Facebook Pages: 4 Set-up Q’s to Ask before Starting Yours

Facebook Pages for All — But first… Pause

More than 400 million active users on Facebook. It’s a statistic hard to ignore if you’re trying to reach new clients and customers, or at least nurture business relationships with your existing ones.

You know I’m a believer in Facebook. Still I had to swallow hard when I heard a Blue Cloud generalist tell a group of small business owners that it was easy, just go start a Facebook Page and people will start reading your updates.

Gasp.

Let’s forget for a moment that having a Facebook Page channel strategy helps you succeed with Facebook, and this presenter didn’t mention creating such a strategy.

Just his Nike Just-Do-It set-up pace was ill-advised.

I always advise clients to pause first.

Not wait-a-year-before-you-ask-her-to-marry-you-pause. More like refill your coffee, take a few sips and think for a moment.

Why? Because the first 4 Facebook Page Set-up decisions you make when you start your Facebook Page are irreversible.

Yes — permanent.

The only way to change the answers is a complete do-over, and that can cost you Facebook Fans and other heartaches.

The first four questions you have to answer to start a Facebook Page are:

1. Under whose profile will you set up the page?
2. What category? Local, brand/product/organization, or artist/band/public figure.
3. What kind of business? Pick from a supplied drop down menu.
4. The Facebook Page name

The answers to each of the four questions impact not just your online brand but also the kind of information Facebook prompts to provide about your business (local business hours, for example).

Question #1: Under Whose Profile Should You Set Up the Page?

Of all the questions, the one that I think gets the least attention it needs is the first one — under whose profile will you start your company’s Facebook Page?

Consider this:

If you start the page, under current Facebook operating procedures, everything you write on the page shows up with the Page logo, even if you’re also a Page Fan as well as Administrator.

You can name other administrators of the Page, rotate the job even. But the person who started the Page can never have anything but administrator status.

The Page essentially belongs to that person who started it so you’ll see lots of information cautioning you against starting a Facebook Page under the profile of someone who might leave the company, since control of the Page leaves, too.

But that doesn’t mean the Page should be created under a fake person’s name — or even your cat’s. Facebook terms and conditions don’t allow for this. You might not get caught, but know this: If you do, you’ll lose not just that fictitious named profile but the Facebook Page and all the Facebook Fans you’ve worked so hard to nuture.

Nor does it mean the Facebook Page should be created under the business owner’s personal Facebook profile. Even in the case of a solopreneur. The decision really depends on the underlying business and branding.

Ask yourself: Will there be times when I want to speak as just me, not the company or group?

After all, wasn’t it nice when The Wizard of Oz came out from behind the curtain and just talked to Dorothy personally?

Questions 2 &3: What Business Category, What Type of Page?

For many, these will seem obvious. Still, look closer at the options. If need be, look for examples of other similar kinds of organizations or businesses to yours and see what they’ve done. You may see creative options you hadn’t thought of before. If you’re a nonprofit but also a local store, like the Friends Corner Book Shop Page I manage, for example, you might be better off clicking Local Business – Retail, and be able to post not just store hours but the address.

My point is this: Know that the choice matters. Think of Facebook as a fluid mind map. Each click sends you down a slightly different path.

Pick the path that is best for achieving what you want your Page to achieve.

Question #4: Facebook Page Name

This has to make sense but also look good across the page. And it would be great if it also worked with what you’d ultimately like to use as the personalized URL for the page, right?

So don’t just put your wish list in the Page Name section. Search Facebook for what you ultimately hope to use as the URL and see if anyone else is using it. Even then, you still might not be able to get it. (Remember my experience with the Friends Corner Book Shop Page!)

So hit pause… even if it’s just moments. Think before logging on.

These aren’t tough questions. They don’t have take a lot of time. But they are important. And, yet, I find that most people don’t take that time. They dive in. Facebook Login First.

And figure it doesn’t matter. But it does.

I know because I once started with the wrong answer to Question #1. Trust me — once was enough!