How To: Start a Facebook Page for your Business

Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the United States today. Marketing through social media is one of the most effective marketing techniques in the industry. It would be smart to use Facebook in your social media marketing, especially since Facebook pages rank high in search engine results. Here's how to start a Facebook page for your business.

Step One: Sign up
If you haven't signed up already, sign up for a Facebook account. Go to Facebook.com and follow the steps to sign up for a personal account. You'll want a personal account so you have a place to create a page for your business. Personal profiles are capped out at 5,000 friends whereas a Facebook page doesn't have a fan cap, so you don't want to sign up for Facebook under your business name, but under your own name then once you have a personal profile and account, you can create as many pages for your business as you would like with no fan caps.
Step Two: Find the Facebook Page Icon
Facebook is continually changing and improving their site, so you may have to look around a little bit for the link that will take you to the Facebook Page creation page. The icon is normally anchored on the left side of your home page. The icon is a little orange flag and if you haven't created a page before, it will be near the bottom of your list. Click on it to take you to the Facebook Page creation page.
Step Three: Create a Facebook Page for your Business
Once you've found the Facebook Page creation page, you follow the steps to creating a page. This is a very user-friendly interface and easy to follow. You'll first be asked to categorize your page. Don't worry too much about this as it can always be edited later. Once you pick a category, a drop-down box will appear and let you choose something a bit more specific to your business. You then get to name your page. This step is very important as when you pass the 100 fans mark, your page name is permanent. No amount of begging, pleading, or demanding will get you anywhere with Facebook if you want to change it. It is permanent. It is a part of the actual URL of your Facebook page. If you need any help or have questions about the creation (or modification) process you can go to the Facebook Page Facebook page where Facebook Inc. posts updates about Facebook Page upgrades and changes.
Step Four: Modify your Facebook Page
Once you name your Facebook page, your page has been created, but you'll want to modify and customize it. If you leave it as is, you will have branded yourself as a newbie and you won't get many fans. There are several modifications you'll want to make including loading a picture to represent your business (i.e. your business logo), describing your business in the "About" section (this comes up under the title of your page in search engine search results), linking other Facebook pages to your page, and customizing your administration section.
Step Five: Get your Page Published
Facebook won't publish your page until you have at least one fan (you can and should become a fan of your own page from your personal profile) and some content in the body of your page. Start adding content to the body of your page such as a link to your business website, industry news, your business' latest commercial or web video, or just type out a welcome and post it. Once your page is published, you can start promoting it.