the wedding pro’s guide to facebook · and just as you do with your website and blog, it’s...

THE WEDDING PRO’SGUIDE TO FACEBOOK

INTRODUCTION Social media marketing is an essential way to connect with your audience in today’s world, and Facebook is the top social network worldwide. Facebook business pages are free, and they have a variety of benefits over using a personal Facebook account to promote your business. With over 1 billion active users on Facebook, marketing your business there will get you more exposure and give your clients a new way to connect with your brand.

We know that, with your busy schedule, it’s hard to find the time to start or maintain a social media strategy. This guide will walk you through the steps and best practices needed for everything from creating to promoting to analyzing your Facebook business page.

CREATING YOUR PAGEWhen Facebook first began to gain popularity, there were few professional options for businesses, organizations and companies. As a result, many business owners created personal accounts for their businesses which allowed them to “friend” their customers and build a following that way. These accounts filled businesses’ needs for a while, but Facebook soon realized there was growing demand for a different type of access for entities.

In response, Facebook created business pages and began offering different products to fulfill business-specific needs. There are a lot of benefits to using a business page rather than a personal profile, so if you haven’t yet made the switch, it’s definitely time!

To create your page, you’ll need to get started with Facebook Business Manager. Follow these steps:1. Go to business.facebook.com to create a Business Manager account. Business Manager allows you to

manage your Facebook pages, ad accounts, and more from one place. You can also use page permissions to control who has access to your page.

2. To create your account, you’ll answer some questions about how your business uses Facebook, how many people you plan to collaborate with, and how many pages, ad accounts, or apps you’ll be using within the account. 3. During account creation, you’ll enter your business name and create a new Facebook page for

your business. You’ll need to select a business type (for most Pros this will be Local Business or Place) and then fill in your page name, business category, and street address.

4. You’ll need to create your own user profile within Business Manager to control all your business’ assets by adding your name and business email address. Nothing from your personal Facebook profile will be displayed in Business Manager, so it’s a secure, professional environment.

Once your Business Manager account is set up, you can add or remove pages, people, and ad accounts all from your secure environment.

2 • The Wedding Pro’s Guide to Facebook

OPTIMIZING YOUR PAGEAs Facebook becomes a critical audience-facing portal for your business, you should treat your page as you would treat your website or blog. And just as you do with your website and blog, it’s important to make sure your page accurately showcases your business and makes it easy for clients to contact you and learn more about your services. Your Facebook page is an extension of your business brand and you want to ensure that the language and aesthetic are similar to your website, marketing materials, brochures, business cards, etc. Your customers should feel that each of your marketing elements is cohesive in design and function. To achieve this, it’s important to complete the following sections of your business page:

• Profile Photo: Just as on personal Facebook profiles, business pages need a main profile photo. Use your business logo if you have one – if not, you can feature a photo of your work. The photo should be square, and Facebook suggests an image that is at least 180 pixels wide by 180 pixels high.

• Cover Photo: Another familiar element on Facebook profiles is the cover photo. For your business page, you’ll want to feature your work, or perhaps a photo of your showroom. You can also use the cover photo to promote any deals your business is offering. Facebook suggests your cover image be 851 pixels wide x 315 pixels high.

• About tab: The About tab is separate from your Facebook Timeline (where your posts and updates are visible), and it includes a number of important business details. The page name, business category, and street address you entered when you created your page will be displayed here. Add a short business description that acts as a brief summary to appear below your profile photo (limit to 155 characters) and a long business description that provides more information about your business, brand, or organization. Include details like your background, mission, or awards.

• Facebook Web Address: Facebook provides a custom web address for your page, making it easier for you to promote your presence. When you created your page, you most likely received a URL with a long string of numbers. You can change this URL to be specific to your business, but Facebook only allows you to make changes to your web address once – so choose wisely!

• Call to action: Facebook allows businesses to add a button to your page which directs people to your website. Your options for button text are: Book Now, Contact Us, Show Now, Sign Up, and more. Simply select a button and add your website URL.

• Photos, Videos, and more: Facebook pages include the option to create photo albums to display your work or feature videos from past events. These albums can be added over time, so don’t worry if you don’t have a lot of albums initially. Keep updating after each event!

Once you’ve added the elements above, your Facebook business page is ready for prime time. All the information prospective clients need to begin evaluating your business is available for them on the page, and it will look professional and tech-savvy.


MANAGING YOUR PAGEOnce your page is up and running, you need to understand how to manage it!

