With all Snowflake Social media clients we aim to ensure they can get the best possible results in the shortest amount time possible from the Facebook Business Page. This frees up time for actual engagement which can only be good for the customer and business owner.
Here’s a rapid fire 21-point checklist for your Facebook business page. Check these are all in order to let Facebook know you are a page worth sharing with Facebook users.
Page name: Is this easy to remember and share? Has your business gone through a change since you initially launched it? If so, keep it updated. There are probably lots of other Facebook business pages with similar names, so ensure yours is easily identified as you through imagery & logos, etc.
Category: The very first day you launched your page you were asked to put your page in to a category. Keen to actually get on and put your page up, you may have classified your page in a category that is now either not relevant or there is a more appropriate one.
Username: Your page should have its own clean & crisp Facebook URL. So ours is Facebook.com/SocialSnowflake Lots of business pages on Facebook still have the word “/pages” or a series of numbers in their address. Take a minute to claim your own.
Associated Website: Make sure your website address is up to date, this way you can interact off Facebook too.
About: Again one of those things that you may have blasted through when setting up your Facebook Business Page. How relevant is the text now? Have you added new services since then? Are your contact details up to date?
When rewriting “about us”, consider using some bold headings to ensure people understand the different services you offer. If you are wondering how to change all this, don’t worry we’ll show you how at the bottom of the page.
Location: Is this correct? When people are looking for you, a location can be reassuring and speed things up for the potential friend & customer.
Milestones: Very few pages use these milestones. You can add them in the updates box, see below for a screenshot:
Milestones are a great way of telling your company’s story. You should add more milestones to highlight moments that you are proud of or want to emphasize. These could be awards, passing a certain number of followers or passing a certain number of posts on Facebook.
Pages liked: How many pages have you liked? This refers to liking pages as your business page profile, rather than you personally.
Liking other pages is a way of working with other like-minded and relevant pages. Through tagging businesses, you can build relationships with non-competing Facebook page owners which can result in cross-promotional opportunities. It also provides you with a wealth of potential stories to share and talk about that will be interesting to your audience to keep them engaged, beyond purely selling. These could be local pages, industry pages or perhaps a relevant cause that you know your audience will connect and comment with.
Page Performance
Likes: How many likes do you have? Engagement is probably more important as it will drive your decision making process if you are considering advertising with Facebook.
We often have a saying with clients which goes something like this. “If we had a physical store and 200 people came in today but no-one bought anything. We wouldn’t need 400 people tomorrow, we’d need to look at why”
This is the same with growing a page. Unless you are already delighting those existing friends, don’t pile more people in until you have cracked your content strategy (A posh way of saying…what you are posting on your page!)
Likes Growth: This is worth keeping an eye on to check you are progressing in line with your plans.
People Talking About This (PTAT): As a %, this is one of the most key metrics to give you feedback (free) on how your page and posts are performing.
The best in the business have around a 20-25% engagement rate. That is based on PTAT versus the Total Page Likes.
Good pages tend to have around 10% engagement which is pretty good but could be improved by making small pages such as content or times of posting.
Check-ins: If you own a business with a physical location, this is worth keeping an eye on. Encourage check-ins as this extends your name to friends of friends and may just prompt an unscheduled visit by new customers.
Posts per Day: How often are you posting? Most Facebook Business Pages underpost…less than 1 per day. Some overpost, posting 10-20 but that typically overwhelms fans pages.
There is no right or wrong answer here, but 2-3 posts a day is usually about right for most businesses. Keep an eye on the engagement.
Consistency & Quality is probably more important than quantity.
Average Engagement per post: How many people typically like, comment or share your posts?
Various Types of post: Do you post photos? Videos? Updates? Hopefully a good spread of each to keep your friends engaged.
Timing: There is a good chance you are posting updates to your Facebook Business Page at a time that is convenient to you. The pace at which Facebook releases your updates to more people is determined by how the first 10% of your friends it chooses responds. So if you post when no-one is watching, your critical updates could be dead and buried. There’s more on this in a previous blog which you can read here.
If you find it impossible to post at the optimal time, then consider using a scheduling tool like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or Buffer.
Length of posts: Every business is different, but crucially every audience is different. Some audiences like posts that are pithy and short. Others crave the extra information and want 500 words or more. Keep an eye on the response rates to each post and do more of what works. Alternatively you can receive the free Social Media newsletter from Snowflake Media. All subscribers can get a full review of their Facebook Business page for free which will let you know exactly what works best for your own personal audience.
Curiosity: Ask questions. This is an interactive “social” media channel. Don’t be a one way megaphone!
Hashtags: Influenced by Twitter and Google+ Hashtags (denoted by this #) are now encouraged by Facebook as a way of signposting content that makes it easy for people to search and find relevant topics.
Calls to action: Make sure your readers know what you are hoping to achieve from the page. Do you want them to visit a site, sign up for a newsletter? Buy something? Often a page is so nice that we forget it’s also designed to get some new business for you.
Posts by Others: Do you allow others to post comments on to your page? Lots of businesses miss these comments and opportunities due to only accessing the site on mobile devices. Be sure to check post by others on the app.
Response Rate: Do you respond? Responding lets Facebook and your customers know that you value Customer service and interaction, which is a big plus from both groups! Make sure you check regularly for posts and respond, even if it’s to say you are looking in to it or have private messaged them the answer.
Are you guilty of posting on your business page with your personal profile by accident? You’ll notice they get bumped to one side. Facebook thinks this is a non-related person posting and when you don’t answer (because who answers themselves on there right?) it thinks you aren’t being responsive. So give it a like and a comment or better still, make sure you post as the page, so everyone sees it!
The observant of you will notice that I actually posted 23-points rather than 21. I guess I got carried away and you should always deliver more to your audience too.
Free, no-strings, 6 page report on your Facebook Business Page
Choosing what to post can be a challenge and “just one more thing” on a never ending to-do list. To make life easier I’d like to offer you a completely free report customised to your own Business page on Facebook. It will give you the current “score” that Facebook is giving your page on every item in this blog. For those numbers geeks and the competitive out there it also gives you a score out of 100 as well as how that compares with your competitors on Facebook.
Just email info@snowflakemedia.co.uk with your Facebook URL and we’ll turn them around quickly so you can work on the things that your page needs, rather than the theory!
As always, please take a moment to share your thoughts and experiences. I look forward to hearing how these social media tips for small business work for you!
Until next time
Written by:
Lee Kenny
CEO: Snowflake Media
21-point checklist for your Facebook business page