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Wondering what works and what doesn't for your Facebook page?
Or are you overwhelmed with all of the Facebook tactics you read about?
No matter how long you've had a Facebook page, it's good to review some of the basics for creating a page for your business.
This article includes six simple tips that will make you a more effective admin and make your page more professional starting today.
#1: Check Your Wall-posting Preferences
Does your page get a lot of, ahem, critical commentary on its timeline? Or maybe just more than you have time to deal with easily? If so, it might be time to set your page's Posting Ability tab so that only your page admins can post.
Here's how: Choose Edit Page from your Admin panel. Then choose Edit Settings.
From there, edit the Posting Ability tab and decide if you want everyone to be able to post on your page, or if you want to allow only your page admins to post.
While I normally advocate allowing open access to a page, and even leaving negative posts up so your customers and future customers can see how you deal with criticism, for some businesses it's just simpler to let people message you privately if they have an issue. Setting to “Posts by Page Only” also prevents Facebook users from spamming you.
#2: Use Insights to Determine What's Working for Your Page
There are two basic types of Facebook page admins: Those who post based on hunches as to what motivates engagement, and those who look at Facebook's Insights to see what actually drives engagement.
Checking Facebook Insights will help you give your fans what they want. For example, if you notice that the posts with images have better reach and engagement than those that are text only, try removing the images to see what happens.
Since Facebook is always messing with EdgeRank, it can seem like just when you have figured out the formula for engagement, something changes. Checking Insights will help you stay on track, no matter what algorithmic changes Facebook throws your way.
A few months back, Facebook did a complete overhaul of Facebook Insights and Jon Loomer wrote a nice article for Social Media Examiner that walks you through the latest features.
#3: Assign Admin Roles
Facebook allows five different administrator roles: manager, content creator, moderator, advertiser and insights analyst. Each role has different capabilities—only managers have the ability to change each admin's role. Facebook makes all admins managers by default.
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You can have as many admins on a page as you want. To add an admin, go to Edit Page on your timeline and then click Admin Roles. Scroll down and select Add Another Admin.
Note: To make someone an admin of your page, the person must have liked the page.
To prevent conflict among your employees and before you assign your Facebook page's admin roles, establish some company-wide guidelines. Some things to consider:
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- Have a quarterly Facebook training session. Discuss roles and address etiquette and expectations for employees who manage the page. At the quarterly meeting, discuss new Facebook features, address concerns about previous posts and talk about new tactics that you'd like to implement.
- Define the voice of your page. Each individual has a unique voice, but when representing a business or brand on a Facebook page, the page admins should work together to form a consistent voice. Make sure that your page admins understand the established voice and that they are expected to use that voice when communicating with users and fans online.
- Keep a shareable document (e.g., a Google doc) that outlines company social media policies. Employees should refer to the document at any time when they need to know what to post—and what not to post. This document should also include recommendations about how to interact with your Facebook fan base.
- Keep admins to a minimum. Don't give just anyone admin rights to the Facebook page. The fewer people managing a page, the better. Two or three admins actively updating, responding to inquiries and managing the page are plenty.
- Keep communication between admins open. “If you're not sure, ask!” is an elementary concept, yet it's an important one. Whether responding to a particularly difficult user comment or sharing an article on the timeline, establish a rule of thumb that if any admin is unsure about whether something is appropriate, s/he should ask another admin for an opinion. Encouraging page admins to have open communication with one another will help reduce mistakes.
#4: Choose Your Featured LikesÂ
Liking other business pages helps you build connections (and when they reciprocate, gives you added exposure), but you might not want certain pages to be among the first things visitors to your page see. Luckily, you can control which of the pages you've liked appear on your timeline.
Five of these likes are displayed at any one time, and the five that appear randomly change each time the visitor to your page refreshes—unless you edit which pages appear.
Why would you want to do this? You might want to feature pages that are related to your business. Or perhaps you want to feature pages that you think will be relevant to your readers. (If you pick more than five, they will rotate randomly.)
To choose featured likes, go to your Admin panel, choose Edit Page, then Edit Settings. Next, click More and then select Featured. From there you can edit your featured likes.
#5: Bookmark Facebook's Page Guidelines and Reacquaint Yourself With What's Changed Recently
Facebook changes its terms of service…often. And unless you follow the company's blog or frequently check their Page Guidelines, it can be difficult to keep track of what's allowed—or not—during a given month.
Of course reading social media blogs like Social Media Examiner will help you stay in the know, but page admins should still bookmark Facebook's Page Guidelines and read the document at least once a quarter.
#6: Use Facebook as a Page Instead of as Yourself
Chances are if you're the admin of a page, you simply head over to your business page and when you comment or post, you act as the business. But did you know that you can actually change your profile so that you are on Facebook as a page and not just as a personal profile acting as an admin on the page?
Why would you want to do this? If you happen to own or work for a B2B company, it's a good way to build alliances with other businesses that are in your same industry (but aren't competitors).
Let's say you own a restaurant. You'd want to interact with hotels nearby so that when people check out the hotel's page, they see your (positive and helpful) comments and are motivated to check out your business. Of course there's a fine line—you don't want to post too often or be so complimentary that your posts appear insincere, spammy or otherwise annoying. But posting as a page is a great way to network with similar businesses and leverage the marketing power of Facebook.
To act as a page on Facebook, click on the Settings icon in the top right corner of your Facebook profile and you'll see an option to “Use Facebook as” with a list of the pages for which you're an admin. When you choose to “Use Facebook as a Page,” you are able not only to post and comment as that page, but also your news feed contains the updates from the businesses your page follows instead of your personal friends and page likes.
Hope you find these tips helpful as you look for new ways to invigorate your Facebook presence!
What do you think? Do you have any Facebook tips to share? Please share your comments below.
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