Understanding the difference between a Facebook Business Page and a Facebook personal profile is
SO IMPORTANT if you want to use social media effectively.

Remember: You must have a personal Facebook profile to create and manage a Facebook Business Page. Both function VERY DIFFERENTLY. Below defines the difference between both.

Facebook Business Page – digitally represents your business and brand. You can connect with customers and post updates about your services. Pages have lots of marketing tools which can help your business grow.

Facebook personal profile – represents an individual user. You can share personal updates about yourself, connect with friends, family and follow your favourite brands.

Follow these steps to set up your business page:

1. At the top of the Facebook home page, select create and then choose page.
   
   

2. Name your page.

Remember:  Keep your username simple so that it easily appears in Facebook’s search results. Only use letters and numbers in your username. Don’t use any special characters. Usernames must be at least five characters long. People can type your username into the search bar after http://www.facebook.com/ to go directly to your Page. Your Page username appears below your profile picture and each time you post.

3. Fill out the details for your business page.

Select the most relevant category for your Page. This helps people find your business on Facebook when they search for a type of business.

Fill out your business information, such as your address and contact information. Once you’ve finished, select Continue.

Add a profile picture and a cover photo that best represent your business like a logo or an image of your business (i.e. your shopfront) as the cover. You can use Canva to create a selection of covers and image with their ready-made templates.

Don’t forget to set up the call-to-action button under the cover photo. For example, you can set it so that it goes to your business website.

Now you’re all set up – don’t expect for fans to just magically stumble across your page. You must market it. There are several ways to create a following for your Page – making people aware of it is the first step. See below for a few key steps in marketing your page.

Your Page should be active and informative before you start promoting it, so start posting updates as soon as it’s live. New photos and updates about your business help to keep your Page fresh for visitors.

Don’t stop there – maintaining your business page is an evolving process. Click on Insights at the top of your Page to see how people are engaging with your business – you’ll see who your demographic are (age, gender, location), how many people you’re reaching with your posts and which content they like best. Seeing how your Page is performing can help you to define a better content strategy.

Get started by understanding some of the Facebook basics below. Download the graphic by clicking on the image below.