We’ve already addressed the importance of having a Facebook page for your business. Let’s face it, free promotion on a platform with over 500 million active users is a good thing. But do you know how to set-up your Facebook Page? Are you creating a new account, new page, new group, or what?

First, let’s define the terms…

New Account: This refers to creating a new personal Facebook account (as an individual, not a business) using a unique email address.

New Group: You create a group to support or promote a particular issue. A Facebook group should NOT be your primary Facebook presence.

New Page: Any personal Facebook account has the ability to create an unlimited number of pages.

NOTE: Pages must be created from and associated to a Personal Account.

As if that’s not confusing enough, there are two types of Facebook Pages:

1. Community Page – Publicly maintained page for something/someone you wish to draw attention to but do not have any ownership over
2. *Official Page – A page created for for a Business, Brand, Website or any Entity that YOU officially represent.

SET-UP INSTRUCTIONS

Still with me? Okay, there are two paths to choose from when creating your Official Facebook Page.

1. Use an existing personal Facebook account
2. Create a new personal Facebook account

The set-up you choose depends on who will be primarily managing the Official Business Page.

Use an existing personal account… (RECOMMENDED IF BUSINESS OWNER WILL BE UPDATING)

If you use your personal Facebook account on a regular basis and wish to make updates to your Official Business Page, you probably want to create the page using this existing personal account. This way, whenever you are logged into your personal account, you can post and update the business page without switching accounts. Posts made to the business page will be attributed to the business profile, not your personal profile. Details from your personal profile will NOT be disclosed on the business page.

NOTE: With this set-up you still have the option to grant admin access (via email address) to any number of other users you want updating the page.

Create a new personal account… (RECOMMENDED IF EMPLOYEE(S) WILL BE MANAGING PAGE)

If you plan on appointing an employee(s) or outside company to manage your business page, you want to create a new personal account. You do not want an employee to create the page from their personal account because if they were to leave the company, they would still retain control over the page. Best practice is to create a new personal account, create the Official Business Page and then grant admin access to employees or managers. Admin permissions can be added and removed at any time.

But how do I create the page?

Facebook doesn’t make the ‘Create Page’ option easy to find either. The best way to get there is to log into the Personal Account that you will be creating the page from and then type in this address:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/

At this point, you will choose the type of ‘Official Page’ that you wish to create (Business, Brand, or Artist) and name the page.

TIP: Once 25 people ‘like’ your page, you will have the option to create a custom (vanity) page URL. For example, facebook.com/yourbusinessname