Jo Lilore | jolilore@gmail.com

V.3 - May 10, 2011

How To Create a Professional

Facebook Page without Hiring a Pro

Facebook PagesFacebook Pages is a free marketing tool for businesses, brands, artists, personalities, and

non-profits. Having a Facebook Page puts you in reach of Facebook’s 500 million+ user base.

Optimizing Your Fan PageYour Facebook Page has a number of areas that you control. Each of these areas can be

optimized to increase the effectiveness of your Page.

“Café Jo” – my café and

restaurant Page, created for

demo purposes.

Optimizing Your Fan PageYour Facebook Page has a number of areas that you control. Each of these areas can be

optimized to increase the effectiveness of your Page.

Default and Custom

“Tabs” / Sub-pages

Profile Picture

About Box

Status Updates (“Posts”)

Photo Strip

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4

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Types and Benefits of Optimization

Strengthen Your Brand

Improve Customer Experience

Cross-Channel Promotion

Search Engine Optimization

Increase Visitor Conversions

Facebook Marketing: The Big Picture

Page optimization is just one part of your overall Facebook marketing

strategy and efforts.

Facebook

Ads

Insights

&

Analytics

Campaigns

&

Promotions

Editorial/

Content

Strategy

Page

Optimization

Facebook

Marketing

Facebook Page Optimization

1. Page Category

2. Page Name

3. Username/ “Vanity Address”

4. Profile Picture

5. About Box

6. Information Tab

7. Status Updates / “Posts”

8. Photos

9. Default and Custom Tabs

10. Page Settings

1. Page CategoryChoosing Your Page Category

The Page Category that you choose will affect

what information and features are available to

your Page.

For businesses based around a physical location, use

“Local Business or Place.” Company and Brand pages

are used for national brands with many locations, or

for businesses without a physical presence.

If you choose “Local business,” you will be able to

add your address, which Facebook auto-links to a

Bing.com map. Your address on Facebook will be

crawled by search engines and included in online

directories.

You will also be considered a Facebook “Place,”

meaning that people can check-in to your location.

If you choose “Brand or Product,” or one of the other

categories, you will be able to add a company

overview and mission statement to describe your

business or organization.

If you need to, you can change your Page Category

after your Page has been created. This used to be

impossible.

After you select a main Page Category, you will be

given the ability to choose a Sub-Category.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.phpTo create a Page:

http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=175More info:

1. Page Category / Sub-Category

Name

Name

Sub-Category

Sub-Category

Address

2. Page Name Choosing Your Page Name

Use your brand, company or organization name:

“Café Jo”

Use spaces.

Avoid generic Page Names – “Vegetarian Food Los Angeles”

Facebook policies prohibit this, and even if you get away with it,

they may take your Page down later.

Avoid “spammy” Page Names –“Café Jo Tasty Italian Vegetarian Food Los Angeles”

• Facebook prohibits this – same issue as with

generic names

• Negative reflection on your brand – no one likes

spammy marketers or companies

• People will not want to share your Page, the link

will look too spammy

You can change your Page Name until you get 100

connections, then you can NOT change it again.

To edit your Page Name, click to Edit your page and go to the

“Basic Information” section.

3. Username /“Vanity Address”

Choosing Your Username / Vanity Address

By default, Facebook assigns your Page a web address like this:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Caf%C3%A9-

Jo/172874146096924

Once you have 25 “Likes,” Facebook lets you sign up for a

custom address or “Vanity Address” like this:

www.Facebook.com/Cafe-Jo

You can NOT use spaces. Use a single word –“CafeJo” or dashes:

“Café-Jo”. The second option is better for Search Engine

Optimization, but the first looks classier and is easier to type.

Avoid generic and spammy Usernames. Use your brand,

company or organization name.

You can NOT change your Username once it is created. This is

different from Profile Pages, where you can change your

Username once – and only once.

Once you get it, put your Vanity Address on business cards,

flyers, everything - get the word out there!

More info: www.facebook.com/help/?page=900

To get your Username: http://www.facebook.com/username/

4. Profile PictureYour Profile Picture: Basics

1. Ideally the Profile Picture should include both your

name and logo.

2. Remember that people are going to be seeing the

picture “thumbnail” when you post Status Updates, so

the image must be able to generate a good thumbnail.

We’ll look at this shortly.

