added and removed in the Manage Admins section of the Edit Page View as follows:
1. Open the Admin Panel and click Edit Page.
2. Click Admin Roles in the left-hand column.
3. Type a friend’s name or e-mail address in the text box to invite someone to be an admin your Page. Below the e-mail box, choose the admin role you want this person to take on. You need to confirm your password after each entry. When you send an invite to friends, a Page Admin notification is sent to them. Once they accept the invitation, they are noted as admins on the Page.
4. If you have additional admins to add, click Add Another Admin to access an additional entry box and repeat the previous step.
5. Click Save on the bottom of the Page.
Publishing your Page
After you design your Pages, add the content you want your visitors to see, and adjust all your necessary settings, you are ready to announce to the world that your Page is up and ready for viewing! It is now time to let all your friends know that your Page is ready by sending them an invite, which you can do from your personal Facebook account using these steps:
1. If you are on your business Page, go to your personal account by clicking the gear icon next to the Home button in the Facebook toolbar at the top of the Page and choosing your personal Page.
2. Click Home on the top of the Page to go to your personal home Page.
3. In the left-hand column you will see a listing for Pages and your Pages should appear underneath this. Click on the Page you want to share with friends. This opens up a view of your business Page (see Figure 2.13).
2.13 Access your business Page through your personal account in order to access your Friends list to send invitations to follow your Page.
4. On the right side of the Admin Panel, click Build Audience, and then click Invite Friends. Click See All to display all your Facebook friends (see Figure 2.14).
5. Click on all the friends that you want to invite to view your Page and then click Submit. An invitation is sent to your friends.
For more about the basics of creating a Facebook business Page, tools available, and ideas for marketing, use the Facebook Help Center.
You now have a basic Facebook business Page and can start to promote your products and services to the 1 billion users of Facebook! As you begin to see the impact that having a Facebook Page can have on your business and the reach it has to current and potential customers, you may want to consider taking your Page to the next step in design and functionality. You can do this by using a Page design tool, which is covered in the next section.
2.14 Select each friend that you want to send an announcement to view your Page.
Choosing a Page Design Tool
With the recent changes that opened up Facebook’s support for content, there are numerous online services that help you design a Page and publish it to your business Page. At the time of this writing, well over a dozen capable tools are available, all with different options and capabilities. Thankfully, many of them are free for businesses just starting out and using any of them is easier than attempting to use an HTML editor and publish it manually.
While each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, they all generally operate the same way. The following is a sample list with some recommendations based on their simplicity, pricing, and popularity.
• Pagemodo: www.pagemodo.com (recommended). This design tool lets you create a custom business Page in minutes. The cost varies from free to about $30 per month, depending on how many Pages you want to design. You do not need design, graphic, or coding skills to use this tool.
• ShortStack: www.shortstack.com (recommended). This is another design tool that allows you to create dynamic Facebook Pages in minutes. The cost of this program varies from free to $300 per month, depending on how many bells and whistles you want, all of which are clearly defined on its website. Unlike some of the other design programs, ShortStack uses widgets instead of applications, which enables you to place more than one on a Page. This allows you further customization options when designing your Page.
• Tabfusion: www.tabfusion.com. With Tabfusion, you can create fun and useful apps to add to your Facebook Page. These apps can either be linked to popular websites such as Twitter and YouTube or offer independent functionality. Tabfusion offers annual per application pricing plans as well as annual site-wide pricing.
• FaceItPages: www.faceitpages.com. With only 20 applications that you can add to your Facebook Page, FaceItPages is slightly more limited than some of the other design tools. Pricing plans vary from free to $29 per month, depending on how many active Pages you want.
• Social Candy: www.social-candy.com/pages. With plans ranging from $20 to $29 per month, Social Candy offers predesigned templates and applications to help you create a customized Facebook Page. (Pricing is reduced if you purchase a full-year plan.)
• Wildfire: www.wildfireapp.com. Wildfire is another design tool that seems to focus highly on promotion building as well as creating customized Pages. Pricing is only available by requesting a demo from its team.
You should note that some of the free design services only allow you to add a single Page (usually Welcome Page) and that many Page designer tools assume the existence of certain Pages and cannot create them for you. Therefore, you should be very thorough when choosing a Page design tool to ensure it will fit your needs and accomplish everything you are looking for.
Other options
Apart from the services focused specifically on Facebook Page design in the preceding list, other tools are available that may work with the website content you already have. WordPress (http://wordpress.org) offers a plug-in that gives you Facebook-oriented templates and also lets you publish changes directly. The website designer Wix (www.wix.com) also offers similar capabilities with a vast collection of jazzy templates.
Selecting a design
There are many options for your Page design in each of the applications listed previously. You can select from a library of predefined Page templates and backgrounds, or you can create your own from images you provide. Just as when you are designing your business website, you want to make sure that the design you choose reflects the style and character of your business.
Adding promotions
Some designers provide an optional advanced step that enables you to run Check-in Deals, contests, sweepstakes, and other marketing events within your Page. While these items can be very powerful social marketing mechanisms, it’s a good idea to start with a simple Page first and then advance to this type of application once you get your feet wet. I talk more about promotions and how to add them in Chapter 3.
Establishing a Facebook connection
Any Page design tool that you choose requires you to use your Facebook login to retrieve the specifics of your business Page and to be able to publish later. There is no reason to fear providing this information because the login info transmitted using feature that directly connects Facebook to the Page design tool and is not maintained anywhere other than by Facebook.
Best Practices in Design and Content
Beyond the mechanics of which tool to use and the steps to follow, there are some key considerations in the design and maintenance of your Facebook business Page. These principles are part of what make the difference between a business Page that is bland and one that is truly compelling.
