Building an Effective Facebook Page
The HVAC Contractor’s Guide to Facebook Series – Part One:Building an Effective Facebook Page
Social media has taken the working world by storm, and for many businesses, a strong social presence is every bit as crucial as a standalone website. Of particular importance to small, consumer-facing companies is Facebook – one of the greatest tools for customer acquisition, community outreach and long-term business-building.
Facebook, once a purely social tool for friendly networking, has become indispensable to HVAC contractors, who can use the site to reach out to both current and future customers with the click of a mouse. Homeowners of all ages are already using it to find local businesses, and it will only become more important as younger generations begin to buy their own homes.
In fact, now that smart shoppers are viewing you and your competitors through Facebook, a sparse or non-existent business Facebook page may actually work against you. While traditional marketing still has its place, consumers now expect reliable, respectable businesses to maintain lively and engaging fan Facebook pages. Whether you have yet to build a Facebook page, or you’re just not bringing in enough business with the one you’ve already got, part one of this series will help you to improve your Facebook presence and acquire more customers online in four short steps.
Step 1: Creating Your Business’s Facebook Page
Your first step in creating a strong Facebook presence is to create a unique page for your company. Your personal Facebook page may come in handy later on, but you’ll only be able to gain followers, and potential customers, using Facebook’s tool for businesses, organizations and brands. Plus, if you’re already using Facebook to connect with friends and family, you’ll want to keep most of your social networking separate from your business-building efforts.
Open Facebook’s Create a page and follow the 4 simple steps below to help you create your business Facebook page.
Follow these steps to get started creating your business’s Facebook page:
- Open Facebook’s Create a page
- Choose “Local Business or Place” for your page category.
- Select “Local Business” as your subcategory.
- Enter your business name, address and other vital information.
- Review the Facebook Pages Terms, then click their Get Started button
Step 2: Filling Out Your Business’s Facebook Page
Once you delve into your new Facebook page, you’ll have the opportunity to select more specific subcategories related to your contracting business, and you’ll be able to enter more thorough descriptions of the products and services you offer. Don’t skimp on these details! This is the info people will see when they land on your Facebook page and click the about button near the top of the screen.
Step 3: Branding Your Business’s Facebook Page
After you enter your business information, you’ll need to select a profile picture. Most businesses opt to use their logos, but you might also use a picture of your crew, your shop or even just yourself. It is also to ensure your images are properly sized. Here is a link to a free social media image maker tool which will help you design and size your images appropriately – this is useful for all social media platforms, not just Facebook.
To finish off Step 3, you’ll need to choose your Facebook Web Address – the actual URL you’ll use to send people directly to your Facebook page **See Disclaimer Below**. It is common practice, when possible, for businesses to use their company name for this. For example, we at cfm Distributors, Inc. chose to use Facebook.com/cfmDistributors as our Facebook url address.
Choose a url address carefully
You won’t be able to change this later on!
Step 4: Customizing The Layout of Your Business’s Facebook Page
You’ll want to select and customize the tabs people see near the top of your Facebook page, right next to your basic business info. You can use as many as you want, but since most viewers will only see the first four, so it’s important to prioritize them.
The most useful tabs for business include:
Put up pictures of you and your crew at work, and share funny HVAC-related images you find on the web Plug your promotions, giveaways and special deals (read Facebook’s TOS on promotions here) Help visitors locate your business – an especially useful tool for rural contractors Share helpful videos on HVAC maintenance and advertisements from the brands you install Let your satisfied customers tell other Facebookers how great your company is
Stay tuned for next month’s post, HVAC Contractor’s Guide to Facebook Series Part Two: Successfully Launching Your Business’s Facebook Page!
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