Following the rollout of the new Timeline during February, Facebook has announced that all fan pages will switch over to Timeline on 30^th March. So if you have a Facebook business page what does this mean for you, and what should you do to prepare for the new layout?

The switch to Timeline will bring a host of new features to Pages. One of the most exciting is that businesses will be able to pin a post to the top of their wall for a week – it’s a great way for you to let people see your latest offer or exciting news that otherwise would quickly disappear further down the wall. Another new feature is the ability to send and receive private messages to your fans.

However, the biggest change is that all business pages will open on the Timeline by default. At the moment you can select which page you want your fans to visit, and businesses have created custom landing pages to host competitions, gain newsletter sign ups or make special offers to people who “like” the page.

From April onwards visitors will instead land on your Timeline which shows your wall posts (including ones you choose to pin to the top) and is headed by the new “cover photo”. This is a large banner-like image that stretches right across the page. A little creative thought can create a stunning-looking page but Facebook have some official guidelines about what you can and can’t use your cover photo for:

Use a unique image that represents your Page. This might be a photo of a popular menu item, album artwork or a picture of people using your product. Be creative and experiment with images your audience responds well to.

Cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide and may not contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.

The cover image size is 851px wide by 315px tall and anything smaller than that will be stretched to fill the space, so logos are not likely to work as a cover image – instead they can be uploaded as a square image that sits within the cover area. So what are you going to use your cover image for? You could use a panoramic photo of your offices, a collage of products, or something more abstract that conveys the feeling or theme of your business. If you’re struggling to come up with an idea, Facebook have picked out some of the best business uses of cover photos to inspire you.

Timeline for Pages is coming, and there’s nothing you can do to prevent your page switching to the new layout on the 30^th March – which means you’ve got three weeks to find the perfect cover photo for your business.

If you need any help with your Facebook business page, our team of experts are on hand – just give us a call on 01793 608777 or fill in the form on the right and we’ll get back to you!

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In our last post we gave you 5 reasons why your business should be on Facebook. In this post we’re going to look at how you actually do it – how you go about setting up a Facebook page for your business.

Many people shy away from using Facebook for their business because they think they’ll have to use their personal profile and they don’t want to mix business with pleasure, or they don’t have a personal profile – and don’t want one either. Facebook’s rules are very strict when it comes to the use of personal profile pages – they are for people, not organisations or businesses. Instead, there are “fan” pages which have been specifically developed for businesses to use, and they have lots of benefits over personal profiles. For example, while personal profiles are limited to having 5000 “friends” there is no limit on the number of fans a business page can have, and the pages are also public too, so anyone can find them – unlike personal profiles, where access can be limited to friends only or made completely private. And while it’s true that you do need a personal profile page in order to build a business “fan” page, you don’t actually have to use your personal page at all, or make it visible to anyone, if you don’t want to.

So now we’ve got that clear, here’s how to create a Facebook business page.

Go to this link: Facebook Create a Page and click the first box, marked Local Business or Place. Add in your business details – name, address, phone number. Choose a category for your business type, click the “I agree” box and press Get Started. At this point you’ll be prompted to log into your Facebook personal account. If you try to create a business page and you don’t yet have a profile you’ll be asked to open one. You simply need to give your name, email address, gender and date of birth – that’s it.

Step one is to upload a photo to represent your business – perhaps your business logo, or a photo of your shop or premises. Don’t worry, you can change the photo whenever you want. When you’re happy with the photo, click Continue.

Step two is to invite people to “like” your page. There are several ways you can do this – if you already use Facebook you can invite your friends; you can import an existing contact list from Outlook, Skype and other messaging services; and you can add a message to your own Facebook wall to let people know you’ve added a new page. When you’re done click Continue – or if you’d rather add contacts later, click Skip.

Step three – add some basic information. Add your website address and a few words about what your business does. Again, this can be changed whenever you want. Click Continue.

That’s it – you have created a Facebook business page! There are lots more things you can do now – like add friends, and post status updates. We’d recommend you make a few posts so there’s something people can see on your wall, just to get you going.

In future posts we’ll look at some of the tools you can use to add extra features to your Facebook business page, such as pulling in blog posts and linking it with Twitter. To keep up to date with all the latest blog posts here at HodgesNet, why not sign up to our RSS feed?