3. Try putting a border around the image to see if that

looks better or worse for both the main Profile Picture

as it appears on your Wall, and for the thumbnails that

accompany your Status Updates.

or

4. Profile Picture: The Next Level

Your Profile Picture: Optimized

1. Profile Pictures have an optimal size of 180 pixels

wide by 540 pixels high. The graphic must be a .jpg

or .png file, and less than 4MB

2. Facebook auto-crops images slightly, so it’s best to

leave some space around the edges.

3. You can use the height to your advantage by building

useful information and marketing content into the

graphic.

4. In this example I made a tall image showing that we

offer coffee, food and desserts. I could also have put

text into this image – “Coffee, Food and Desserts”

5. You can not put clickable links into the picture, it’s

still just a graphic. If a visitor clicks on the Profile

Picture, Facebook will take them to the “Photos”

section of your Page.

Before After

4. Profile Picture: Thumbnails

Setting Your Profile Picture Thumbnail

After you upload your Profile Picture, Facebook

generates a thumbnail for you by default.

Often the thumbnail isn’t optimized. To edit your

thumbnail, click to edit your Profile Picture, then

click “Edit Thumbnail.”

Click on the thumbnail and drag it within the box to

adjust the thumbnail framing.

After you Save, go back to your Wall to see how your

new thumbnail looks next to a Post. Try again if you

don’t like the look.

4. Profile Picture: The Photo Strip

Optimizing Your Photo Strip

The Photo Strip shows a randomized display of

recent photos that you have uploaded to your

Page.

The picture order is mixed up every time the Page

is loaded or refreshed. You cannot “fix” the order.

You can however choose which five pictures you

want to appear, by process of elimination.

To remove a picture, mouse over it and a little “X”

will appear on the top right. Clicking the X does

not delete the photo, it just hides it from the

photostrip.

Delete photos until you are left with the five that

best represent your business or organization. Mix

it up – show people, interior shots, exterior,

products – whatever makes the most sense for

your company.

To “unhide” all your photos, go to “Edit Page >> Profile

Picture” and click the “Unhide All” button.

Non-Optimized Profile Picture: Home Depot

Profile Picture has no useful

information and a weak

Call-To-Action.

Non-useful “fluff ” photo. They are

going for a “lifestyle” shot, but this

isn’t a very inviting picture.

Tall graphic pushes About box down

out of site, hiding useful info from

view.

Poor use of Profile Pic

Non-Optimized Thumbnail: Home Depot

Profile thumbnail is unreadable and

dirty looking.

They should be using the brand

logo instead.

Poor use of Profile Pic

Non-Optimized Thumbnail: Home Depot

Still can’t identify the name in

thumbnail form, have to go by color.

They should be using the brand

logo instead.

Now: Better, not Great

(More) Optimized Profile Picture: SME

(More) Optimized Profile Picture

Custom Profile Picture is used to draw attention to the

Blurb box, which includes clear Calls-To-Action and

clickable links.

(More) Optimized Thumbnail

Thumbnail image is distinct and compelling even at

thumbnail size.

5. About Box Optimizing the About Box

The About Box appears on the wall under your

Profile Picture and Sub-page links. It is based

on the “About” field on your Basic Information

form.

1. There is a 250 character limit. Two and a half

lines show up before the “More” link.

2. Links that you enter into the box do not become

clickable from the box, but they are clickable on

the Info tab.

3. Link to your main website. Do not assume that a

visitor will click on your Page’s Info tab.

4. Help out your visitors and the search engines by

including the key info that they need to know

who you are and what you do. List your services,

specialties and offerings.

5. Update the box periodically to highlight

promotions and timely updates.

Click Edit in the About Box

to add or edit copy.

About Box: Starbucks

Two and a half lines show up

before the “More” link.

6. Information “Tab” Optimizing the Information Tab

The Information Tab / Sub-page is on all Pages. It

can not be turned off. Go to the tab and click on

“Edit Information” to add or update content.

1. Website links that you enter are clickable. Link to all

of your online properties. Facebook will strip any text

that you try to add in front of the links, and only

display the URLs.

2. Like the About Box, help out your visitors and the

search engines by including the key info that they need

to know who you are and what you do.

3. Use all-caps (carefully) and underline rows (____) to

create visual markup and separation.

4. For Local Businesses, entering your address puts a

clickable Bing map link on the Information Tab. This

information will also be crawled by search engines,

helping you gain entry into business listings.

5. Fill out as many fields, with as much information, as

you can. Hours, parking, specialties, offerings,

philosophy , whatever fields they give you based on

your Page Category. This information will help both

visitors and the search engines.

