New Facebook layout helps your business page stand out from the crowd
A few days ago, Facebook announced some major changes in the layout and performance of all business pages on the platform. I’ve had a chance to look over the changes and start using them, and I’m thrilled. Promoting your belly dance business is about to get a whole lot easier. If you already have a business page (or “fan page”), you have the option of switching to this new format now or waiting until March 10 when Facebook will do it for you. (You will get a tour of all the new features and the new layout, so you know where everything is when you switch.) But since you’re going to have to change to the new layout sooner or later, I suggest you take advantage of all the great things this can do for your business and start using the new format now.
If you don’t have a business page on Facebook, now is the time to get it done. For a long time now, it’s been easy to dismiss social media as a waste of time for businesses. But the larger platforms like Facebook and Twitter are working hard to make it a no-brainer to use their sites for marketing. It’s easy; it’s free; and these latest changes mean if you’re not on Facebook, you’re missing out on a ton of great marketing opportunities.
The biggest change, which is a great one in my opinion, is that businesses can now use Facebook more like a person can. Your business page can “like” other pages and join groups and more. Which means you’re no longer forced to mix your business and personal profiles. And if you have multiple business pages, they don’t have to mix either. Here’s how to use these changes to improve your business, get more students and fill your performance schedule.
1) Load a great photo of you or your logo onto your business page
People want to see people, but you also want to make it clear what you do. It’s difficult to communicate that with a postage stamp sized avatar. Most people don’t realize you can load a large banner-size profile image on business pages. You have up to 600×200 pixels to play with, so make use of all that space. Put a photo of you as well as your logo, website or a bulleted list of what you offer in that banner space. So visitors will know in a glance exactly who you are and what you do.
2) Strategically join groups and “like” other pages — As Your Page.
This is the best part about all the recent changes. Before now, you could only join groups and like pages as “yourself”. Which meant you had to have a personal account and a business page, and it was difficult to get people to realize that “you” and “your business” were linked. That’s all changed now. By simply going to your accounts page, you can click “use Facebook as page” and you can join groups, like other pages AS your business. Which is awesome because now when you join your local arts council group, visitors will see “XYZ belly dance studio” for all your comments and interactions.
Don’t just join belly dance groups and pages. Be strategic. Where are your customers hanging out? Where are your potential new students? Keep it local. Keep it relevant.
- College pages
- Arts organizations
- Local news media (papers, radio and TV stations, indie websites)
- Musicians and venues
- Restaurants and clubs
- Tattoo shop pages
- Wedding planners
- Women’s groups
- Festival pages
- Divorce groups (I know this sounds weird, but divorced women are great prospects because they are eager to try new things and make new friends.)
3) Don’t just “like”–interact.
The more you add value to groups and other business pages, the more likely people will click on your profile to see who you are and what you do. Post on their wall. Comment on their status updates. Just don’t do any blatant selling or call attention to your services. You’re providing useful information here, not selling. What kind of useful information? How about a great recipe, favorite music, review of a recent performance or DVD? It all depends on the group of people you’re talking to. Be extremely relevant to the topic of the page you’re posting on. The owner of the page will welcome your input, and who knows? You might even end up with a cross-promotion partner or a new performance gig.
Do you love or hate the new format? Do you have any additional ideas for how to interact with prospects on Facebook? Please post a comment below and let us know what you think.
PS–For you advanced Facebook users…you have until March 11th to use FBML for your tabs. After that, they’re changing to iFrames. (If you have no idea what that means, stay tuned…)
