Social platforms offer opportunities to market your business in exciting ways… which is great if you’re familiar with the inner workings, but for the beginner, the steps to building an business online can be daunting.  Understanding how to use platforms like Facebook and tap into the myriad marketing tools available is essential, and a great asset to every business’ online strategy.

Facebook has developed many tools for building and promoting brands, including Groups and Pages. While Groups are a great way to stay informed or connected about a specific topic or interest, Pages offer unique opportunities to connect with and engage new fans that groups and personal pages don’t.

Like all marketing strategies, you should have a long-term plan in place before you launch.  Here are four simple steps to getting started building your business on Facebook.

Step one: Organize your content before you create the page.

We call this process “seeding”, basically, populating your page with information.  Have all of your imagery, logos and business information ready in advance of creating your page as well as content for your first few posts. That way, when you launch your page and invite people to connect with you, they’ll have lots of great content to interact with.

Step two: Customize your Facebook URL

All page owners are allowed to set a custom URL for their Facebook pages. This is a must-do for any brand serious about marketing on Facebook, (would you rather have www.facebook.com/steveropergroup or www.facebook/pages/someonesname/verylong/willbeforgotten/376k7d9968396847 ? ) but it’s also a step to be taken with much care. Once you create a custom URL, you can’t edit or change it for any reason – so be sure it’s the one you want and make sure you have a back-up plan in case something goes wrong during the creation process, or if the name you want isn’t available.

Step three: Connect your other websites and social platforms

You’ll want to be sure that all of your online presences and business profiles, like Twitter, LinkedIn and your website or blog, are connected to your Facebook page. Thankfully, there are a lot of great tools and online applications that simplify the process, allowing you to focus on creating content and helping you get maximum exposure by syndicating and sharing the things you create automatically.

Step four:  Creating custom content

Creating custom content, like a custom contest or promotion, is a great way to engage your existing fans and attract new ones. Custom content can range from simple, single-page websites to complex multi-page promotions. Coca Cola (http://www.facebook.com/cocacola) has done some great things with Facebook, so have Starbucks (http://www.facebook.com/Starbucks) and VW (http://www.facebook.com/VW).

For most business, it’s easy and affordable to start with a simple concept, like a matching profile image and landing page and work your way up to full page websites, dynamic pages and more!

These steps are a great starting point, and they’re just that. Opportunities to engage are endless and limited only by your imagination.

Need help? That’s what we’re here for.

Contact The Steve Roper Group to initiate a social media campaign on Facebook today.