Step-By-Step Guide to Building a Facebook Page for Your Business

No matter the size of your business, a Facebook page is vital if you want to be found by your customers.

With 700 million active users, Facebook is the biggest social media network in the world; therefore an active and engaging Facebook page for your business is your best chance of being found outside of search engines.

Not only that, but the social media platform provides you with valuable insights into the behaviour of those who like your page, which means you can create strategies to better target your customers.

There are many benefits to creating a Facebook page for your business. You can communicate directly with your audience, partake in conversations, and receive real-time feedback for your products or services, all of which work to strengthen your brand and inject a unique personality into your business.

So let’s get started on building one for your business.

What you’ll need before you make a page:

1. An email
2. An existing Facebook account. If you don’t have or want a Facebook account, you can create a dummy account just for your business.

Step 1: Get started on creating your page

From your Facebook account or the dummy you created, click the arrow in the top right of the page and click ‘Create Page’.

Step 2: Tell Facebook what kind of business you are

You will now be directed to the ‘Create Page’ page. Click on the icon that describes what you do best. If you are a business with only one location, it is best to choose local business or place, so your address comes up on the Facebook page.

If you have more than one location, it is best to choose company, organisation or institution. If you are an online company or store, you can still use company/organisation.

To help you decide which category your business best fits into, we’ve provided you with a run-down of each one below.

Local Business or Place:

This is for brick-and-mortar store owners who want to encourage people to physically visit their store. Once you select this option, you’ll be presented with a list of business sub-categories to select from, including:

• Attractions/Things to Do
• Bank
• Bar
• Bookstore
• Concert Venue
• Food/Grocery
• Hotel
• Local Business
• Movie Theatre
• Museum/Art Gallery
• Outdoor Gear/Sporting Goods
• Real Estate
• Restaurant/Café
• School
• Shopping/Retail
• Spas/Beauty/Personal Care
• Plus many more!

Company Organisation or Institution:

This page type is best-suited for franchises with more than one location, or for companies that don’t need to attract foot traffic to their stores. Once you select this page type, you’ll be presented with a further list of sub-categories to choose from, which relate to your industry.

Brand or Product:

This page is for businesses who sell their products through more than one website, or whose products are stocked by more than one retailer/reseller.

Artist, Band or Public Figure:

If you’re promoting an artist or band, then this is the page type for you.

Entertainment:

This page type is for TV shows, movies, books, radio stations or magazines.

Cause or Community:

Note: if you’re a not-for-profit or charity, it’s worth taking a look at the options in ‘Local Business or Place’, ‘Company Organisation or Institution’, or ‘Brand and Product’.

For non-profits and medical/health/pharmaceutical causes, it’s best looking at ‘Company Organisation or Institution’.

We recommend you look through the sub-categories under each page type so that you can find the best fit, because it’s more important to select the right sub-category than page type.

For more information on how to choose the right category for your business page, visit this website here.

Let’s employ an example: Harold’s Hat’s is a local business. It has one location, therefore Harold would select ‘Local Business or Place’.

Step 3: Choose your Category

Here you select your category, which simply means choosing the appropriate category for your business. Harold’s is a shop/retail, so Harold has selected ‘Shopping/Retail’.

Harold is then asked to enter his address and business phone number as shown in the fields.

Step 4: Set up your account

Here you set up your short page description and upload your profile picture.

In the ‘About’ section, start by entering suitable categories for your business. Then you can enter a short description letting people know what your page is about.

You’ll also be able to create a unique Facebook web address. Spend some time to think of an easy-to-remember name, because it can only be changed once.

Once this has been established, you’ll tick the relevant box at the bottom of the page and move onto the next page where you can upload your profile picture.

Step 5: Upload your Profile Picture

Here you’ll upload your profile picture from your computer or a website.

Pro Tip: Optimal dimensions for a Facebook profile picture are 180×180 pixels. Make sure your image is centred and not pixelated. Your profile picture is the first thing that many people notice on Facebook, so choose carefully!

Step 6: Determine your Preferred Page Audience

This is where you tell Facebook who you’d most like to find your page. We advise you not to get too specific, as this can limit the number of people who are shown your page.

Step 7: Upload a Timeline Picture

Harold has just finished the first steps of his page. His logo looks great, but his cover photo (that grey bar up the top) is empty and needs a nice picture that represents the Harold’s Hats brand.

To do the same for your business page, click on ‘Add a Cover’ at the top left and upload your cover photo.

Pro Tip: Optimal dimensions for Facebook cover photos are 815×315 pixels. Make sure you adhere to this, otherwise your cover photo will appear skewed and unprofessional. It’s also important to make sure that your cover image doesn’t clash with your existing text and profile picture. If there’s too much going on, it’s unlikely your customers will stay on your page for too long.

Step 8: Help your Customers Take Action

Now you’re ready to add a call to action. This step is absolutely crucial for telling your prospective customers what you want them to do, and for presenting your key business objective in a hard-to-miss spot.

There are call to action buttons to suit most businesses. Think ‘Book Now’, ‘Contact Us’, ‘Shop Now’, ‘Sign Up’, etc.

To create yours, click the ‘Create a Call to Action’ button and select the most appropriate option for your objective. Do you want customers to call and book a table at your restaurant, sign up to your newsletter or purchase directly from your website? Once you’ve made your selection, you’ll be given the option to enter in the URL you want your followers to visit.

You’ll also be given the option of promoting your new call to action, which you can ignore until you’ve got a few posts up and running.

Step 9: Complete the About section

You’re almost done! Now just click on the ‘Timeline’ button to go to your ‘About’ page. This is the last step where you finalise your page details such as opening hours, contact info and your website.

And that’s how you create a Facebook page for your business!