Some industries will benefit more from having a Facebook page than others. We have seen Facebook work better for business to consumer campaigns so this could work well if you offer counselling to individuals. This article covers setting up your counsellor Facebook Page and a future article will cover running Facebook adverts.

Setting up your Counsellor Facebook page

The first step is to set up your counsellor Facebook Page. Make sure your business has a Page, not a Group or another personal account with the business name. How to set the Page up is beyond the scope of this article but you can find lots of guides via Google or on the Facebook Page help pages.

Adding a Facebook business Page to your account can be a bit confusing at first. As well as your own feed and friends, you can now switch to commenting and ‘Liking’ things as your Page. With a bit of practice you will soon get the hang of it!

Keeping it up to date

If you have a Facebook page you’ll need keep it up to date or delete it. There’s nothing more tragic than a Facebook business Page with a few lonely updates from when it was first set up and a handful of followers. If you haven’t got time to update it or find that Facebook doesn’t work for your counselling practice, delete your Page.  With a small amount of time set aside each week however, you can keep your page fresh and keep getting more “Likes”.

A good start is to invite all your existing Facebook friends to Like your new page. All their friends will then see that on their home feeds and then possibly Like your page too. Bear in mind that anyone following you is interested in your business, probably not controversial opinions, ‘funny’ images or personal comments. Keep things business relevant, focused and positive.

Ignore the negative and attention seeking

Wherever there are people, there will be people desperate for attention and those with negative things to say. As with Twitter just delete any messages or comments from ‘trolls’ that are intended to bait you into an online argument. If possible block the user too and don’t get dragged into public arguments. Fighting these Keyboard Warriors is a waste of time and energy and there is no ‘win’ to be found.

Limit your time and stay focused

Similar to the advice for Twitter, limit your time on Facebook. Especially if your Facebook page is managed by your personal account it is really easy to end up on your own home feed and wasting time instead of being productive!

Give people a reason to “Like” your page

While many people will Like your counsellor Facebook page to keep up to date with what you’re up to, you can also offer Facebook only competitions or discounts to encourage people to press that ‘Like’ button.

Summary

Make sure your business has a Facebook Page, not a personal profile or a Group. Keep things relevant and regularly updated. Similar to Twitter try to keep things positive, ignore the Trolls, generate links back to your site and show the human side of your business.