Considering Facebook has over 1.4 billion monthly active users, setting up a business Facebook page is not an option, it’s a must. You might think you can leverage new leads and boost engagement rates significantly by just being there, however things are not as simple as that. Below are 5 essential tips to great engaging Facebook business pages that won’t fall flat.
1. Set up proper pictures
Let’s start with the basics first. You need a profile picture that is easily recognizable by your readers. Ideally, it should be your company logo or your headshot if you are a solopreneur or consultant. Make sure your picture looks great in 180 pixels by 180 pixels version; otherwise it might get weird formatting from Facebook.
Next, choose an engaging, catchy cover photo. Since your cover photo will take up the most real estate above the fold, make sure you’ve created a high-definition striking image to grab users’ attention instantly. You can check some of the best practices here. Your image should be 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall. Use the free Canva template, layouts, and fonts to deal with the creative part.
On top, you can add a call-to-action button right at your cover photo and choose one of the following CTAs: Sign Up, Shop Now, Contact Us, Book Now, Use App etc – and customize it with a destination URL of your choosing. This quick fix can drastically leverage traffic from your Business Page back to your website.
2. Customize your page with apps
Check out Facebook’s App Center and search for apps you want to add to your page. The process of installation is really straightforward – choose the app you want; click the flag icon to visit the app’s page. Next, click the menu icon and select “Add App to Page”. That’s it your page’s now powered up with additional features like Newsletter Sign up form, Open Jobs, Instagram feed, and more!
To make your page look neat, organize your apps in tabs. Facebook automatically shows your “Timeline” and “About” tabs first, but you can choose two more apps to show up right in your tabs section. All the rest will fall under “More” dropdown so make sure you’ve selected the most important and engaging apps to come first.
Fill in the “About” section. The message should be brief and descriptive, as users will have to click on “read more” button to get the full information.
3. Promote lead-gen and non-lead-gen content
Once you are set up, it’s time to create an efficient publishing schedule for your Facebook page. What should you post?
Photos and Videos are among the top most engaging types of content on Facebook, according to Quintly. However, too much good, often becomes too bad. Mix different types of content you post and consider create an effective mix of lead-gen content (links to your products, ebooks, webinars etc) and general posts – blog posts, text posts, visuals etc. This way you’ll have more people interacting with your FB page and better chances of showing up in the News Feed later on.
Extra tip: Always place the link before the end of the fifth line of text. At this point Facebook will truncate it and add a “see more” tag; meaning less people will see your CTAs.
4. Track your e-commerce sales more efficiently
Now, if you have set up “Buy now” tab and have some traction in terms of new users and referral traffic, you may be wondering how many users actually place orders? And what’s the ROI of all your effort and advertising? That’s when you need to set up Facebook conversion tracking. Here’s a detailed guide of how to do it.
5. Promote your page through other channels to generate more followers
Make sure your social media buttons are easy to spot on mobile website version and consider embedding Facebook Like Box at your blog’s sidebar. “Facebook like” pop-ups usually give mixed results – while they help to grow your fan base; they may increase the bounce rate on your website. Consider hosting a special promotion or giveaway for Facebook fans only and encourage people to tag, share, or mention your page to earn extra participation credits. Without proper promotion, it’s hard to grow your page organically!