This is Part 2 of a four part series of posts taking a more detailed look at Facebook Pages.
In Part 1 we briefly compared the Facebook Profile, Group and Page, pointing out the pros and cons of each. We also went step by step through creating a Facebook Page.
With the three remaining posts we will, respectively:
- Get to know our way around your Page and how to do some basic editing to make it more your own.
- Get a little more advanced. I’ll show you some of the different options you have for promoting your Page as well as using your Page to create community.
- In the final installment we’re going to dig deep into what I like to call “customeering” your Page, and we’ll take a look at the feedback your Page can provide for you as you build community.
Let’s do some editing…!
Editing Your Page
Let’s go to the Edit Page screen of your Page. To get there, just click on Edit Page under the picture of your Page.
The Edit Page screen will seem like a lot of information at first.
Take a deep breath, and we’ll get through it.
Settings: Country & Age Restrictions, Published Status
The majority of Pages will rarely, if ever, change anything in the Country & Age Restrictions areas, but they are there if you need them.
Just to be clear: more than likely you don’t need to change anything for the Country and Age Restrictions. I’m quoting Facebook directly for an explanation of them.
Country Restrictions
Entering one or more countries means that only people located in those countries listed will be able to view your Page. This also means that logged out users will not be able to see your Page. If no countries are listed, your Page will be visible to people located in all countries. You understand that you are responsible for setting the proper country restrictions to ensure that the content of your Page is appropriate for the country or countries where you allow it to be visible.
Age Restrictions
Selecting an age restriction means that anyone under the specified age will not be able to find your Page in search or on friends’ profiles or view the content in other ways. This also means that logged out users will not be able to see your Page. The Alcohol-Related age restriction sets the minimum age based on the location of the user. Only users in Canada and South Korea who are 19+, in Japan and Paraguay who are 20+, in India who are 25+, and elsewhere (including the US) who are 21+ will be able to view your Page. You understand that the Alcohol-Related age restriction is only for convenience and that Facebook does not represent that by using that setting your Page will be legally compliant in all countries where your Page is visible. You understand that ultimately you are responsible for setting the proper legally compliant age restrictions for each country where your Page is visible.
Published Status
Selecting one of the two options in this area will either make the status of your page: “Published (publicly visible) or Unpublished (visible to no one but admins)”.
If you make any changes in this area, don’t forget to click the “Save Changes” button before leaving.
Wall Settings
This settings area gives you access to a lot of great features. For example, you can select the Landing Tab for your Page- where people will land when they arrive at your Page. (Note that the landing feature won’t be visible to you as an admin. Just ask one of your friends to check it out once your Page is published.)
Experimenting with different arrangements will help you decide which one is right for your Page. Changes are saved when you make them, so make sure they’re what you want before leaving.
Mobile Settings
This may be one of the most underutilized features available to Pages. The uniqueness here is that Facebook automatically generates an email specific to your Page to “Publish status updates, photos and videos to your Facebook Page on the go.”
If your mobile device can send and receive SMS messages or email, you can update your Page virtually anywhere.
Connecting Twitter to your Page
Another option for mobile publishing is to link your Page to a Twitter account. You can update your fans or people via Twitter whenever you update your Page, saving you the time and the carpel tunnel of copy and paste.
Here’s how:
- Sign out of any existing Twitter account you may be currently signed in to.
- Go to facebook.com/twitter. Here you will have a list of any page that you are an administrator on the left side, and a “Link to Twitter” button on the right side.
- Click the “Link to Twitter” button.
- Fill out the form, the Twitter name and password that you want to link to your fan page, and click the green ALLOW button. You will directed back to Facebook automatically, where you can edit the settings for the linked account.
A quick note here if you’ve done this. This is a Facebook to Twitter connection, and NOT a Twitter to Facebook connection.
The Twitter application doesn’t currently allow the updating of Pages like it does for Profiles. This may be a drawback to some, but if the point of your Page is community, you will want to be updating from Facebook and interacting with your community anyway.
