How to Optimize Your Facebook Business Page

The number one rule to an effective marketing strategy for businesses of all sizes is to be where your customers are. For many businesses, this not only includes Facebook, but it means Facebook should be a foundational component to their marketing efforts. There are 190 million Facebook users in the United States (source: statista.com), or about 58% of the country’s population. Businesses that are not making the most of their Facebook presence are doing themselves a disservice and losing out to their competition that is.

There are two substantial reasons why it is important to optimize, and maintain, your Facebook business page.

The first reason why it is important to optimize your Facebook business page is because consumers use Facebook when searching for local businesses. The Facebook search engine is a powerful tool with over 1.5 billion searches taking place, and over 600 million users visiting a Facebook business page every day (source: Search Engine Watch). Think about those numbers, and then try to justify why you shouldn’t maximize your Facebook business page traffic. We’ll save you time – you can’t.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of social proof, we’re here to fill you in. Understanding what social proof is, is essential if you have anything to do with marketing.

“Social proof is a psychological and social phenomenon wherein people copy the actions of others in an attempt to undertake behavior in a given situation. The concept is also known as informational social influence” (source: Wikipedia).

There are several ways businesses can capitalize on the concept of social proof, and much of it starts with a Facebook business page. Businesses that have a robust Facebook following, a growing number of Facebook reviews, and that engage with their following have a strong foundation for building social proof. When customers vet out small businesses of various industries, they often turn to Facebook. Businesses that have a minimal Facebook presence are unlikely to earn the trust of the potential customer, and that customer is likely to give their business to a competitor with an established Facebook presence. There is no set threshold to strive for when it comes to total Facebook fans or number of reviews – it is all relative to your industry and competition. Take a look at your top competitors and set your goal to beat them in terms of Facebook fans and reviews.

Ensure your business stands out on Facebook by optimizing it in just seven simple steps:

The first step in optimizing your Facebook business page involves filling out everything in its entirety. This includes your business name, phone number, website, address, hours, profile photo, cover photo, about section description, business page story with a relevant photo, username, and vanity URL. Many of these items are pretty straight forward, but here a couple quick tips to pay attention to:

• Add as many good quality photos as you would like. Facebook business pages with more photos drive more engagement. Additionally, be sure to have nice photos to use for posts (see step 5).
• The about section and business story section are the best opportunities to optimize your page with traditional SEO writing. Facebook is a search engine, and while less complex than search engines like Google and Bing, the Facebook algorithm considers keyword and service/product mentions on your page. Write your descriptions for these two sections with best SEO practices in mind.
• Ensure your name, address, and phone number (NAP info) are accurate and match your website, Google My Business listing, and other directory listings. If you do not wish to show your full street address (this is common for service businesses), that is not a problem. But be sure to include the city you are located in.

Set up a call-to-action button on your business page to entice visitors to interact with you. Facebook provides a number of options you can choose from, including “Contact,” “Book Now,” “Learn More,” “Shop,” “Download App,” and many others.

Turn on Facebook Messenger for your business page so customers can message your business directly. This encourages visitors on your page to interact with you, and it provides customers with an easy way to get in touch with you. Be sure to respond in a timely manner when you receive messages, and also test out turning on auto replies. Simple automated responses can go a long way, such as “Thank you for reaching out. A team member will be in touch with you shortly.”

Allow for customers to leave reviews on your Facebook page, and then encourage them to do so. And do not fear negative reviews. Again, do not be worried about customers leaving negative reviews. The truth is, negative reviews are inevitable, and that’s okay. The important thing is that you respond to the reviews – both the positive and negative. A business with all 5-star reviews looks like spam to both page visitors and the Facebook algorithm. When you receive a negative review, respond to it by letting the customer know that you value their feedback, you care about their experience, and you would like to take it offline to correct the issue.

This may be the most important step of them all. You need to set a strong foundation first by properly setting up your Facebook business page, but to achieve sustained success on Facebook you need to post regularly. It doesn’t have to be several times a day (in fact, you want to be sure you don’t overdo it – see the next paragraph for more on that), and it doesn’t even have to be daily. But you will want to establish a schedule that is realistic for you to be able to stick to, and do just that. Posting three to four times a week is a common sweet spot for many small businesses.

That being said, be sure you don’t post too often. The purpose of posting is three-fold: The first reason is that you want people to engage with your content by liking and commenting. The second is that you want people to share your content – content that is shared from your page is free advertising for your business. And the third is that it makes the Facebook algorithm happy, and you are more likely to show up in search results when you post consistently and drive engagement. But businesses that post too much can become annoying and get “unliked” by Facebook users, so don’t go overboard with it.

One of the best ways to get new ideas for your business is to study your competition, and this remains true for Facebook. Facebook has a great feature called Pages to Watch, which is found in the Page Insights section of your Facebook business page, and it allows you to track the engagement of Facebook business pages that are similar to yours. The one caveat is that you must have at least 500 fans of your Facebook page to unlock this tool. But once you’re there, use this feature to gain insights into what your competitors are posting on Facebook that is working well, or not working well, and use that knowledge to determine future posts you want to make.

Just like everything in the digital world, Facebook business features can change without notice. Online marketing is an everchanging landscape, and the businesses that succeed are the ones that stay updated with the latest and greatest features, tools, knowledge, and trends. Be sure to stay up to date with the newest Facebook business features as they roll out.

Does your business sell products? If so, be sure to upload them to your Facebook business page. Selling products through Facebook puts your products in front of customers that may have not heard about them otherwise, and it allows for users to convert at a higher rate because they don’t have to leave the Facebook platform to place an order.

And that’s it! Seven simple steps (with an important bonus step if your business is product focused) to ensure your Facebook business page is fully optimized. Implement these steps the next chance you get and your business will be well on its way to Facebook success.

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