First, you’re going to want to start your page off, by selecting what kind of page you want to represent yourself as. When creating a page, you will have six different options.

The first of these options is Local Business or Place. This is an option for a newer and/or smaller business in the market. Local pizza shops, small agencies, and smaller stores are just some of many that will use this option.

The second option is Company, Organization or Institution. This selection is for bigger chains, corporations, and more widely recognized businesses. Some business you could expect to see use this option would be Walmart, McDonald’s, or even Best Buy. These are stores that can be found across the country, and even the world.

The third option is Brand or Product. This choice is most often used by clothing retailers, technology companies, and more. Companies like Samsung, Apple, American Eagle, Hollister, and more would use this type of page that they are a brand that covers and creates several products.

The fourth option is Artist, Band or Public Figure. This option speaks for itself, however, you will see most celebrities, musicians, TV stars, and more from this type of page. However, it is not exclusive to them. Anyone can use this option for their page and many local or upcoming musicians, actors, or general individuals will make a page using this feature.

Our fifth type of page is Entertainment. These are pages used for movies, books, music, etc. For an example, the new Star Wars movie will have a page all to its own. The next album to come out by Justin Timberlake will most likely have a page to itself. When J.K. Rowling writes another book in the Harry Potter series, it will have its own page as well.

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Our sixth and final option is for Cause or Community. This type of page can be used for various causes, foundations, charities and more. Again, it is not restricted to the big charities or causes. Communities such as The American Red Cross or ASPCA would use this page style as well as your local fundraisers, and other forms of charity and communities.

So now that you know your different options, it’s time to choose the page-style that’s right for your business needs. Once you have chosen that, you will be prompted to enter in some information about your business to get the page started. It’s very simple and takes just a couple of minutes. Once you’ve done that, it’s time for real work to begin.

Now that you have landed on your new Facebook Page, you can begin building your image. First and foremost, you will want to choose a profile picture as well as a cover photo for the page. The cover photo is the image that will be front and center when visitors come to your page. It is the biggest image that will be on your page, so you will really want to make it count with a good, solid image. Many businesses take that opportunity to list a special for the day/week/month while others use it to promote an upcoming event. Either way, you will want an appropriate image for your business style to grab the attention of the visitors.

The profile picture is also very important as this is the first image any visitor or searcher will see before they come to your page. This profile picture is an opportunity for a solid logo, name opportunity, or other recognizable figures that relates to your brand. This image will be just as, if not more important than the cover photo option, so make it count. And don’t worry, you can change your profile and cover images at any time you wish.

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You will then want to direct your attention directly below your profile photo and page name. You will see an option to create a handle. This handle is an easy way for people to search your page, tag your company or brand in posts, photos, and distinguishes you from other businesses that may have similar or exact same names from different areas. Choose something that is very simple and as close to your page name/company name as possible. For example, Walmart’s Facebook handle is @Walmart. It is identical to the name, easy to remember, and simple to tag.

Now that you’ve gotten some of the most important tasks out of the way, it’s time to move on to your business’s “about” section. In this section, you will include specifics such as location of business, phone number for your business, and hours of operations. This tab also allows you to include a company story additional contact information, website URL, and milestones for business. These options and others are a great way to add relevant content to your page. If you are a newer business, this page is crucial in establishing your identity. This is where people will go to learn who you are.

Now that you’ve taken care of the major back-end features of your page, it is time for your page to go public. Making your page public will allow for people to be able to search and find your page. This can be done in the settings options. Once you make it public, you are ready to bring your page to life. Add content to your page immediately and continue to add it. Social media pages for businesses are similar in manner to websites when it comes to content. The more content you have available, the more for your viewers to see and the higher your page will grow and rank.

