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Health & Fitness

Facebook Fan Pages: The New Business Requirement

To exploit the Social Media craze, smart businesses are now contemplating the creation of a Facebook Fan page. This article will cover the basics of setting up your Facebook Business Page.

Ten years ago people were wondering if they needed a website. Today, every successful business has a website.  To exploit the social network craze, smart businesses are now contemplating the creation of a Facebook Fan page.

I will be writing a series of articles on how to create an awesome Facebook page, a page that will attract fans immediately, and ultimately increase business. This initial article will cover only the basics, so look  for future articles to delve into advanced Facebook topics such as creation of custom tabs, embedding your website in your Facebook page, installing Facebook applications, running contests, and ways to increase the number of Fans.

According to a study by ATT,  42% of small businesses now have a Facebook page, in contrast to only 27% in 2009; and 67% of people on Facebook expect people they do business with to have a Facebook page.  Consequently, if you don’t have a Facebook page, your client might start “liking” your competitor’s page.

Profile Page versus Fan Page

Facebook started as a way for college students to share their personal information. In the early days, only “profile pages” existed.  A profile page is intended for an individual and is required in order to create a Fan Page.  Once you have a profile page, you can create a Fan Page.  The simplest way to create a Page is to click on “Create a Page” when logged into your profile page.  (Once you setup your Fan Page,  you can grant administrator access to allow  your web person to work on the page.)

Your Fan Page is in many ways a mini website. You should be able to setup the basic information in less than a hour. It’s completely free and will help drive customers to your store or offices. Let’s start.

1: Upload your logo. Keep your image logo no wider than 200px and 600px high. Your  web developer should be able modify if necessary.  But usually you can just upload your current logo.

2: Select the appropriate category from the drop down box.

3: Add your address which will automatically display a map.

4: Add your hours of business.

5: Add the basic information that describes your business. Usually you can just cut and paste this from the “About” page on your current website.

6: Define parking; Street, Parking Log, Valet

7: Add Email, Phone and Web address.

8: Upload photos:  examples of your products/services, exterior and interior shots of your business. This will appear as a “strip” of photos of the top of the page. The last five photos uploaded will be displayed.  If you don’t want a specific  picture to be displayed,  you can hover your mouse over the image and a small “x” will appear. If you click on the “x”, the photos are still stored but not displayed in the photo strip.

9: That’s it. You have now created a basic Fan Page.

In my next article I will discuss how to enhance your Facebook page. If you have a particular question or want a specific topic explained, you can send me an email andrew@WaldenPondDesign.com.

Have fun and setup your Facebook page today to start enjoying the real benefits of Social Media.

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