11 million people use Facebook every 18 minutes…

7,246 new users are added to the social media mammoth every 15 minutes and 936 million active users login into the site on a daily basis.

Do these Facebook facts make you wonder?

“Am I missing out?”

Even large businesses are gradually distancing themselves from traditional forms of advertising and are battling for new customers on social media sites.

According to a recent study conducted by KA Social, 75% of the world’s population is on social media, and the other 25% of the population is both curious and excited to be on it.

It’s easier, quicker and cheaper to put up a Facebook page with dynamic content compared to traditional and more expensive ways of promoting your brand.

Your Facebook page is an extension or your primary website.

It showcases your business philosophy. A well-designed page isn’t just about how it looks – but also how it behaves. In the ever-competitive market, a perfect design is something that helps you stand out.

Tip: When it comes to social media marketing, Jeff uses Agorapulse. It’s his social media management tool of choice.

Work through the following 5-steps to build a Facebook page and fill it with ‘fans’, ‘likes’ and ‘shares’.

Step 1: Nail your cover photo

The focal point for every business on Facebook is its cover photo. It not only enhances the visual appeal of the business but also lures fans and followers, increasing the brand value.

Cover photos are the first thing that get noticed by users whenever they visit a company page. However, creating and choosing a cover photo that not only catches the attention of users but also resonates the brand value can sometimes be tedious.

Before discussing the creative aspect of your Facebook age, let’s first explore a few guidelines and policies set by Facebook for cover photos.

Do not include generic terms or special characters. Example: Beer, #@$%

Do not include superfluous descriptions or unnecessary qualifiers.

Do not over exceed your text more than 20% of the image.

Do not mislead your followers by incorrect or deceptive content.

As shown in the image, the dimension of the cover photos and profile pictures must be 851 x 315 and 180 x 180 pixels respectively. Cover photos take up almost a quarter of the screen on most desktops, so it is advisable to use high resolution images.

Now, let’s talk about the aesthetics of a cover photo.

Here are three points you must consider as ‘The Gospel of Facebook Cover Photos’.

Right focus over left focus – Since your profile pic is on the left, try keeping the text or call-to-action buttons on the right hand corner of your Facebook cover photo. Sync cover photo with profile photo – In the image above, you notice a rectangular overlapping of profile picture with cover photo. Find creative ways to design a cover photo that communicates well with this profile picture. Pin a post right below the cover photo – Don’t overlook the relevance of content. Try pinning down the most important post just below the cover photo to make it more relevant and interesting.

Step 2: Customize your tabs

Facebook’s new design puts photos, likes and apps just below your cover photo. The first spot in this layout is reserved for photos, while the other 11 can be adjusted through your admin panel.

So you have a total of 12 custom tabs at your disposal.

Use this opportunity to highlight your unique selling proposition through these tabs.

For example, if you have more ‘likes’, present them first and if you are not on Twitter or you have less followers on Twitter, keep that tab down the list.

Step 3: Pin, Star or Hide

Hovering your mouse over timeline entries shows a dropdown menu where you get an option to pin a particular post. The ‘Pin’ feature helps you show your intended post or content above all other timeline posts. In addition, you can also highlight the post you like by putting a star on it. The time limit to keep a post pinned is about 7 days.

A recently published study by Designhill, reveals that the Facebook posts with fewer than 80 characters get up to 60% more engagement, so it makes sense to ‘pin’ or ‘star’ posts that are concise yet interesting.

Step 4: Track your activity

Use Facebook Insights to keep a track of your page activity. Keeping a track of traffic and analyzing the reach and number of hits will help you choose your future posts more carefully. Besides Facebook Insights, businesses can also create ‘new ads’, define ‘page audience’, add ‘featured likes’ and update ‘publishing abilities’.

Consider yourself the King Caesar of Digital Life. Keep the audience of your Facebook’s coliseum busy and rule them – engage them – engross them by letting the gladiators of your posts fight with each other for more ‘likes’.

Step 5: Interact with messages

Most people don’t take the time to interact with their customers on social media.

This is the precise reason you should be interacting with your customers when they are busy browsing the content of your Facebook Page. This increases the brand value and establishes a sense of trust with your customers.

As Facebook page admin, you should send personalized messages to your target audience. You can use this feature as a part of online customer service, or at times when you need to discuss something with your audience on a more personal front.

The idea is to have as many conversations and engagements as possible with your customers. As a song titled “every siren is a symphony” by Coldplay aptly brings forth the ideology, every query raised on your Facebook page will help you connect efficiently with your prospects.

Podcasting provided by Odovox.com

For you

Now that you know what it takes to unleash your mojo on Facebook, I would love to hear how you have been doing it for your business.

Surprise me with your views, ideas and experiences in the comment section below.

Also, before you finally cross-out this page and get set to leave, spare a few seconds and check out the following examples of some of the best designed Facebook Business Pages.

Guest Author: Ankit Roy is a visual artist and spends most of his time conceptualizing off-the-rack designs at popular crowdsourcing company, Designhill. In addition, he’s a social media enthusiast, online market analyst and blogger. When not writing, he loves spending his time playing video games and watching sci-fi movies!