You’ve decided to take the jump and join more than 60 million businesses already using Facebook Business — maybe you’re one of those 60 million already. Either way, if you’re just starting out or you have had a Facebook page for your fast lube for a while, we want to share key tips and in-sights for using Facebook Pages to the best advantage of your business. Find your community within the platform, learn what paid advertising within the platform is a good fit for your business and then give your followers what they want by creating a compelling content calendar that will (literally) drive sales to your door. Follow along with this mini-series for the next few months, and we’ll show you how.
Today, we’re going to start with the basics. We’ll cover what you need to set up your page and discuss where to find the people who want to interact with you on the platform and, most importantly, act as your online advocates. After you’ve found “your people,” you’ll want to interact with them in meaningful ways that inspire advocacy and drive trips to your location — because isn’t the goal here, ultimately, growing sales? There are many ways to engage your followers using your Facebook page, but all of them can be classified within two categories: organic strategies and paid strategies. We’ll cover that later on, but it’s good, general knowledge to keep in mind. First, let’s start by making sure your page is set up correctly.
First Things First — Setting Up Your Business Facebook Page Facebook Pages has an easy-to-navigate site that will walk you through each step of setting up your Facebook Business page. If you already have a Facebook page but you have it set up as a personal profile, you’ll want to change it. This is important because if you keep it as a personal page, you won’t have access to analytics and other marketing tools like paid ads. Don’t worry though, Facebook has a step-by-step guide to help you through the process.
If you’re a young-gun, you may feel perfectly confident setting up your page and want to skip this part, but just in case you have some qualms, here’s the skivvy. Know what you’re getting into before you ever start the process. Here’s what you’ll need to set up your business Facebook page:
1. A Name for Your Page You probably will want to make this the name you use in the community. What does your sign out front say? This is what you’ll want to name your page so people in your community can easily make the connection when they search for your page or drive by your location.
2. A Profile and Cover Photo Choose something that not only accurately reflects your business but is also something people can associate with you when they are driving around your town. You’ll want your cover photo to be more landscape in nature (maybe a nice shot of the outside of your shop), while your profile picture will be confined to a square, so keep it simple (a logo usually works well here). Facebook’s current suggested dimensions for a cover photo are at least 5.5 inches (399 pixels) wide by 2.0 inches (150 pixels) tall. The current, most versatile, dimensions for a profile picture are 2.3 inches (170 pixels) wide by 2.3 inches (170 pixels) tall.
3. Tell Them What You Want What do you want people to do when they visit your page? Chances are, you want them to contact you with any questions they may have, or maybe you want them to visit your website. Whatever your goal is, make it very clear. Facebook makes it easy by allowing you to put a call-to-action button at the top of your page.
Make Sure You’re “Like-able” We’re not talking about holding a popularity contest outside your shop or about making sure your “Like” button is working, although Facebook already took care of that for you when you published your page (do make sure that you’ve done that). Also, Facebook suggests turning on Facebook Messenger so you can interact with your customers one-on-one. This can be a great customer service tool, but you’ll want to make sure you’re able to be responsive. People will be making a first impression of your business before they ever drive in your bays; make it count.
Growing your “likes” will help increase awareness for your business that you can turn into sales. It is also a good way to affordably “get the word out” for any special updates you have, whether it’s a change in shop hours, an offer you’re running or maybe that you’re hiring. If you’re thinking, “OK, OK that’s great, but how do I actually do it?” here are some suggestions for getting started.
1. Make Your Friends Your Fans Chances are, your friends already support you and your business in real life, so make them your virtual pep squad, too; they won’t mind! Invite your local friends to “like” your page and share it with their local friends. It’s a great way to get the word out, gain some traction and reach people organically through word-of-mouth. Make things interesting by giving people an incentive to “share.” Five dollars off an oil-change or a free pair of wiper blades for new customers will do wonders for getting people in the door and letting you do what you do best.
2. Tell Your Real Life Customers If you have permission to use your customer’s emails, Facebook makes it easy to find them on the platform. Follow these simple steps for uploading and you’ll be on your way to inviting them to “like” your page. 1. From your Facebook Page, click the “Friend Requests” icon in the top right corner of your Facebook page. 2. Click “Find Friends” in the top right corner of the window. 3. Under “Add Personal Contacts” in the top right corner, select the second icon depicting the blue envelope and enter your email address. 4. Follow the directions provided for downloading your desired contacts into a CSV file. 5. Attach your newly downloaded CSV file and click “Upload Contacts.” 6. Follow the prompts. 7. You’re well on your way to connecting your page with more people! Consider inviting your customers in real-life too. An offer works wonders here as well, one idea is to have current customers follow you on social media for an automatic entry in a drawing to win a year of free oil changes. Of course, you could adjust the incentive to fit your budget and goals but — give people a reason to “like” you, a reason so good they can’t help but go find you on Facebook.
Now, you’re ready to increase car counts, earn loyal advocates in your current and future customers and have an easy and affordable way to communicate with them more often than every 3,000 miles. Get out a highlighter, and mark up this article. Maybe you already have a business page and need to go back and tweak something, or maybe you are brand new to the social media world. No matter if you’re a newbie or someone well versed in reach, cost per click and engagement, we hope to bring a few new ideas to the table for how the quick maintenance industry can better use social media platforms to reach new customers and grow loyalty and sales. Next time, we’ll dive deeper into ways you can do that, but for now go make sure you’re easily “like-able.” S
Glossary of Facebook-Related Terms
• Cover Photo: The image that appears at the top of your Facebook Business page. Facebook’s current suggested dimensions for a cover photo are at least 5.5 inches wide by 2.0 inches tall. • Facebook Business Page: Your business’ presence/profile on Facebook — not where you post cat memes and thousands of your vacation photos. • Facebook Fans: Facebook users who have gone to your Facebook Business page and clicked the thumbs-up “like” button just below your cover photo. They will receive updates from your page, usually through content (posts) or event invitations. • Post: A status update or message you’d like to share with the cyber-world. Can be text, images, videos or sometimes a combination of the three. • Profile Picture: The square picture of your business and/or you that appears next to every post. The current, most versatile, dimensions for a profile picture are 2.3 inches wide by 2.3 inches tall.