When posting on behalf of your business, be sure to check the top bar on your Facebook page and confirm it displays, “You are a (page role) posting, commenting, and liking as (page name).” If this message is not displayed, or if you see “You are posting, commenting, and liking as (your name),” you are not managing the page from your Business Manager account. Once you log into Business Manager or select “Manage Page with Business Manager” in the notification area at the top left, you’ll be able to post, moderate, and manage the page as your business entity.

PAGE ROLESThere are five different roles for people who manage your business page. As the creator, you will be assigned the Admin role, which is the only role that can change someone’s role or add new roles to the page. Below are the other roles you can assign to co-workers or business associates: Editor: Second to Admin, the Editor role can do everything related to the page except for page roles

and settings. Editor is a good choice for whomever will be posting to your page regularly (if that’s not you!).

Moderator: A page Moderator can send messages as the page, respond to and delete comments and posts, remove and ban people, view insights, and create ads. A Moderator cannot manage page roles and settings, edit the page or apps, or create and delete posts. If you have someone helping with customer service on your page, the Moderator role would be a good fit.

Advertiser: An Advertiser can only create ads and view insights. If you work with an outside agency to help with your advertising and online presence, Advertiser would be the right role.

Analyst: Analyst is the most basic role within a Facebook page or Business Manager account: it can only view insights. This role is great for someone who only needs to track how your page is performing, such as an intern, or an owner or manager.

GENERAL SETTINGS This menu is where you can manage your page and post visibility, as well as page security. Here you can manage whether or not visitors can post on your page or message your page privately. You can also establish country or age restrictions for your page, as well as set up a profanity filter or select certain words to be blocked through page moderation. If you ever need to unpublish your page, you can adjust your page’s visibility here without deleting all your content. Whenever you need to adjust any of these settings, use the Settings menu on the top right of your business page.

NOTIFICATIONS By default, you’ll get a notification each time there is activity on your Facebook page or an important page update. You can adjust your notification settings from the Settings menu on the top right of your business page. Turn off certain notification types that don’t interest you, or adjust their frequency or type.


MODERATIONAny time you’re interacting directly with customers, it’s important to know your moderation options. There are several ways your audience can interact with your business on Facebook:

Posts. Customers and prospective clients can post on your page from their own accounts. This functionality allows them to ask questions or give feedback about your business. However, if you see someone abusing this access by posting too frequently or posting unwanted links on your page, you can “Hide” posts from your page. This action will not delete their comment, and the person and their friends will still be able to see it, but the rest of the visitors to your page will not see the hidden comment. You can also choose to delete the post outright or ban the person from posting to your page. Posts to your page can also be turned off completely within the General Settings the General Settings.

Messages. Customers and prospective clients can privately message your business page. The one difference in messaging between a business page and a personal account is that, when using a business page, the customer must email you first. Business pages cannot send private messages to customers, but customers can start a private message conversation with business pages. This requirement acts as a form of “opting in” that allows the consumer some privacy. Messages are the best place on Facebook to work out confidential details or exchange contact information with customers, since they are private and only visible to those in the conversation. Messages to your page can also be turned off completely within the

Photos/Videos. Customers and prospective clients can post photos or videos to your business page. If someone wants to share a photo or video of your business, they’ll likely add it to your page themselves. However, if you feel this privilege is being abused, you can also turn off this capability completely in the General Settings.

Mentions/Shares. Customers and prospective clients can mention your business page in their own posts, and they can share your posts on their own profiles. These types of interactions can be beneficial, since your business is being exposed to a broader audience via the person sharing. If you do not want these mentions to show upon your page, you can “Hide” or “Delete” them as you can with a regular post.

PRO TIP:Even though Facebook offers the functionality to disable to hide posts, messages and videos, it’s a best practice to keep these channels open to engage your audience.


PROMOTING YOUR PAGEOnce you know how to manage your page, it’s time to let other people know more about it. To promote your page and start getting likes, you have organic and paid promotion options.

ORGANIC PROMOTIONThere are a number of easy ways to incorporate your Facebook page into your existing marketing and promotional tactics:

Add the Facebook icon or a link to your page to your website and other online listings. Invite your personal and professionals friends to like your business page. Include a link to your Facebook page in your email signature. Like the pages of other businesses you know in the area.

These tactics are free and allow you to drive traffic to your page and website.

PAID PROMOTIONUsing Facebook Advertising, you can reach your audience as well as friends of those in your audience. There are several ad types to meet a variety of needs, and you don’t need a large budget to start testing. You’ll be able to see exactly how your ad is performing with access to advertising metrics for each ad you create.