7. Status UpdatesOptimizing Your Status Updates

Your Status Updates are your way to reach your fans,

and for them to help build awareness and visibility of

your brand as they interact with your content.

1. Use a photo – posts with photos get up to twice as much

response. If you are posting a link, Facebook will let you

choose images from that web page for your post.

If you were planning on just posting a text message, you

can upload a relevant photo and post your message as the

caption.

2. Optimize your Title and Description – after you

enter your link and hit “Attach,” Facebook will generate a

default Title, Description and Thumbnail.

1. Click on the Title to edit it

2. Click on the Description to edit it

3. Use the arrows to choose a Thumbnail

You are only able to edit these fields BEFORE you hit

“Share.” They can not be changed after the Status Update

has gone out.

7. Status Updates Optimizing Your Status Updates

Optimize your Message - keep all of the

optimization principles in mind when you write, and

have a clear Call-To-Action.

1. Optimize your Title

2. Optimize your Description

3. Encourage interaction – commenting, liking, sharing.

(“Comment bait”)

4. Include your search engine keywords

EdgeRank

EdgeRank is the system that Facebook uses to calculate which

posts make it into the “Top Stories” part of the news feed.

It is essential to get your Status Updates into the Top

Stories feed, otherwise your post will lost its momentum

in as little as 24 hours.

Pages get EdgeRank based on how actively Fans interact with

the Page Content. The more interactions, the higher the

rank. Interaction types include:

- Shares

- Comments

- Likes

Before Editing

After Editing

Chose better thumbnail | Updated Title

8. Photos Optimizing Your Photo Posts

1. Click to share a photo

2. Upload a photo from your computer

3. Enter a message. Make sure to optimize your message,

which goes out in your Status Update, and also becomes

the caption for the photo. Keep all of the optimization

principles in mind when you write the caption,

particularly use your search engine keywords.

8. Photos Optimizing Your Photo Posts

Bonus Benefit of using photo sharing to

post a Status Update

Since photo captions are editable, if you do your

posts this way - posting a photo and adding your

message - you can edit your message copy even after

it’s gone out.

Just go the photo and click the Edit icon next to the

caption. Change the caption, and the post copy will

automatically update in everyone’s News Feed.

This is a great way to quickly fix a typo, or add a

piece of missing information.

You can also edit the caption by clicking

“Edit This Photo.”

Bonus #2

Each photo upload creates its own web page for that

photo, which is crawled by search engines, and

linked to and from your other Facebook pages.

This builds content relevancy and search engine

credibility for your brand.

Navigation – once you have more than 7 tabs, you will see a “More” link which gives you

access to Edit. Editing allows you to reorder the tabs. Wall and Info must stay at the top.

9. Default and Custom “Tabs” / Sub - Pages

9. Custom Tabs Custom Tabs for your page

Page Owners can create an add multiple

Sub-pages to their Page, and set one of these

as the landing or “Welcome” page for non-

Fans.

These pages can include video, audio, and

even forms and functionality: e-commerce,

sign up forms, whatever you want.

This can require a bit of technical knowledge, or

you can use low-cost software to handle the

technical side for you.

Some applications use a step-by-step “wizard”

where all you need to do is upload large graphics

and then link them to a web page or site. This can be

used to create promotions.

If you have a webmaster or know HTML, you can

use free applications to build these pages, and you

create the page contents yourself.

9. Custom Tabs: Odwalla

9. Custom Tabs: Odwalla

1

2

3 Compelling Profile Picture

Default “Fresh Stuff ” Landing

Page tab for non-Fans

Strong Call To Action to

“Like” the Fan Page

Default Landing Page:

Odwalla

9. Custom Tabs: Chegg

1

2

Default “Chegg It Out”

Landing Page tab for

non-Fans

Strong Call To Action

to “Like” the Fan Page

Default Landing

Page: Chegg

10. Page SettingsManaging Page Settings

Go to “Edit Page >>

Manage Permissions” to

control the following

aspects of our Page:

-Wall settings

- Default Landing Tab

-Visitor posting ability

-These settings will depend on

how much you are able to

monitor and manage the page.

Appendix A: Best Practices

What causes you to unfollow an individual or a business on social networks?

Their over-communication gets overwhelming — 44.81%

The don’t add value to my day with their irrelevant postings — 36.79%

They only talk about themselves or act irresponsibly toward their audience — 9.91%

They are not open to feedback, two-way dialogue or user-generated content — 5.19%

They under-communicate or may not be active for weeks/months at a time — 3.30%

Appendix B: Why Fans “Unfollow”