It’s important to audit your own social media presence so that you can tell if what you’re doing is working. We have a Facebook quiz that you can use to score your page. It’s a FREE DOWNLOAD. We will be going through the first section of the quiz in today’s blog.

 

Assess Your Cover Photo/Video

 

First and foremost, you want to make sure that you have the right cover. Why does that matter? Because it’s the first thing that people see. They need to know at a glance exactly what you do. The easiest way to communicate that is with video. If I haven’t said it, you know, in the last 10 minutes: VIDEO! Seriously. 

 

Our video cover for Facebook is the same as our video cover for YouTube because it kind of walks you through what we do. This is what we offer, this is why you need it, and this is how you work with us. Very simple. It’s about a minute long and tells people what we do. If you don’t have professional video and you’re not at that point in your business yet to get professional video, that’s totally ok. An awesome graphic will work. Canva is super handy if you’re making a graphic. If you want to create your own video using still images, you can. I will tell you, there are certain industries such as plumbing, HVAC, Social Media Manager, and the like that are just not exciting to watch. It’s not fun to watch like party planning or wedding planning. So for us, our video includes different shots and snippets. It’s like a slideshow that’s automated. You can make one for yourself using Adobe Spark, Prezi, or iMovie. Very easy. All these things are free resources for you so if you don’t have a video, you can take your logo, a picture of you or your team, a list of your services, and a great testimonial and put those together as a slideshow to make a great cover for your Facebook page. 

 

Update Your Profile Photo

 

The next thing on the list is your profile photo. Most people use a logo. You want to make sure that it’s clear and easy to read. As a side note, if it’s been a while since you’ve had your logo done, if you’ve been using the same one for a while, or if your logo is pixelated and you don’t have a vector, get a graphic designer to redo it. It is worth it.  We did some work over the summer for a school system. Their logo was so pixelated because it had been handed down, handed down, and handed down again. We went ahead and redid the logo for them so that they could, in turn, put it on all of their branded and graphic material. It just makes such a huge difference. So if you don’t have a clean version of the logo, you absolutely need a clean version of the logo. 

Review Your About Section

 

All right, your About section is next. Facebook is essentially a search engine. Really. Yes, it’s a social media platform, but it’s still a search engine, just like Google. So anytime anybody searches a phrase or a word keyword, it is all buried somewhere on Facebook. If you went on to Facebook and you searched for Social U, my page will come up, but if you search for specific phrases like “how to use Instagram reels” I can show up there too. You have options when searching Facebook. You can search for posts. You can search for pages. You can search for community. It will pull up every single place where that specific wording is used, including every individual post. So anytime you want to be found for a specific service or for a specific reason, include that information in your About section so you’re more likely to be found. So we offer training, consulting, and managing. That’s the terminology in our About section because all those keywords are searchable. 

 

I am sad to say that Facebook is doing away with the Our Story section on your Facebook page. Not Stories, but the Our Story section. I loved the Our Story section because it had endless possibilities. You could literally have pages of information listed there so that people could find you with different keywords and phrases. They’re taking it down so kudos to Facebook for taking down my favorite thing on the business page. 

Test Your Call to Action Button

 

When was the last time you tested your call to action button? We do audits on the regular and I never cease to be surprised at how many people have bad information on their call to action button. If you click on the button itself, it allows you to test it. You have to set it up according to how you want the information relayed. You can have a Call Me. You can have Email Us. You can have Send Us a Direct Message. Use whatever is best for you. 

 

That being said, you need to make sure that the information is correct. Is it an old email? Is it an old phone number? Is it something that you don’t check on the regular? Just do a quick test. It’ll tell you exactly where it’s going. If you have the wrong phone number then there’s an obvious reason people are not calling you. 

 

Check Your URL

 

Does your Facebook page have a custom URL? Well, it absolutely should and your brand should match across all the platforms. Our URL is staysocialu on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and all across the board. By having the same branding, it makes you easier to find. If you’re going to be JohnsLandscaping and that’s the name of your company, it needs to be JohnsLandscaping on every single platform. You can’t be JohnCutsGrass on Instagram and JohnPlants on LinkedIn, or John Smith on LinkedIn. It has to be consistent. People have to be able to find you. I shouldn’t have to go through and look at the logos to pick out which one is you. It should be evident in the name. Also, I will tell you to try and avoid hyphens if you can, because when someone is trying to tag you in a post, if they don’t write it the way that Facebook recognizes as that username, you will not pull up. You want to make it easy for people to tag you. 

 

Examine Your Email Collection System

 

Do you have a system for collecting email addresses? Facebook is ok but they own everything on Facebook. You don’t own it. If you have 10,000 followers that is awesome, but if Facebook shut their doors tomorrow what would you have? If you don’t have the email, you don’t have anything. So, you have to think about it like rent versus own. You’re only renting your followers from Facebook or Instagram or any of the platforms, but you own that lead if you have the email. The statistics on email are staggering. ROI for email marketing is 40 to 1. For almost every dollar you spend on email marketing, you make $40 back. Statistically, if you’re consistently sending out emails, every email in your list is worth roughly $1 a month. The stats are tremendous. So if you are not yet collecting emails, the best day to start was yesterday, but today’s good too. You can do amazing things with a tiny email list. 

 

Link Your Business Page on Your Personal Profile

 

Do you have a link to your business page on your personal profile? This is just a pet peeve of mine, but on your personal profile, it says where you work. It’s right there in your personal profile and I have seen so many people say they’re small business owners, and it doesn’t lead back to their page. What are you doing? Make sure your business page is what is listed on your Facebook profile because it makes it so much easier for people to find you there. Okay. 

Is Your Link Everywhere?

 

Do you have a link to your Facebook page on every page of your website? You absolutely should. It could be in the header or the footer, but your social media icons need to be everywhere on your website. I went to a pretty attractive website yesterday checking out a new potential client, and there were no social media icons anywhere, so I had to go find their social media by doing a Google search. Sifting through other similar names to find that company is too hard on your potential clients. Most aren’t going to do that. You have to make their life easier and the way to do that is to have those links directly embedded. Also, Google likes cross-promotion. They like it when people come to your site from other sites. It validates your site. This means anytime you can link back through to Pinterest or Instagram or Facebook, it helps your SEO. Make sure those links are there. 

 

Just a Start

 

That is the first half of our Facebook checklist. Go through and check all of these off to make sure that you’re doing what you need to do, and getting the attention your Facebook page deserves. Don’t forget to download our free Facebook Quiz to make sure your Facebook page is working for you.