With 50.36 million users in the UK alone and 44% of the UK population using the platform daily, having an optimised Facebook Business Page is an absolute must. Read this blog post to find out how you can ensure your Business Page is the best it can be.
Why Facebook SEO is important
It may sound obvious, but the whole point of social media marketing is the same as it is for any other form of advertising: to increase sales, expand brand recognition, improve brand loyalty and create more opportunities to convert prospects into customers.
In the case of Facebook, the potential for all the above is almost exponential. In the UK, Facebook holds a whopping 54% of the social media market share – more than twice that of Twitter – and is over 21 times more popular than Instagram.
Clearly, this is a serious business tool you need to make the most of.
So, if you haven't invested a bit of time in making sure your Facebook Business Page is its best, you are missing out on a lot of very lucrative business potential.
Where do I start?
1. Choosing the best Facebook Page name
Let's start with the basics: Your Facebook Business Page name. Choosing the best name for your Page is a crucial first step in getting the most out of your approach to online marketing.
Your Page name (which is not the same are your username - more about that in a bit) should clearly reflect what you do if there is any doubt that it won't. For example, if you have a donut and pancake shop that's just called "Jerry's", a good option would be just "Jerry's Pancakes" or "Jerry's Pancakes & Donuts".
Above all, keep it short and NOT spammy! DO NOT use something like:
"Jerry's Pancakes & Donuts – The BEST Pancake Restaurant in London"
Not only is it terrible, it's also not allowed! For more on Facebook's naming rules, click here.
Top Tips:
Keep it simple. Your business name or similar will be perfect
Keep it short. If it's too wordy, people will struggle to remember it
Don't make it spammy (i.e. don't try to cram in a lot of keywords - this can backfire!)
Once you've chosen your name, stick with it! You can change it, but don't unless you absolutely have to!
Use Google Search or a tool like AnswerThePublic to find good keywords if you're unsure what to use in your name
2. Choosing your Facebook Page username
Your Facebook Business Page username is what forms the URL of your page. It begins with @ and can differ from your Business Page name, although I don't recommend this.
Why? Think about it.
Let's use our example page above: "Jerry's Pancakes". That's short and to the point. It's easy to remember and it tells us all we need to know. So, @jerryspancakes would be a perfect username. You might also consider using uppercase letters for each word to make things easier to read (@JerrysPancakes). This won't affect how people search for you in any way.
If you choose to use something else, you're making it harder for your followers and customers to remember how to find your page.
If, however, your preferred username is already taken (let's say someone sells prepackaged pancakes and so already owns the name "@jerryspancakes", your next best option would be something like "@jerryspancakesanddonuts". You get the idea.
Top tips:
Keep it the same as your Page name if possible
No spaces or underscores, but you can put full stops between words
Consider capitalising each word to make your username easier to read (@JerrysPancakes or @JerrysPancakesAndDonuts)
3. Use keywords strategically
There are very few places on your Facebook Business Page where you can write large amounts of text, so it's exactly in these places that you want to make sure you take advantage of the SEO possibilities this offers.
The About section is one of these places. Google indexes searchable snippets from your About section that will show up in their search results for your business. For instance, the About section for my business, WillHelton.Com looks like this:
"Social Media Marketing for small businesses - WillHelton.Com
Attracting more paying customers for businesses across Somerset, Devon and Dorset.
Targeted social media strategies tailored for each individual business."
You can use up to 255 characters here, but as long as you have your website URL and keywords covered, less is fine.
DON'T waste this valuable bit of digital real estate by writing something like "We are a family run business located in the heart of the community and offer our customers a comprehensive, friendly service."
That's nice, but it tells me exactly NOTHING about your business or what you do.
Worse still, it contains no keywords specific to your products or services, so it will actually HURT your Google ranking.
Top tips:
Complete all parts of your About section
Be sure to include relevant keywords for your products, services or profession
4. Use good SEO in your posts
Using good keywords and product or business-specific terms in your posts may seem obvious, but so many business owners fail to do just this. And it will hurt your SEO potential.
Let's suppose you're a plumber posting about your services or jobs you've done. It would be logical to include both general and specific keywords for your profession.
Something like this would make a good post:
"This bathroom renovation looked like a real plumbing challenge, but we put the new sink, bath and toilette in with no problems! Great job all round!"
As you can see, we managed to include plumbing relevant keywords such as "bathroom", "renovation", "plumbing", "sink", "bath", and "toilette".
Conclusion
This isn't an exhaustive list. Whole books have been written on good SEO practice. But by putting the above points into practice you will increase the standing of your Facebook Business Page and with it the visibility of your business.
If you have any questions about any of the points in this article or if you'd just like some advice about social media for your business, visit me at my website and get in touch. I'd be happy to help.
Best,
Will
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