Facebook for Beginners

Don’t have a Facebook page for your organization or initiative yet? Or do you have one but want to get more out of it? Then read on, because we have collected all the tips for beginners. And do you need feedback? Ask your question to Simone Timmer.

Why a business page?

Differences from a personal page:

• A business page can be managed by multiple people.
• Through a business page you can advertise.
• Through a business page you have access to statistics.
• Through a business page you can start a fundraising campaign.
• Through a business page you cannot view the timeline of people who liked your page, you cannot directly approach these people or like their posts.

Cover photo and profile photo

Use a photo that fits your organization for the cover photo. If you are a homework tutoring organization, show children studying. If you are a cooking club, show people cooking or eating. You can use a photo that is also on your website.

Images must have specific dimensions. These are specified in pixels.

Cover photo: 851 px x 315 px

Profile photo: 170 px x 170 px

For adjusting your photos use e.g. Paint or www.fotoaanpassen.nl

What will you post on Facebook?

As an organization or initiative, you offer a solution to a problem that some people have. You fulfill a need for your clients. Start with that need, empathize, and then respond with your offering, your knowledge, insights, and tips.

Persona
Who do you want to reach via Facebook? What kind of people, with what interests, needs, and problems? It is useful to create one or more personas. A persona can be seen as a type of client who uses your services. Create one or at most four personas and keep these personas in mind when writing a post or choosing a photo. Would your persona find this post or photo interesting or funny?

>> How to create a persona.

Topics

• What topics do you have in-house expertise on that align with the situation, interests, or concerns of the persona?
• What activities or services do you offer that align with these?
• What special days of the year fit these topics and your organization? (Loneliness Awareness Week, Compliment Day, Warm Sweater Day……) https://www.issuekalender.nl/

>> Make a list of topics, activities/services, and special days that would be interesting for your persona to read on your Facebook page.

How do you write a good post?

12 tips for a good post

1. Write as if you are telling someone who was not there. Make the listener enthusiastic. For example, ask a question or present a choice.
2. Don’t write too formally!
3. Keep it short and concise! No endlessly long texts.
4. Use a quote from someone that is meaningful for your target group.
5. Think about your key message. What should readers do or think after reading? This is the call to action. It could be a link to a website, a call to attend, to vote, etc.
6. The first three to six lines should be inviting enough to click “See more”.
7. Tag other people or organization pages in your post. You do this by typing @ followed by the name of the person or page. Then it appears in a list. By tagging, the person or the page administrator sees that you mention them in your post and they might share or like your post.
8. Choose a fitting image (dimensions: 1200 x 628 px). What makes an appealing image? People in it, preferably looking at the camera. Emotion. Clear what is happening. No backs.
9. Be mindful of photo copyrights. Take your own photos or look at pixabay.com or select via Google images through Tools, Usage Rights, and choose Creative Commons Licenses. You can use those freely.
10. VCA has a pool of photographers you can use.
11. You can schedule posts for a future time.
12. Look at posts from other pages or people for inspiration!

8 more tips for greater success

1. Remember that Facebook is an informal network where fun, funny, and especially personal things matter.
2. Post regularly on Facebook, preferably a few times a week. Two per day is also fine.
3. Look at posts from other organizations! Share them too sometimes.
4. Pay attention to visitor comments. Reply within a day. Preferably within an hour.
5. Put the link to your Facebook page on your website and in your email signature.
6. You can manage your page through your own Facebook app: via Menu to Pages.
7. Experiment with advertising. With a small budget of 5 euros you can promote your post a bit extra to people who don’t yet know your page.
8. How do I get more likes? That takes time and perseverance 😉

Good luck! And do you need help? Ask your question to Simone Timmer.