Stretching beyond general demographic and geographic data, Facebook Advertising has opened the door to interest, behavioral, and connection-based targeting methods. These advanced targeting options increase your ad’s relevance to your users and provide a greater level of personalization. You have four options:

• Interest Targeting: Reach specific audiences by looking at users’ self-reported interests, activities, skills, pages users they have engaged with, etc. Interest targeting is often related to keyword targeting, so you can combine these targeting methods for better results.

• Behavioral/Connection targeting: With behavioral targeting, you can reach people based on purchase behaviors or intents, and/or device usage. With connection targeting, you can reach people who have a specific kind of connection to your page, app, group, or event. Both types of targeting take into account users’ past behavior to help you determine intent.

• Custom targeting: Reach audiences by uploading a list of email addresses, phone numbers, users IDs, or usernames. Facebook offers Custom Audiences, so if you have a known group of people you’d like to target, you can simply upload them and target them directly (provided that the social network can match the data you’re uploading with Facebook profiles).

• Lookalike Targeting: Reach new people who are similar to an audience you care about. Lookalike targeting helps businesses extend their custom audiences to reach new, similar users. For those businesses looking to acquire new customers through social media advertising, lookalike targeting can be a fantastic acquisition tool.

Facebook Ads are easy to set up and create, so once you’ve gained experience managing your business page, you may want to give their advertising platform a try to increase your reach and conversions.


UPDATING YOUR PAGENow comes the fun part: posting to your page! Unique, frequent, and relevant updates get your business name out there and start conversations with customers and potential clients. You have plenty of options when it comes to updating your page, but below we share some best practices to keep your audience engaged and coming back for more.

STATUS UPDATESWe know it can be difficult to stay motivated or inspired in your posts, and it can be tempting to continuously share the same types of content – which may not always be interesting to your audience. Below are some of the most engaging types of posts you can use to build your following and keep your followers’ attention:

• Photos. Pictures are a great way to get noticed! Photos that are large, colorful or unique particularly stand out (and generate likes). Consider sharing a snapshot from your latest event, a ‘work in progress’ shot of your set-up or service prep, or your favorite inspirational image.

• Fill in the Blanks. Status updates with a ‘fill in the blank’ option are great at driving engagement with your post, as viewers are encouraged to reply. This gives your audience a chance to contribute,show their creativity, and connect with your business. Consider asking them to describe their and more. Be sure to respond, and encourage communication between repliers when relevant.

• Photo Captions. Next time you post a photo, ask your audience to come up with a caption! Most people love a good ‘caption contest’ and enjoy the chance to get creative. Keep an eye on responses and post your favorite with attribution (and thank everyone else for their great ideas!).

• Questions. Asking questions is one of the easiest methods to get your audience to participate in an online conversation. The next time you share a link to your blog or an interesting article, spur comments by asking viewers for their thoughts or additional ideas.

• Tips. Share your Pro tips! Your followers will be interested in your knowledge, and welcome your expertise. For example, share your recommendations for staying cool during a summer outdoor wedding, etiquette best practices for a rehearsal dinner, how to get an unforgettable bridal party shot, and more. Consider doing a themed tip of the week for a fun and timely post.

• Quotes. Quotes are one of the most popular ways to get likes and shares on Facebook (and they’re very applicable to the wedding industry!). Posting an inspirational quote can help you connect with your audience in a memorable way, and readers may share the quote with their community.

• Events. If you want to inform your audience about an upcoming event for your business, you can create an event right from your page by clicking the “Offer, Event” option in your status update field. Filling out your event information is easy, and it will be visible to all your page followers. Make the event public so your audience can invite friends!

Don’t forget:

If your business has a blog, you can easily promote and distribute your blog posts on your business’s Facebook page and drive traffic back to your website!


ANALYZING YOUR PAGEMany wedding professionals focus on building their Facebook page, unaware that there’s an important aspect beyond the page itself. Analytics can be a foreign concept to some, but they’re an important part of understanding and improving your Facebook posts. Using Facebook’s analytics tool, you can see in-depth information about your top posts, demographics of your followers, and more.

If you’ve never looked at your Facebook page Insights before, you’ll find them located at the top menu bar on your Facebook page. Only page administrators have access to this valuable information, so visitors to your page will not see your page’s performance. Facebook Insights tracks and reports on a number of metrics and statistics – here’s a breakdown of what each metric means.

