20 years ago, very few businesses had websites – now it is rare to see a business that doesn’t. The same is happening again with Facebook.

In this article, TWP run you through how to establish your business on the world’s largest social media platform.

Setting up your Facebook page

The first step to creating a bustling Facebook community is to actually set up a page. This can be done in 5 minutes and it’s an easy process.

You will need a personal account in order to do this. You could link your existing profile or, if you would rather protect your privacy, then you can set up an additional personal profile which only contains the bare minimum information such as your name and work email address.

Once you have created the page, you are now the “admin”. The next job is to add content to your page that your desired audience will find of interest and relevance.

Optimising your page

You need to fill your new Facebook page with content in order to attract an audience. Change your profile picture to your business’ logo and start adding in extra information.

We recommend that you include all of the contact information that you have for your business. This includes things like your email address, your phone number, your opening hours, and you can even link your location through Google Maps. All of these things will help inform potential customers of where you are, and how they can contact you.

Now you can start adding things like your blog posts, pictures, and offers that you are currently promoting. Start asking questions that will get your community interacting with one another. But more on that later…

Promote your page

Once the page has enough content that it can stand on its own two feet, you can start attracting traffic to it in many different ways. If you have an email list, let them know that you have a new Facebook page and invite them to “Like” it so that they can stay up to date with what your business is up to.

Another way that you can do this is by adding a little note at the end of all of your blog posts and including a link on your website. The more people that know about your Facebook page, the better. This will help existing clients find out about the page, which will generate new interest in your business in the future.

Add a Facebook “Like” button to your website and to your email signature

The chances are that most of your desired audience belong to the over tens of millions of people in the UK who log into Facebook every day so asking them to click a “Like” button isn’t asking them to do something they don’t already do.

Try using videos

There are over 8 billion video views a day on Facebook so there is a large audience of potential customers who want to watch short bursts of visual content. Don’t be put off by big brands with high production value videos – a homemade shot with the camera on your phone can work just as well.

Interact with your audience

Facebook (in fact, social media in general) is a unique tool that gives you access to your audience in a way that wasn’t possible before the internet. You can now ask your audience questions in the form of polls and you can have conversations with them, making the process of gathering feedback faster than ever.

The more that you interact with your customers, the more they will become involved with your business. If they can see that their feedback is valued, then they will be more likely to buy from you in the future. Customer service can go a long way to creating more sales for your company.

Set aside a Facebook advertising budget

Over the course of the last few years, Facebook have gradually locked down their platform in such a way that it’s difficult for companies to grow their number of followers without spending money on advertising.

In the UK, according to LeadGuru, the average amount of money you pay for someone to click on your Facebook advert is £0.78. You’ll likely pay around £3.15 for every 1,000 impressions (displays on other people’s screens, tablets, and phones) on Facebook.