Chapter 1
In This Chapter
Understanding business pages
Creating your business page
Adding a vanity URL
Choosing cover and profile images
“But I already have a website. Do I really need a Facebook business page?” In most cases, yes, you do. Facebook has proven to be an outstanding marketing tool. By integrating Facebook into your overall strategy, you expand your reach by millions. Consider these numbers:
Those are your customers. Your customers are on Facebook looking for ways to interact with you. Why not meet them where they are? Facebook business pages are an easy way to connect with your followers (and introduce yourself to new followers!).
This chapter explains how a business page works and how you can create one in just a few minutes.
Before we show you how to create a Facebook business page, let us explain the options you may see on Facebook. Facebook has three types of pages, but businesses can use only business pages to create and interact with a community. The three types of pages on Facebook are
Business pages weren’t part of the initial Facebook options. The result is that some businesses created personal timelines rather than business pages for their businesses. Now that business pages are mainstream and fully integrated into the Facebook experience, using a personal timeline for your business is against Facebook policy. This separation is actually a good thing. Facebook is aware that personal timelines and business pages have different needs, and they’ve addressed those by giving business pages more marketing functionality than personal timelines. If you’re contemplating marketing your business, service, or product on Facebook, you probably want as much exposure as possible for your product or business. Table 1-1 shows that a personal timeline simply doesn’t offer the marketing flexibility that a business page does.
Table 1-1 Personal Timelines versus Business Pages
Personal Timeline |
Business Page |
Limited to 5,000 friends |
No limit on followers or Likes |
Not allowed to install custom page applications |
Allowed to install multiple applications to streamline your social media efforts |
Only searchable in Facebook |
Fully searchable inside and outside Facebook |
Setting up a business page is simple. With a few clicks, you’ll be up and running. To get started, follow these instructions:
You see six boxes representing different categories, as shown in Figure 1-1.
Many of the main categories offer similar options for your business. For instance, if you're creating a business page for a bookstore, you could choose Local Business or Place⇒Book Store or Entertainment⇒Book Store. The result is the same.
Here is an overview of each category to help you choose which one best fits your needs:
A drop-down list to narrow the category and a text box for your business page name appear.
The name is the title of your business page and is searchable both inside and outside Facebook.
Depending on the type of business page you chose, the Name text box may be labeled as follows:
Until you have 100 followers, you can change your business page title, but only once. When your 100th follower Likes your business page, your title becomes permanent. Facebook figures that as you grow, it’s important to keep your brand intact and not confuse your readers with changing information.
The Set Up page for your business page appears.
If you don’t set your profile image at this point, you can add it later (we tell you how later in this chapter). If you upload a picture, this image appears any time you post as your business page. We provide advice on choosing your profile image later in this chapter.
You can create an ad to promote your page. We recommend that you get your page completely set up before running ads. To find out more about marketing your business on Facebook, see Book V.
Your business page appears, similar to the one shown in Figure 1-2. If you are new at creating a business page, Facebook walks you through the important parts of your page.
When you initially create your Facebook business page, it has a fairly long and ugly URL (or address), such as
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Post-Planner/1234567890
An address like that makes it hard for people to remember how to find you on Facebook. Luckily, as soon as you have 25 followers, you can create a vanity URL. A vanity URL is a custom address for your Facebook business page, such as http://facebook.com/PostPlanner. Although most people refer to these customized URLs as vanity URLs, Facebook calls them usernames. Also, you don’t always need 25 followers to secure your vanity URL; sometimes you have that option as soon as you create your business page.
We have a few tips to share with you about vanity URLs:
You can follow these instructions to create a vanity URL for your business page:
The Username page appears with two boxes. The top box allows you to create a username (vanity URL) for your personal timeline; the bottom box allows you to create a username for your business page.
If you’re the admin for more than one business page, you see each of those pages listed in the drop-down list. If you are the admin for a single business page, that page will be the only one listed.
A text box appears.
If the name is available, you can set it; if it’s not, try another name.
Just like on your personal timeline, your business page also has a profile picture and a cover photo. These two images should work together to reinforce your brand, product, or business to your audience. We like the way KLM (www.facebook.com/KLM) uses its cover photo and profile picture, as shown in Figure 1-3.
Both pictures work together to convey the KLM brand. The cover photo makes use of the large space, is visually appealing, and highlights KLM’s logo (which is repeated in the profile picture). By displaying a blue sky and an airplane, you know immediately what their brand is all about. The profile picture is easily recognizable in the news feed and uses the KLM logo so followers can quickly scan and find updates from KLM.
Your cover photo, on the other hand, can change as needed. In fact, Facebook encourages you to change it regularly and use it as a means of engaging your followers and bringing them back to your business page.
People will come to associate your profile image with your presence on Facebook. We (and Facebook) suggest using your logo or a company symbol. The image you choose should be recognizable and consistent with the other business branding you do outside Facebook. By branding yourself consistently across platforms (Facebook, Twitter, your website, and so on), you make it easy for followers and potential followers to recognize your brand and engage with you.
We suggest using an image that is 180 x 180 pixels for your profile image. Facebook will scale it down to 32 x 32 pixels in the news feed. You can use a larger image, but it may not look as good. Experiment with what you have to see what you like best. As you consider what image to use for your profile picture, remember that you don’t have a lot of real estate. Choose something that is easily recognizable (and readable if necessary) when shown in the smaller size.
Choose an image that reinforces the brand you’re trying to create and share. Figure 1-4 shows some examples of profile images; they provide little information but have a big effect. You can see how the profile images in the figure look when paired with their cover photos here:
Before you upload your profile image, check to be sure it matches this criteria:
To find the URL for an image from your site, right-click the image. Depending on your browser, you have these options:
You can upload a profile image when you create your page or at any time. You can choose from photos you’ve already uploaded to albums (which you probably haven’t done yet if your page is new), you can take a photo with your webcam, or you can upload an image from your computer.
To upload a profile picture while on your business page, follow these instructions:
A dialog box appears giving you a few choices.
Your image immediately appears as your profile image.
If you later decide to change your profile picture, just do the following:
An Edit Profile Picture link appears.
After you select a photo, you’re prompted to drag the image into the desired position.
Online, looks are everything. A great design can make or break your success. The more professional your web pages appear, the more authority you’re perceived to wield. Your Facebook business page is no exception. Because your cover photo is likely a visitor’s first interaction with your page, it can set the tone and expectation of your business page, as well as reinforce your brand.
Figures 1-5 and 1-6 show the cover photos for two of our favorite business pages, HyperArts and HubSpot, respectively. Note how the cover and profile images work together. When you first visit the business page, you have a sense of how things fit together, but when you see the profile image by itself in your news feed, there is no doubt which page it belongs to.
The rules regarding what can and cannot be included on a cover picture have changed. Gone are the rules that disallowed ads, calls to action, and contact information. Facebook simply encourages you to be creative and not post any cover photo that misleads, is deceptive, infringes on anyone else’s copyright, or violates the page terms.
Even with the relaxed rules, we recommend that you keep the cover picture simple and use the space to properly brand yourself.