Currently, Facebook’s statistics page claims there are more than 800 million active users globally and this continues to grow monthly. Facebook constantly offers the user new experiences, tools and Apps and whilst this can at times be frustrating when you’re offering Facebook support to bewildered clients, it is a terrific tool to enhance networking, extend reach and expose your business brand – for FREE! So we can’t complain too much about the constant changes!

There are some key things you can do to ensure your Facebook Page is well branded for your business and here’s my list of 7 key features I offer to clients who have a Facebook business Page:

1. The first and easiest item to address is to ensure you have included the links to all your social media accounts (and your website) are listed on the Info tab, so visitors to your Page can see where else you are and join you in those social media arenas. Make it as easy as possible for people to find you wherever you are present!

2. Once your Page has 25 members you are able to claim your direct URL (Facebook username). A couple of weeks ago you were able to claim your URL with less than 25 members but we are unsure if this was a glitch at the time or something that Facebook is yet to fully roll out. To claim your direct URL, simply head to www.facebook.com/username and follow the prompts. Do take care not to a) set it for your Profile if you’re yet to set a username for your Profile, and b) have any typos as once it’s set, it cannot be changed!

3. Adding a custom designed welcome tab and side banner to your Page brings your business branding to Facebook and shows visitors you care about the image you want to portray. A welcome tab also further outlines what you are about and the services and/or products you have to offer. You can view our custom designed Standard Welcome Tabs in our Portfolio on Facebook.

4.Once you have added a side banner (Profile picture) or even if it’s just a picture, maybe your logo, do use the “Edit Thumbnail” feature to position it as best you can. This can be seen below the image once you have added it for the side banner position.

5. The next feature to really enhance the branding for your Page and should work in conjunction with the side banner is the photo strip at the top of the Facebook Page. It’s also a perfect opportunity to have a Call-to-Action by adding a description for the image with a link to a relevant website page. Facebook will automatically include any photos here that are added to your Wall and reduce them to a thumbnail size but invariably they will be cropped and can look messy. An alternative is to have 5 key images custom designed which will support your brand, services and/or product. You can see how we have utilised the photo strip space on our Facebook Page.

6. Maybe if you have a PDF flyer or brochure for your business, you can add the Scribd Application to your Facebook Page and have that readily available for visitors to your Page download it.

7. Two other Applications to add to your Facebook Page which can help promote your events, services or products is a) the Calendar App‘ which can show your workshops or events that are scheduled on a monthly basis, and b) the Payvment App‘ which is linked to your PayPal account for the selling of products from your Facebook Page. However, if your product is digital, this will need to be manually sent after payment is received.

So there’s a good starting point for you to review your own Facebook Page and see where you can further enhance it and if you are at all unsure, then that’s where we can step in and offer the support you may require. We can certainly assist with the custom designed welcome tabs, side banners and photo strips.

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