Setting up a Facebook Page: a local business checklist

Get the name and category right

Use the name customers already know. If your shop sign says one thing and your Page says another, people will doubt they have found you. Add a place name only if it helps people tell you apart from a similar business.

Pick the category closest to what you do. It tells Facebook and visitors what kind of place this is, and it can change which details the Page offers. You can usually change it later.

Write an about text people can use

• Sentence one: what you do and where.
• Sentence two: who you help or what you are known for, in plain words.
• Sentence three: how to order, book or visit.
• Leave out claims such as best or cheapest unless you can prove them.
• Use the same description idea as your website’s About page.

Hours, location and contact

• Enter opening hours, and update them for holidays and special closings.
• Add the street address if customers visit you. If you travel to customers, show the area you serve instead.
• Add one phone number, one email and your website link.
• Check that all of this matches your website and your Google Business Profile exactly.
• Open the Page on a phone and tap the phone number and the map to see that they work.

Choose one call-to-action button

Facebook lets a Page show a button such as call, message, book or visit your website. Choose the one action you want most. Then test it. If you pick messages, a real person must be ready to answer, or the button will bring disappointment instead of customers.

Profile and cover images

• Profile image: your logo or a clear front-of-shop photo that still reads at a small size.
• Cover image: show your place, your people or your best product. Keep key text away from the edges.
• Look at the Page on a phone and a computer, because the crop is different on each.
• Use only images you have the right to use. Photos taken by a friend or found online may not be yours to post.

Roles: who can do what

Give each person the lowest level of access they need to do their job. Avoid sharing one login between several people, because nobody can tell who did what. Make sure at least two trusted people have full control, so you are never locked out when one person leaves.

When a staff member, freelancer or agency stops working with you, remove their access that day. Facebook names its access levels in its own way, so check its current help pages for the exact wording.

Before you connect a scheduling tool

Finish the checklist first. A tool can only publish onto the Page you have, so tidy details matter. The person who connects the Page needs enough access to it.

AI Marketing Master can publish to Facebook Pages, and each post goes out only after a person approves it.