Making a Facebook Page Effective for Your Business

This article, written by Natalie Carn, appeared originally on the BoomTown blog.

By now you’ve probably heard about this little thing called Facebook. More and more companies are turning to Facebook (and social media in general) to generate brand awareness and increase their customer base. The real estate industry has jumped on board as well, but too frequently real estate agents are diving in head first without thinking through some critical first steps.

Before you create your page think about what your audience really wants to hear from you. Chances are they don’t just want a sales pitch. Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to building a more effective Facebook page.

First, define your strategy.
Facebook is not a one-way street. Don’t make your page all about you. Instead, use it as a way to engage your audience. You should know the story you want to tell, your brand image, and most importantly the goals for your page. Does it really make the most sense to focus purely on the number of “likes” you get? Probably not. A group of 300 active and energetic fans is better than 10,000 fans who never engage with you.

Next, create your content.
First and foremost – make it engaging! Your page will be more successful if you concentrate on building useful, relevant content. Think about why you love real estate, what you love about your community, and the types of questions you frequently answer. This will help you define the type of content you want your Facebook page to include.

To help build up an arsenal of content, create a Content Grid. Kate Lance, Social Media Director for Inman News, shares how to do this along with other great Facebook tips in the Building a Successful Facebook Page webinar Inman News hosted back in November. Your Content Grid will give you a great starting point for creating the first 30 – 60 days of content. You can start with various categories such as Local Real Estate, National and State Real Estate, Local/Community Topics, and Personal Interests. Then, arrange different topics in the appropriate categories. For example, Local Real Estate could include a post about a favorite listing and Personal Interest could consist of a profile on a hometown hero.

Then, create your page.
Once you have your strategy defined and a good amount of content to pull from, start to build out your actual Facebook page here. There are a few things you should keep in mind while you’re building the page:

1. Take advantage of the real estate available to you. Your profile picture can be as big as 540 pixels high and 180 pixels wide.

2. Remember that part of your profile picture will also be used for your thumbnail photo. Make sure this fits appropriately.

3. Give people a reason to “like” your page. You can use a custom tab to create a specific landing page for your visitors. This page should outline all of the benefits and features of your Facebook page.

4. Create an action. Think about using a video to persuade people to register their email address so you can build your marketing database.

As you continue to develop your Facebook strategy make sure you have enough time to dedicate to it so you constantly have fresh, updated content. You don’t want someone coming to your page and seeing that nothing has been posted in months.

Also, remember Facebook is not a one-way street. Interact with your audience by responding back to people who write on your wall or comment on your posts.

Finally, have fun with it!

View the original article on the BoomTown blog.