Take the easy path: Use a Page design tool
The easiest way to create a spectacular Page is to use one of the Page design tools referenced earlier. It’s simple, inexpensive (if not free), and lets you focus your time on more important endeavors, like marketing ideas. Page design tools are equipped with all the tools you need to create an interactive Page, and most offer an array of applications that you may want to consider to add “Wow” to your Page.
Use simple and expressive visuals
With the limited space you have, utilize simple, evocative images that communicate a single clear message. While theoretically possible, simply reproducing a website’s home page on your business Page is not a good practice. The nature and psychology of interaction on Facebook is different than that of visitors accessing a website. Stick with simple, but make it unique and interesting!
Get creative with profile image and photos
Because Facebook is a visual medium, the more creative and visually stimulating you make your profile photo and cover photo, the more intrigued your visitors will be to stay on your Page and learn more about your business.
Profile photo
Use an image that scales well from 180 × 180 to 32 × 32 pixels. Anything larger is scaled. At a minimum, you should choose an image that displays your entire logo and business name without truncation.
Cover photo
Although the intent of the cover photo is to show an overall image related to your business, some creative business Pages repurpose them as part of the overall Page design (see Figure 2.15).
2.15 Your cover photo can become a major part of your overall Page design and aesthetic.
Another unique way to use your cover photo is to display individual products that you sell or services you provide. This gives visitors a strong first impression of your business and what it is you do (see Figure 2.16).
Inject your personality
As you’ve likely heard by now, social media and marketing are first and foremost about presenting an authentic persona to your community. This practice doesn’t mean eroding your business’s professionalism, but it simply acknowledges and is empowered by the notion that there are humans behind it all.
So in the design of your business Page, your posts, or elsewhere in your interaction, try to find ways to cut through the formality. While it’s hard to provide a formula for being authentic, here are a few tips:
• Steer clear of stock images and use real pictures of your business.
• Present your work where possible. Whether it’s the favorite dessert at your restaurant or an exceptional renovation project, you always want to give your visitors a visual of your business and its product or services.
• Use conversational language, not business jargon, and eliminate superfluous, unwieldy language.
2.16 The cover photo can become an additional selling tool to display your products to visitors who come to your Page.
Follow Facebook guidelines
Generally, Facebook doesn’t impose overly broad restrictions on content on your business Page, but promotional activities that involve gaming or contests require you to navigate carefully within the company’s terms and conditions.
• Contests, sweepstakes, giveaways, or any marketing involving a winner or a prize is required to be administered via a registered third-party app on a separate page.
• You can give away a prize or incentive for fans who like your Page, but again, through a separate page.
• Any promotional campaign Pages need to clearly link to the Facebook terms and conditions content from the main Page.
To see all the guidelines for running a contest or promotion, go to www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php.
Engage, don’t educate
Your Page is not the place to provide a dissertation on your business’s core values or all the services you offer. Ditch the bio, or anything with multiple lines of text. Think of it as a cocktail party conversation starter and start with something simple and engaging — an expressive picture, a provocative statement, or a question or poll to your followers.
You have a very limited amount of time to portray your business to a visitor that comes to your Page. Make an impact when your Page opens! Provide pictures and content that will intrigue them and encourage them to stay and search through your content.
Refresh often
Just as with a blog, refresh the elements of your Page often to maintain interest and provide reassurance that your business presence is well tended. You can create excitement within your fan base if you are constantly creating new content on your Page. Here are ideas on how to keep your Page fresh:
• Rotate among different variations of your profile image. You can have seasonal versions or overlay different promotional messages on the same image.
• Post photos wisely. Keep the photos flowing, but stay true to a theme such as happy-customer photos, prepared entrees, or even abstract imagery.
• Contests, coupons, and other promotional content should have a limited lifespan. Try to rotate among different Welcome Pages or coupon offers, even if the changes are minor tweaks to messaging or imagery.
Case Study: It’s a Perfect Day
Some businesses have perfected the task of putting all the right elements needed for success on their Facebook business Page. One such company is It’s a Perfect Day. The following is a descriptive of who the company is, what its founder did that was right, and what he was able to achieve with his Facebook business Page.
It’s a Perfect Day is a designer of custom T-shirts and apparel that convey the simple notion that every day is perfect for something (see Figure 2.17).
This is a classic story of creativity and entrepreneurism that is emblematic of small-businesses everywhere. The business was started as a creative outlet for its founder, Satya Kommini, a Microsoft product manager, who was seeking a new path inspired by the novel Eat, Pray, Love. Utilizing his own untapped artistic talent and a hardworking team led by his supportive wife, It’s a Perfect Day launched in July 2011, selling 17 designs of apparel all based on a singular notion of gratitude and optimism. Using no advertising other than his Facebook Page and word-of-mouth marketing of his story, Kommini was able to reach 535 likes in less than three weeks.
So how did Kommini and his team do it? They recognized the key attributes of a successful Facebook Page, like those outlined earlier in this chapter. They used simple and expressive images on their Welcome Page that intrigued visitors but didn’t overwhelm them. They injected personality and whimsy with eye-catching photos. They offered a promotion to those landing on the Page, which engaged the visitor immediately. Their Page is simple yet relays all the pertinent information you need to understand their product and make purchases, should you choose. The Page is engaging, not educating. All in all, they designed a Page that serves the exact needs of a Facebook business Page.
2.17 It’s a Perfect Day has created a perfect Welcome Page, including unique photos, strong content, and an opportunity for the visitor to engage.