3 Great Resources For Your Facebook Business Page

Every small business should consider setting up a facebook business page.  Except for your time (which, of course, is an opportunity cost), there are no explicit costs to setting up a page, and the rewards can be significant.  Keep in mind that, after you have set up your page and have found 25 people to like it, you are entitled to a "vanity" url (mine is http://www.facebook.com/montrealfinancial) This, in addition to being kind of exciting, is akin to reserving a domain name for your business.

Below are three articles that provide essential guidance and resources to anyone looking to either setup a business page for the first time, or enhance their existing page.  It is important to note that a facebook page does require regular updates, and  interaction to act as an effective marketing tool.

 8 Reasons your Business needs a Facebook Page:

MySEMexperts examines some compelling reasons businesses need to setup facebook pages including:

• Facebook is here to stay
• More ways of being found by search engines
• Innovative ways to interact with customers
• Creating a community of fans

How to setup a Facebook Fan Page:

This fairly comprehensive article from Mashable looks at:

• Guides you through the steps of setting up a page and reminds you that Google looks favourably upon facebook in its search results.
• Gives you examples of available apps and speaks about building custom apps.
• Lets you know ways to promote your page including sending invitations to business contacts, including your facebook page in your email signature and putting a link to it on your website.
• Encourages you to get the most out of your page by encouraging discussion and making it fun.

40 Highly Effective Facebook Business Pages:

Speckyboy looks at 40 creative and compelling facebook pages, categorized as follows:

• Calls to action: The landing page encourages the user to like their page
• Incentive:  The user must like the page to see content
• Videos: Market research shows that using video can increase conversion rates by up to 80%
• Car Manufacturers: It seems that the automobile industry is quite sophisticated with the use of social media
• Random Pages: Hooters and Heinz are among some random facebook pages that have caught users' imagination.