A-B-C-D... I can still remember the tune of this very first song, the basic of language... Ah! I'm not a singer but today we will talk about something ‘basics’ on our most favorite social media hub – Facebook, specifically to set up a Page.
Easy does it, but if not managed rightly, with all the insecurities breeding, it can cause serious damage. Hey, even though you will have done most of this, just scan some do's and dont's quickly just to ensure you are in a good spot!
• For starters let's begin with actually setting up a page. Since you've already established your personal profile, you know what 'being public' entails. A page will not necessarily be confined to being public only with your accepted friends but will reach a much larger scale of audience (or followers I should say!). So be aware of the WHY, WHAT and FOR WHOM the page is for?
• Information: Here you tactfully answer the above mentioned 'awareness'.
---- Ask yourself why you are setting up a Page? Publicity for your product / service, building up a fan base of a celebrity, sharing news and articles of important selected issues, gaining popularity among a community, an advertisement portal to enhance your business, etc.
---- Next comes the ‘what’? What do you want your 'page' to talk about. Carefully choose your content that will spell your vision, mission and intention of being there. You can keep this long or short depending on your intent. Precise information will still be the key if you want people to 'like' your page and also recommend it to others. Trust me, flowery writing and lot of decorative blah blah's will only put people off.
• Keep the design (the cover photo and the profile picture - company logo promptly displayed is what I mean) relevant to what the page is talking about. Website link or other important social media references where you are predominantly seen should be shared along with your contact details (numbers, faxes, emails).
---- Choose ‘who’ do you want? To be actively participating in your page. If its publicity or popularity you want, this won’t matter but still, exercising caution is good (keep people at bay using your page to an undue advantage, stealing or stalking admin posts, 'negative' publicity commentators etc.)
• Well you are now almost set to click OK but hold on… review the privacy settings of your page. Don't blindly tick all the boxes the manual offers you. Take time to read through the terms and what security policy is in place, should the need arise what is their liability policy et all.
• Rules: Each page has to be restricted to some rules. Some grounded ones like the number of words of a post, the kind of picture or video you use, the language used and/or if it's open to advertisements will already be in place. You can set up your own depending on the content of the page.
• Posts: Totally depending on what your mission is, keep your 'posts' brief. The trick is to be quirky and funny to get the attention and then move on to serious matters or the crux of your post.
Scheduling your posts will do wonders when you are running pillar to post on work! Whenever you have the time, stock up on what you'd like to post along with relevant images and links (great traffic idea to have visual connection via images/videos) and simply schedule them in order of date and time. Done!!!
You want people to stay on (you must know of some who like and then immediately unfollow to remove the page from their news feed?) and keep coming back to your page, right? So read on what you can do…
Conversations are enlightening albeit over FB posts! How do you turn this into your advantage?
• Keep it Interactive: Add options of chat or immediate responses to possibilities of contact/business development; keep an open mind (bordering on funky can I say?) while responding to comments; putting forth your opinion convincingly but not compelling it; add humor to your words.
Continually updating your 'followers' on the latest by giving them a heads-up on the news, putting up eye-ball grabbing page and cover photos (surely you have many relevant icons of your business?), providing great offers... the list is endless.
Once in a while, post something that is interesting, with links to other sites. You'll thank me later! For, Google automatically picks up these promotions and puts you on top charts! And of course you will be rewarded with great traffic to your page. Now! Come on put on your thinking cap and enliven your page!
• Adding 'followers': Once you've figured 'for whom' you intend the page to be for, this step is fairly easy. Invite friends and friends of friends to grow a solid network to cast your net over. You can notch it up be sending private messages (you'll be reminded here that patience is a virtue), announce milestones (100/1000 etc like reached, etc) or crawl into other page spaces to market your own (no kidding, your friends will allow it, go ahead try it!), promote on your other social media spots (Twitter/LinkedIn/Google+/Instagram etc)
• Customizing your news feed: Well actually this doesn't apply much to a page per se, but nevertheless check regularly on this setting so you don't have any 'oops' moments. (Unsolicited links or random ranting of a fellow friend and the likes).
And lo presto! You are all ready to set up a page! Easy, and with caution!
So, have I given you enough to mull over before you start up a 'page'? Or did I miss something that'd be vital for people to know? Do comment your thoughts, would love to add to my learning.
16 Responses