Most successful pages put out at least 1-2 posts every single day. You want your page to remain active so the Facebook algorithm helps it to be found by the public. When it comes to your content, that will be for you as the page owner to decide what content to use. A general rule is that videos and pictures will receive higher engagement than standard status updates. It is important to have a lot of content, but, that content means nothing if it’s not engaging to your potential followers. You want to aim to have at least a 7% (bare minimum) engagement rate for your posts. This meaning, if you have 50,000-page followers, you should be getting at least 3,500 forms of engagement on each post. You, of course, want to strive for better, however, if you are getting less than that 7%, you need to re-evaluate the content you are posting for your audience.

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Another way you will create good recognition for your company page is by creating events and using native Facebook videos. The events are a good way to get people involved making them feel a part of your page and organization. This is very popular among pages when new products are releasing, or a charity event is taking place. Create events to gain public interest. The native Facebook videos is a great source of content. But what does native video mean? Native videos are videos that are directly uploaded or created on Facebook and are played directly in the feed. This means, that when you post a native video, the audience can watch it directly on your page or their timeline without having to be redirected to another page or site such as YouTube. In the world of social media, attention spans are very short, and, people don’t want to be taken to websites or external pages to view a picture, video, etc. They are on Facebook because they want to be on Facebook. If they wanted to watch a YouTube video, they would go to YouTube instead.

Another important step that many businesses forget to do with their new page is to become involved with the community and other businesses. As a business page, you want to go and follow other business pages to create a network. These can be pages that are relevant to your industry or general interests of your company. Do be aware, that the pages you like, are public. This means that anyone who comes to your page can easily see the pages/people that you follow so be careful that who/what you follow is appropriate and accurately reflects your business in a positive way. To get a good start, you should follow at least 20 other pages in the Facebook community.

Along with engagement of other pages, don’t forget to engage with your own followers as well. As your following grows, more and more people will interact with your posts and your page. This could be in the form of leaving comments, sharing your posts, and reaching out to you through the Facebook messenger. This is very important as your engagement with your audience plays a huge role and in your page’s rank amongst other pages. Bottom line, if someone sends you a message, reply as soon as possible. The faster your response-rate, the higher your score. Also, if your response rate is down to just a few minutes, Facebook will give your page a green response badge which will help your page out tremendously.

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Finally, you will want to get your page verified. Now, what does this mean? Page verification means that Facebook recognizes your page as authentic and true. This is important because there are many people in the Facebook community who will try to create duplicate business pages to try and gain popularity. For example, there is nothing stopping me from creating a Facebook Page called Walmart. The difference between my page and Walmart’s legitimate page in this scenario would be that Walmart would have the actual @Walmart handle as well as a blue verification badge. That badge helps individuals distinguish between a legitimate Facebook Page and duplicate or false business page.

There are two types of verification for Facebook Pages. There is the gray badge verification and the blue badge verification. Both badges serve the purpose of legitimizing a business page. The gray badge is typically used with smaller businesses and brands across the country/world. Our personal page, NextGen Marketing, is authenticated with a gray verification badge. This badge is relatively easy to obtain as Facebook will either call/text a business line and provide a verification code. Once that code is entered in through Facebook, your page (after refreshed) will receive its badge.

The blue badge however it a bit harder to get. Facebook will generally require state identifications as well as copies of utility bills and other information to even start the blue badge process. After providing all that, you still may only receive the gray badge. Blue badge verification is typically reserved for more established pages with thousands of followers and public figures like celebrities, musicians, actors/actresses, and more. So, if you are at the point where your business is new or early to Facebook, you will be looking at gray badge verification for now. Once your page grows, you can always apply for blue badge verification down the road.

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To conclude, there is much work that goes into creating a successful business page on Facebook. From choosing your type of page to the perfect profile photo, you have a lot of work to do. It can be easily done if you refer to some of the above points stated. Choose a good page style, your profile, and cover photos are important, add a detailed “about” section, and add plenty of informative and relative content. This is meant to be a general outline of creating a Facebook Business Page so, depending on your style of business or brand, you may have to do somethings differently than others. Nonetheless, the steps I’ve laid out are crucial to the success of every page! Good Luck and don’t forget; CONTENT! CONTENT! CONTENT!