I just created a Facebook page for my copywriting business. You’re welcome to check it out here. I haven’t gotten a lot up there yet, but it’s a good start.
I decided it was a good idea to have a separate Facebook page for my business. And after doing a bit of research, I figured I should write a blog post about why it’s a good idea to have a Facebook page for your business. So here are the top 6 reasons I discovered for having a Facebook business page.
1. Increase Your Reach
A personal profile limits you to 5,000 friends. Most people don’t have that many Facebook friends, so it’s not a big deal. But for your business, you want to be able to reach everyone who may be interested in what you’ve got to offer.
When you have a separate Facebook page for your business, your posts will reach folks who have liked your page. Yes, this is about the same as having a personal profile.
A personal Facebook post limits the audience who can see it. For instance, I limit all of my posts to my friends list. But once your post hits your fans’ pages, it’s there for all the world to see.
Now, when I tell the world about my new blog post (about Facebook pages) on my new Facebook page, it will show up on their newsfeeds. But instead of exposure being limited our shared friends, it will be seen by all of their friends. And if some of those folks share my post with their friends, it will go even further.
So without a lot of effort on my part, my blog post, my Facebook page and my business have been exposed to a whole new audience of people. You can do this for your business too.
2. Target Your Audience
Facebook has 1.7 billion monthly users. That means 1/7th of the planet’s population logs into Facebook once a month. Most do it daily. That’s a huge audience! Way more people than you want, and certainly more people than will be genuinely interested in your products or services.
Facebook has one of the most sophisticated demographic tracking systems around. They collect a heck of a lot of data on their users. (That whole thing about “if the product is free, you are the product, it’s true.)
Yes, this feels a bit “big brother-ish” but as a marketer, this is to your advantage. Because you can target, down to very detailed demographics, who you want to see your Facebook posts. This is a great thing for you, because:
• You spend less money on advertising.
• You reach people who are more likely to become your customers.
I haven’t done it yet, but there’s a button on all of the posts on my new Facebook page that says “Boost Post.” That button lets me customize my audience to region, gender, age and interests.
So if you own a vintage 50’s malt shop in Berkeley, CA, you can target your audience to people who live in a specific radius from your restaurant, like ice cream and are interested in vintage stuff from the 50s. (Yes, you really can get that detailed.)
3. Drive More Traffic to Your Website
You spent a lot of money building that website. And it’s where people can get detailed information about your products or services. So use your Facebook page to drive more traffic to your website.
If you visit my Facebook page, you’ll notice that I’ve already posted some of my older blog posts to the page. I wanted something for people to look and click through to. I’ve already gotten more views on my blog posts from my Facebook page.
If you’re running a special on a certain product, your Facebook page is a great place to promote that, with a link back to the product page on your website where customers can buy the product.
If you’re going to be at a special event, post a link to your events page, where people can find more information about where you’ll be and what you’re doing.
4. Gather More Leads
Yes, you can collect email addresses on your Facebook page. There are a variety of ways you can do this:
- Use the button feature on your Facebook page to get people to sign up for your mailing list. (Choose the “Sign Up” option.)
- Put a tab with a squeeze page or sign-up form on your Facebook page. (I use Leadpages to do this. Check out my landing page and get a free copywriting guide while you’re at it.)
- Direct site visitors to a sign-up form or squeeze page on your website.
Why should you do this? I mean, after all, you’ve got all of these Facebook likes. Doesn’t that duplicate your efforts? No. What if, for some reason beyond your control, your Facebook page was suddenly and irrevocably deleted? How would you communicate with your fans?
If you have their email addresses, you can tell them what happened, let them know where to find you from now on, and stay in touch.
5. Get Messages from Interested Customers
One of the pitfalls of personal profiles on Facebook is that unless someone has already Friended you on Facebook, they can’t send you a direct message. So if you’re using your personal profile and a potential customer messages you to ask a question, you may never know about it because the message disappears into the “Message Requests” folder in your Messages section.
I just checked that section and discovered a message from a potential customer who wrote to me in April. I never would have known it was there, had I not written this blog post.
By contrast, I got a notification on my new Facebook page about a message from a friend who wants to talk about having me help her promote her book. Because I was able to see that notification, I responded right away and we’ve set up an appointment to talk.
6. Look More Professional
Okay, I confess, I’ve been posting announcements about my new blog posts to my personal Facebook page. And my friends are all very tolerant of my doing this. Some of them even share them with their friends. (Thank you very much to those of you reading this who have helped promote my blog posts and my business.)
But let’s face it. My personal Facebook wall is covered in silly cat videos, funny stuff my friends have shared with me, and personal commentary. My clients and potential clients don’t need to see this stuff. Nor will they be able to, unless they’ve friended me on Facebook. (Some of them have.)
So having a Facebook page that is specifically for your business means you can post announcements about your business, as well as share articles and opinions that you think will interest your audience. You can ask questions with polls. You can build a professional relationship with your potential clients. (And yes, you can post the occasional cat video.)
Go Create a Facebook Page for Your Business
I hope the 5 reasons above have convinced you that creating a Facebook page for your business is a good idea. So if you don’t already have one, go make one. If you do have one, make sure you’re paying attention to it and posting to it regularly
Do you have a Facebook page for your business? If not, why not? Please tell me about it in the comments.