LIKES The Likes menu shows you how many likes your page has. The first section of the page has “start” and “end”fields, where you can adjust the time period you want to analyze. Once you select the dates, you’ll see the total likes and net likes your page has, and where your likes happened over that time period.

Net Likes is a useful tool for figuring out whether actions you took drove more followers or caused you to lose followers. If you tried a new posting technique, you can see exactly how effective it was. If you typically gain 20 followers per month but you gained 50 new followers after trying a new technique, it’s likely that your strategy worked. But if you lost 7 followers and only gained 2, it might be time to try again.

Where Your Page Likes Happened is a tool that gives even more insight into how people liked your page. If Facebook suggested your page on someone’s profile and they liked it because of the suggestion, this chart will show you how many likes that suggestion generated. You can also see if someone visited your page, enjoyed what they saw, and then took action to like the page.

REACH The Reach menu shows the amount and type of engagement visitors have with your page. You’ll also see information about your reach, likes, comments, shares, and negative feedback. The Post Reach section shows how many people saw your posts even if they didn’t interact. The Total Reach section indicates the number of people who saw any of your page activity, whether they like your page or not.

The Likes, Comments, and Shares tool gives a summary of how many people engaged with your posts, and it’s easy to use that information to help you reach more people. Hide, Report as Spam, and Unlikes is a negative feedback tool that helps you gauge the success of certain strategies or posting methods. If you start posting more text and fewer pictures and see a spike in visitors that hide your posts, it’s an indication that text-heavy posts aren’t working for your audience.


VISITS Page and Tab Visits shows the number of visitors who click on each tab of your page. Your main page is your Timeline, but you also have Photos and About page tabs that contain your business’ photos and contact information. This graph sums up traffic to your Photos versus your Timeline or About tabs all in one place.

The External Referrers section shows how people discover your page, which can be vital to help grow your page views and your business. If viewers find your page through your website or Google search, you’ll see it on your External Referrers chart. This tool demonstrates the importance of putting links to your social networks on your website – getting your website visitors to also view your Facebook page is a great way to increase your exposure.

POSTS Want to know what time people are looking at your page so you know the best time to post? The Posts menu is the best tool to use. Scroll along the chart and you’ll be able to see how many of your fans are online at the given time. This information can inform when you should post and when to expect the most engagement from visitors.

PEOPLE The People menu gives insight into who likes your page, which enables you to better reach them. Specifically you can see gender, age, country, and primary language details for your Facebook audience. This data may seem somewhat basic, but it can make a huge difference in how you post and market your business. You can also compare these statistics for People Reached and People Engaged, which can give you a great idea of which users like your posts the most.

Facebook Insights offers lots of great information that you can use to improve your Facebook page and grow your business, so knowing how to use it is key. Make it a priority to keep an eye on your Insights to track your page’s progress!


EXTRASWith Facebook, new features and options are added all the time! If you’re interested in a few bonus features Facebook offers, here’s some quick information on each.

APPSIn addition to the About tab you filled out for your business, you have the option to add apps that visitors can use to discover more about your business. These apps sometimes include integrations with other social networks such as Twitter or YouTube, or functionality like the Reviews app that allows people to review your business on Facebook. Select the apps you’d like to enable and configure them here.

PAGES MANAGER APPIf you like being able to manage your business on-the-go, Facebook offers a separate app for businesses called Pages Manager. Available in the App Store and Google Play, Pages Manager allows you to access your page settings and notifications from your mobile device. Pages Manager notifications are different from the notifications on the Facebook app, so adding this free app to your smartphone makes it easier to keep an eye on your business page separately from your own personal account.

FACEBOOK WI-FIIf you have a store or showroom for your business, Facebook Wi-Fi lets customers check in to participating businesses on Facebook for free Wi-Fi access. When people check in to your page to use your Wi-Fi, their friends can discover your business by seeing the story in their News Feed. Facebook will also prompt your customer to like your page so you can continue to connect with them on Facebook. Facebook Wi-Fi requires a router that supports it, and you may need technical support to set it up. Find the instructions in Facebook’s Support.

CONCLUSION

Though it may take you a while to get comfortable with your Facebook page and see your efforts pay off, don’t get discouraged! As with any new initiative, you may need to experiment, iterate, and learn before you really hit your stride. Once you’ve discovered what works, Facebook can be a huge driver of success for your wedding business. Good luck!


the wedding pro’s guide to facebook · and just as you do with your website and blog, it’s...

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