Facebook. It’s just for social stuff, isn’t it? It’s just kids chatting with their mates and playing games and telling everyone what they had for breakfast. Why on earth should your business be on there? What possible benefits could there be?

If that’s what you’re thinking, think again. Facebook is absolutely THE place your business needs to be. Why? The facts are simple: there are 30 million Facebook users in the UK – that’s 50% of the population. And they aren’t all kids either – 87% of Facebook users are 18 and over – adults with money to spend, perhaps on your products. With so many people active on Facebook, why would you not want to be where your customers are?

Still not convinced? Here are 5 reasons why your business should be on Facebook.

1. Even Google acknowledges that Facebook is the number 1 site in the world and its pages rank highly in the search engines. Business pages are public and they are easily found on Google so you can use your Facebook business page to boost your SEO.

2. Creating a Facebook fan page for your business is really easy – as easy as clicking a link and adding some basic information, like your contact details, opening hours and nature of business. However, it’s also really flexible – you can create landing pages that match your business branding, or add tools to import videos, blog posts and other social media updates.

3. Unlike a website, which can be very static, Facebook is a two way communication process. Using Facebook for your business is a really easy way to engage with your fans and customers – you can advertise sales, run competitions and special offers, respond to customer feedback, answer questions and invite opinions instantly.

4. Using Facebook for your business can increase traffic to your website because you can add links to product and service pages for people to find out more. You can also add a Facebook “like” button to your website, which is a great way of advertising your business – whenever someone clicks that button, not only will they be added to your list of fans but that action will be displayed on their profile so all their friends will see that they “like” you too!

5. Research has proved that people are more likely to respond to recommendations from friends than to random adverts. While Facebook has an excellent and highly targeted advertising system, having a business page means people can recommend you to their friends much more easily – and that can only lead to an increased profile and more sales!

If you’re interested in using Facebook for your business but don’t know where to start, HodgesNet offers a range of social media services including training and social media management. Give us a call on 01793 608777 to find out more.

And if you’re keen to get going look out for our next blog post, where we’ll be showing you how to set up your Facebook business page.

Image: tungphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Earlier this week we explored what social media is, and explained that it’s about a lot more than just Facebook! In this article we’re going to look at how businesses can use social media to encourage their customers to do the selling for them, by becoming advocates and spokespeople.

The way we do business has changed, and the way we behave as customers has also changed. Years ago when we needed a product or service we would pick up the Yellow Pages, find the right category, pick a business randomly and ring them – job done. Now, however, 93% of people prefer to search for services on the internet, using Google or other search engines, and it’s really important that you have a strong online presence otherwise you just won’t be found, it’s as simple as that.

However, to be truly successful nowadays you need to look further than just having a website. With this new way of doing business comes a new ethical outlook too – businesses today are expected to be transparent and honest. Engaging with customers via social media shows you are authentic and not just another faceless organisation. And when you open up the communication channels to your customers, not only do you begin to build relationships with them, but your customers can become spokespeople for your company. However, you want this to work in your favour, not against you.

In the old days, when someone had an especially good or bad experience with a company they might tell a few friends about it, but that would be it. The advent of social media puts the world at our fingertips so when someone wants to give feedback on a product or service they do it online – through the social networks or via a blog, tweet or video. Rather than that feedback reaching a handful of people it can now reach thousands – instantly. This could be disastrous – but you can have some control over the situation by becoming active in social media yourself, being aware of what your customers are saying about you, and ensuring that the communication goes both ways.

By engaging with your customers, either through blogging and replying to feedback or building relationships on networks like Twitter and Facebook, you can turn your customers and fans from a passive audience to passionate advocates for your business. Because you’ll be aware of what your customers think of you, you can deal with problems promptly. You can even turn negative feedback to your advantage by responding quickly, dealing with the issue and demon

BT is the perfect example of a company using social media to improve its customer communication. BT has a Twitter account, @btcare, and they scan Twitter for anyone mentioning BT and then contact them via Twitter to try to resolve the situation. In a world where corporations tend to be faceless entities, it’s a refreshing change to have a big business dealing with customers on such a personal level – and it has done wonders for improving BT’s image.

If you would like to find out more about how social media can help you connect with your customers, call the team at HodgesNet today on 08432 894 402 or fill in our contact form.