This type of interaction simply wouldn’t happen if you were sending updates via Twitter. There are other options that will pull your tweets and publish them to your Page, however these are fairly involved and require the use of third party applications, and, again, don’t encourage the community aspect of Facebook Pages.
Tabs
These are the navigation points of your Page. Two of them are mandatory (Wall & Info), but did you know that you can “customeer” your own tabs to fit your Page? (More on Tab Customeering in a bit- I promise.)
Wall
This is where the majority of your interaction with the fans of your Page will take place. The settings for your Wall are in two places: In the Edit Page screen (aka- The Driver’s Seat) and the Settings button, just under the Share button on the right-side of the Wall screen of your Page.
Info
All-too-often I see this tab get over-looked in the Page setup, but I’ve also seen Pages put too much information here. Remember, this is Facebook, and your fans want their info fast. People are information rich, and time poor.
For example: Too much information has your website (great), your mission statement (great), your history (isn’t that info on your website already?), and why you think Facebook is the next big thing (it already is). Keep It Simple. Your website, a one to two sentence mission statement and you’re out. Easy.
To access this area, just click “Edit Information” on the right-hand side.
Adding Tabs
I couldn’t put into words how to do this, so I’ve made this screen video of me actually adding Tabs and putting them in place. Enjoy- but don’t get any popcorn on the keyboard!
Check and Re-Check
We’ve gone through a whole bunch of tweaks and edits, be sure to go back and review EVERYTHING. And then review it again.
Wrap UP
I want to re-emphasize what I think is the most important part of creating a Page. INTERACTION.
While you’re not trying to break any records (or maybe you are), it’s so important that you interact regularly with your Organization/Brand’s fans.
In the next two posts we’re going to go deep- definitely beyond basics! We’ll see how to integrate your blog or other RSS feeds with your Page as well as REALLY “customeer” the look and way your fans interact with it. Stay tuned.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Rob says
One thing I wanted to do was have my church’s twitter update on the fan page. I couldn’t do the typical RSS feed on the wall, because I was already uploading my church’s blog to the wall.
This morning, I found a very cool facebook app that will allow me to have both a blog and a twitter account updating to my church’s fan page.
It’s called RSS Graffiti … I found a video tutorial (sorry, don’t still have the link to that), but it was fairly straightforward to set up.
Nick Shoemaker says
Thanks for the info Rob.
I had thought about including this in the post, but the reality is that Facebook is a different animal than most other social networks. Facebook users are mostly about community- things like how many degrees of separation there are between them and other people are what continue to drive Facebook’s success.
Like I said in the post, the most important part of creating a Page is INTERACTION.
Your Page shouldn’t just be another website for people to get more information from. It needs to be alive, and, speaking from a lot of experience, you won’t interact with your Brand community nearly as much if you are using this option.
So I guess it’s a word of caution- if you’re going to use something like RSS Graffiti be certain to not neglect your community. Stay active there, maybe even make more of an effort to be there than other places.
Thanks for your comment Rob. 🙂
Stuart says
Right … that’s it. I am NOT sending this to my pastor 🙂
He can just ask me how to do it if he ever wants one!
Nick Shoemaker says
Ha! 🙂
conard says
Enjoyed these two posts. Any chance we can get some tips for the FBML tab? Facebook has made it more difficult to put stuff there it seems like. It’d be nice to at least put the church’s website inside an iframe in that tab.
Nick Shoemaker says
Yeah Conrad- we’ll be getting into this in the next couple parts of this series. Stay tuned!
Calum Henderson says
Thanks for this series of posts!
Looking forward to reading the next two.
Dewitt says
Great post Nick! Lots of helpful information!
Rick Anderson says
I lead a traveling ministry group that is sponsored by a Christian University. When I created a “Religious Organization” page it made it a “Place.” How do I get it to be a PAGE instead of PLACE?