FACEBOOK MARKETING
With 2.4 million users in Ireland, Facebook is the largest Social Media platform that you can use for your business/practice. The broad age range of their audience means that you have a lot of decision makers to access through valuable, informative messaging and posts. Facebook keeps audiences returning due to an increasing number of activity options such as keeping in touch with friends & family, sourcing news, researching companies and carrying out purchases.
Setting up your Facebook Business page is detailed on this page and within the Masterclasses section, if your preference is a video demonstration. We will also cover setup during the Live session for Module 1 - click here for more details.
HOW WILL IT WORK FOR MY BUSINESS OR PRACTICE?
As a research tool, people can find you through the platform's search option. They can then access information about your services through your business page and contact you directly. If you provide valuable advice or insights, your posts may be shared by followers, expanding your reach to new potential clients. You can also get involved with Facebook Groups that are specifically relevant to your industry, profession, location, audience etc, for example:
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Athlone Community Forum
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Businesses In Ireland
SETTING UP YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT & BUSINESS PAGE
To open a business/practice Facebook account, you need to have a personal account. To set up a personal account, simply go to facebook.com and click to sign up. You will be prompted to enter your name, email or mobile number, date of birth, gender and create a password. You will then be prompted to confirm the email or phone number and your account will be authorised to go live.
Your business page will be a separate resource within your account. To create a business page, log into your Facebook account and then go to facebook.com/pages/create
From here, you will be prompted to add your business/practice name and category it falls under, Dentist, Accountant etc.
Make sure to use the exact name of your business or practice, the name that people will search for to find you. Use the Bio section to describe what your practice does. Think about how your audience would search for you and add these terms or search words. For example 'We provide a range of services including tax returns, payroll management, VAT returns for companies and self-employed individuals.'
Then press the blue Create Page button to move on to the next step.
You will then be prompted to add your contact details - business or practice email address, phone number and website. They will be publicly available so make sure they are details you want to share. You can add a location and opening hours if they are relevant to your business/practice. You can always add or change these details at a later date. Click next to move on.
Profile Photo and Cover Photo
Now it's time to add some colour to your page! For the profile photo, use your business or practice logo. This photo is square in dimension but will be framed in a circle so bear that in mind when creating it. The size display will be 170px by 170px so make sure to upload a file at least that size. When uploaded, check that it looks sharp, blurred images look terrible and will give a bad impression of your business or practice.
For the cover photo, its best to choose a good quality image, it could be something related to the practice, interior or exterior, a nice landscape or abstract image that compliments your logo. This image space is rectangular and must be a minimum of 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall.
Add Action Button
This prominently positioned button will give your page visitors clear direction on next steps when they visit your page. Click this to choose your preferred call to action.
I would recommend changing this to Send Message (direct message through Facebook Messenger) as it provides a quick way for potential clients to reach you directly without leaving the app. You can encourage them to contact you to ask questions and find out more about how you can help them.
You could also use the Call Now option if that is your preferred method of contact - just bear in mind that people researching out of hours may want to send a message there and then.
You can also choose Whatsapp as your main contact point by ticking that option. Only do this if you have a business or practice phone number that your are comfortable getting messages on around the clock.Simply add your Whatsapp phone number and get a confirmation code to enter. You can skip this if you do not.
You will then be prompted to invite any Facebook friends from your personal account to follow your business page, this is up to you. You might want to invite a few people to get things started and build out your following - press the blue 'Invite Friends' button and follow the prompts or skip if you don't want to.
The final stage of the account setup is turning notifications on - very important so that you find out in real time when someone messages you or comments on your posts. You can choose to opt in or out of marketing messages from Meta (Facebook parent company).
Press the blue 'Done' button and your business page will Go Live with all of the basic information that you have included.
At any stage, you can add more information by clicking the 'Edit Details' button on your profile such as the area you service, pricing etc.
In the About section you can add your credentials to further promote your business or practice.
On the top menu, you can press 'More' and 'Manage Sections' to control what your visitors will see. Pay attention to this section and uncheck most of the boxes here if you don't want the public seeing your activity such as the reviews you give or the books you have 'liked'.
Make sure to review your privacy settings by going to the left menu, select Settings, then Privacy. Here you can decide whether you want visitors to leave reviews for your business or practice. In 2024, people use reviews as a key criteria in the decision making process so we advise adding this.
CREATING GREAT CONTENT
It is important to post content as soon as you go live as you want your page to be informative and interesting for visitors. Posts should be a good mix of images and updates with a regular plan in place for posting. For your initial setup, look to add at least 5 posts covering different topics so that your visitors get a good flavour of who you are and what you do.
In Module 2, we will be covering Facebook Content Creation (plus content creation for other social media platforms). You will see best practice posts that you can work home.
Don't forget to download your Content Batch each month to save you time and effort developing your posts - access here >>
WHAT DO I SAY & WHEN DO I POST
Having great-looking content is not enough, it is essential to work out what to say and when to say it. You need to provide value to your audience if you want to keep them engaged, build trust and ultimately help them to choose your business or practice.
In Module 3, we will be covering Facebook Content Strategy (plus content creation for other social media platforms).
Don't forget to download your Content Batch each month to save you time and effort developing your posts - access here >>
BUILDING & MAINTAINING YOUR FOLLOWER NETWORK
LET THE WORLD KNOW ABOUT YOUR PAGE
Once you have populated your page with good content, your page is ready for promotion. Invite relevant contacts to visit and follow the page, incentivising them with regular updates and interesting content. You can do this in a number of ways.
As referenced above, you can invite friends from your personal Facebook profile, you can do so after setup by clicking the three dots on the right of the page menu and choose the 'Invite Friends' option - see drop-down option in image below.
In Module 4 of Social Media Marketing Marketing, we will be covering Community Development & Increasing Followers in great detail. create button?
Next, link your Facebook page to your website - ask your web developer to do this if you don’t control the site yourself. Each platform has a different way to do this but if you manage your website yourself, use the platform’s Help Service or run a quick google search to locate a tutorial.
You can also email your contact list to let them know that you are active on Facebook. You may want to include this in an email with other content. Here is some sample text for you to use below:
SAMPLE TEXT:
As a valued client, I/we (or insert business/practice name) wanted to let you know that we are now active on Facebook. I/we will be posting regular updates including advisory articles on (insert specialty here) and adding any business/practice updates relating to practice hours, new services and more. Click on the link below to follow our page. (Insert the web address of your business page here - you can copy this from the address bar when you are on the homepage of your facebook business page).
Sample: www.facebook.com/mypracticename
If you have any other active social media accounts, you can promote the page through those channels too.
If you have a directory listing with a member association or directory, you can add your Facebook web address to your listing or you can add the description: ‘search (insert name of practice) online’. This will incorporate all of your listings on social and google, yahoo etc.
Managing Your Account
MANAGING YOUR ACCOUNTS WITH THE META BUSINESS SUITE
Meta Business Suite: Key Facts – alter this as comes from 3rd party website
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Meta Business Suite is an all-in-one social media tool that helps you manage your Facebook and Instagram accounts.
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It’s a more comprehensive and flexible tool than Meta Business Manager.
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You can generate some pretty impressive insights from the platform, including how to improve ad spend, how to increase engagement, and who your audience really is.
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Meta Business Suite is packed with useful tools, including a unified inbox, a content calendar, a social post creation and scheduling tool, and online forms.
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Allows for mobile and desktop use
Setup Business Suite
https://business.facebook.com/
You will be prompted to sign in with Facebook or Instagram