Tips on How to Set Up a Facebook Page for Your Business

Facebook started as a social utility to keep tabs on your friends, piece together your drunken nights through blurry photos and announce to the world when you had recently' updated your relationship status to single'.

Over the years Facebook has got a little more complex. It has become a marketing phenomenon used by both big and small business to connect with customers. Now businesses, organizations, groups, non-profits, celebrities, even chocolate bars have their own pages.

It is easy to create a business page. First you need to create a login. Most people already have a personal account and you can create a separate business page from here. Then you need to decide do you want to make a Group or a Page.

A Facebook Page allows celebrities, businesses, bands and brands to create a profile where they can connect with fans, share content, post photos and events and basically promote themselves. A Group is less focused, it usually reflects a shared issue or a love of something. Groups are often used more successfully by non-profits but this may change as the options for change and integration become better on Pages rather then with Groups.

When you create a Page you are required to pick a category for that Page. There are three choices, which I would argue are not enough as businesses are changing and we don't all fit neatly into any one category. The choices are "Local", "Brand, Product or Organisation" or "Artist, Band or Public Figure". Try to sort through the options for description for each category and pick the best fit for your business.

You should check out other business Pages. See what is possible, what is popular and what is being ignored. The trick is not to overwhelm 'fans' with promotional material. It is Facebook, it should be fun and not too intrusive.

When you get a handle on it, upload some content. Post some videos about your company, give discounts for 'fans', import blog entries, just get some quality content on the page before you start trying to recruit people. You need to give people a reason to want to join. An easy way to do this is to install the appropriate applications to automatically upload feed from your blog and other social media accounts. Do be aware, if you use Twitter to tweet 50 times a day users may find this a little to intense and flee your page!

Be sure to keep your personal and business content separate. You don't want photos from your sister's birthday popping up on your business Page, unless you are an event planner and the party was amazing.