OTR friend, Rajeev Edmonds is back with more tips for small business owners.  In his last post, he shared tips about blogging.   This time, he tackles Facebook.

Businesses across the world, be they small or big, are turning to Facebook to get more customers. Facebook pages are an effective medium to attract a large user-base of this most popular social media platform. They are easy to create and administer, provided you spice them up with the right ingredients to pull your customers convincingly. What makes a killer Facebook page and how it can help grow your business?

Basic Elements

Image – The very first thing that grabs the attention of a new visitor is the image used on your Facebook business page. Normally businesses use a logo or a combination of logo embedded in another photograph. The rule of the thumb is – “make it eye-catching and don’t hesitate in experimenting.” Here’s an excellent tutorial about facebook profile image hacks. You may consider changing this image every six months to give a fresh new look to your business page.

Description – Your business page description should clearly explain what the page is all about and what fans can get from it. You may include some lines about promotional stuff a fan may get after liking the page. This may include free ebooks, premium video tutorials and similar things. Whenever I visit any Facebook page, it’s the first thing I read before going ahead.

Essential tabs – Apart from default tabs, you must create a welcome tab for new visitors. Other important tabs may include discussion board, events, notes, photos, videos and reviews. Your Facebook business page may or may not require all of these tabs. For example, if you produce video content on regular basis and maintain a dedicated YouTube channel, you may want to create a separate ‘Videos’ tab on your business page.

Miscellaneous Tips For Managing Facebook Business Page

• Create a “Freebies” tab visible only to fans. Give a sneak peak of this page on the default landing page for non-fans.
• Keep a secondary administrator in case of an emergency. Pages with large fan-base usually have more than 2 administrators and in different time zones.
• Fostering a community is an art. Keep your business page updated and regularly reward the most active fans.
• Import your blog and various social media updates (Twitter, Linkedin) on a separate tab via Facebook applications.
• Create privacy & spam policy and set appropriate permissions for fans adhering to that policy. If you experience too much spam, you may restrict posting to selective tabs.
• If your budget allows, use facebook ads to drive targeted traffic to your business page. Take my word – It’s worth the money.
• Tag liberally to let others know you care for them and you listen to them.

Whether you’re running a non-profit organization or own a small business, Facebook business pages have the potential to kick-start your conversions/sales. Don’t be left behind and create one today.

About the Author

Rajeev Edmonds is a Social Media Enthusiast who blogs about how to blog. A developer by profession, he started blogging in 2008. Rajeev is also a technical reviewer of books with subjects ranging from Web Developement, WordPress and Social Media.

Connect With Rajeev: Twitter | Website