For the last few years I have only used facebook to post pictures of the kids for Nana back east to see. A few weeks ago I finally launched a page for the company. I know, I'm behind, it's becoming more important than ever to switch to a Page from a Personal Profile so the public can see what you have to say, even if they aren't your friend or "like" you.
I feel like I've let the public peek into the everyday conversations I have with my authors. We've shared a video with our gal in Japan so she could see her new ARCs the moment they arrived (amid updates about the disaster), had a book cover design critique, and I'm having a blast cross-promoting our author's books, kindles, ideas and offerings.
WHAT STARTED IT
The way facebook creates "ghost pages" based on what you write as your "Work" was driving me crazy. When one of our authors mentioned she "liked" my business page I thought, "What page?"
I decided I had to figure out how to get a real one set up. Here's a little of what I learned as a non-techie...
1. Start here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
You will log in to your existing personal page and then be able to switch from one to the other.
By the way, I found interesting articles about automating the switch from a personal page to a business page with a warning: http://tinyurl.com/FBprofileTOpage , http://tinyurl.com/FBprofileTOpageWARNING
2. I used a square 200 pixel x 200 pixel jpg with lots of white space around the image, after many failed attempts at getting our logo to crop correctly. Here's a template.
Wyatt-MacKenzie authors and imprints who'd like a custom 180 pixel wide x 540 pixel high branded image, just let me know! I'm so excited to add this to our branding packages. An old post with size and examples of largest image: http://tinyurl.com/sizeofprofilepicture
3. Facebook then has a list of steps that allow you to suggest your new page to existing friends; get a code to add a "Like" box to your website; etc. (you'll see). By clicking "Edit Page" these are listed under "Marketing." I removed the extra links I hadn't setup yet, and I used an "Edit FBML" to simply embed a youtube link (copy, paste).
4. I found a free app http://tinyurl.com/appforwelcomepage to create a basic Welcome Page - which essentially is two images, one for those who have not "liked" you yet, and one for those who have. Here's the one I was playing with to try it: http://tinyurl.com/LikeUsGetOurBook Here's a cool professional example: http://www.facebook.com/redbull
5. Once you have 25 "likes" you can create a custom username here: http://www.Facebook.com/username It's surprising how many companies haven't switched from the longer code to a shorter custom name. I noticed this link just as Lisa Orrell @promotuguru mentioned this important distinction. Think about what you want - you can't change it.
6. Linking to twitter, so your facebook updates are automatically streamed there and vice-versa, can kill two birds with one stone... especially the little blue one! Lisa Orrell advises against linking the two, and I have just turned mine off. My personal tip -- if you link them, keep the main text in the first 31 characters of your facebook post, so your tweets won't be incoherent (Guilty! A fb.me link takes the rest of the spaces).
7. Then be sure to relink your "Work" on your personal page to your new business page so the link is top and center.
8. More tips in this great video by Lisa Orrell "6 Ways to Improve Fan Page Posts" http://tinyurl.com/6waystoimprovefanpage
