I’m often asked about Facebook author pages (or Facebook business pages for entrepreneurs).

Should I have one? Is the return on investment there?

There have been many Facebook changes, especially over the last 2 years.

In my opinion, yes, you need a Facebook business page to help you with discoverability and engaging with readers.

Think of your Facebook page as the one-stop-shop where someone can go to learn about you, your books, and engage with other readers.

Source: negativespace.co

The kind folks at UK Web Host Review have provided 8 tips for making the most effective use of your Facebook business page. This post is written by Kerry Harrison.

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Social media has boomed over the past few years. Twitter and Facebook have literally taken over the Internet. As a result, social networking websites such as these provide monumental opportunities for business owners.

They give the chance for a company to drive traffic, strengthen their brand image, create a loyal bond with customers and consequently make more money. This is why social media has become so integrated into business’s SEO (search engine optimisation) strategy.

Nevertheless, in order to get the most out of social media you need to know how to use it properly for marketing. So, read on to discover the top eight ways to get the most out of your business’s Facebook page…

1. Update Your Page Frequently
The major mistake that a lot of businesses make is that they only update their page now and again. You need to see your Facebook page as the opportunity to create a loyal bond between you and your consumers. If you only post now and again then you are effectively taking one step forward then three steps back.

2. Include a call-to-action graphic
Think about when you built your website, your CTA was one of the most critical elements, right? A lot of the top Facebook pages contain a page that consists of a fancy graphic. Its purpose is to tell viewers to hit the ‘like’ button to view the page.

Once they have done so, they will then be able to see everything that you post. Without this, you will find that people won’t click like and thus will only view your Facebook page when they need. This means they won’t see your updates.

3. Create your own URL
Once you have 25 likes (which shouldn’t be too hard) you then have the option to create your own URL e.g. www.facebook.com/putherewhateveryoulike. This is great for enhancing your search engine optimisation because URLs play a big role in determining your ranking.

4. Keep a track on everything
A lot of people remark that the feedback Facebook analytics provide is rather basic. Thus, it is recommended you use another platform, such as Google Analytics, in order to determine how well your Facebook page is doing.

5. Don’t forget about keyword optimisation
Carefully selected and placed key phrases work just as well in Facebook as they do for SEO articles. Thus, be sure to include them when posting. Nevertheless, with Facebook it is even more important to make sure that they look 100% natural.

6. Run competitions
The best way to promote your business via Facebook is to run a competition. A format which a lot of business use and which works well is to post an image of one of their products with the tag line “like and share to win”. This means that those who want to win the product have to like and share the image with all of their friends and thus is a great marketing tool for exposure.

7. Encourage interaction
Don’t just use Facebook as a portal for advertising products. People will get fed up if all you do is post an endless array of links. You need to encourage interaction – ask people what they thought about a TV programme or what they are having for lunch. Little things like this work wonders in building a relationship with customers.

8. Invite friends box
This is pretty self-explanatory; add the widget whereby the person viewing your page can quickly select friends to suggest the page to.

If you implement the eight tips mentioned in this article then you should have no problem ensuring that your Facebook page operates to an optimum level.