By Adam 
What are you planning to get done this weekend?
Reconnect with an old colleague over brunch? Do a little light housecleaning? Finally tackle that landscaping project your spouse has been hounding you about?
Those all sound like fun, normal things to do with your downtime. Does cleaning up your Facebook business page?
Don’t laugh. If your company has an active Facebook business page, you know full well how important it is to your overall marketing efforts. For better or worse, Facebook is the fulcrum of most small businesses’ social media presences, the center around which all else revolves. Chances are better than even that more people find your business through Facebook than any other social media property.
So why wouldn’t you want your Facebook to put your company’s absolute best foot forward?
You wouldn’t, and you won’t — as long as you put aside your honey-do list and put off those long-deferred social plans for another few days. Your yard and friends will still be there (hopefully) when you return.
Anyway, your Facebook cleaning binge needn’t include any heavy lifts. These 12 action items are all easy to achieve (or start, in some cases) over a weekend, and none require special expertise or tools.
How many are you going to get done this weekend?
1. Update Your Cover Image
Start by selecting a colorful, catchy cover image for your profile. This is literally the first thing new arrivals will see when they land on your page, so you have every incentive to make it pop. While you’re at it, update your background image in a complementary (but not too similar) vein. Don’t use a stock photo if you can avoid doing so.
2. Make Sure Your Contact Information Is Up to Date
Next, update your contact information, even if you’re sure nothing has changed recently. Your Facebook profile is a major resource for people looking to get in touch with your organization by other means. Take a “page” from examples like this Facebook page for InsureOne, a Chicago-based insurance broker. Every possible contact detail is filled out, including less common modes of contact (and other social media properties to boot).
3. Publish a Fresh Update (And Another, And…)
Start some publishing momentum by pushing a fresh update live this weekend. It doesn’t have to be long, or even particularly thoughtful. It just has to get out there. Bonus: Publish *another* short update.
4. Set a Publishing Schedule
Consolidate your publishing momentum with a publishing schedule that you can actually keep. If you don’t have a routine down (or can’t afford to have a social media routine with all your other pressing concerns), then use scheduling software to queue up multiple posts in advance.
5. Spruce Up Your “About” Page
Task your organization’s best writer to spruce up your company’s “about” page. Your modest goal should be a concise but uniformly compelling explanation of your organization’s mission and solutions, not just the pro forma “who we are, give us business” blurbs your competitors likely employ. Make every word count.
6. “Like” Competitor Pages (Really)
Positive association never hurt anyone. If you’re a smaller upstart (or incumbent) in a crowded industry, go on a “liking” spree that connects your page to those of the top incumbents in your field. This signals to prospects that you’re one of the gang. However your competitors feel about this tactic, it’s not like they can do anything about it.
7. Make a “Who We Are” Video
Invest in a short video that condenses and makes vivid the points you’ve hit on your “about” page. This is one of the most important pieces of content you can post on your Facebook page (or anywhere else, for that matter), so it’s worth pulling out the stops. When you’re done, cross-post it on your YouTube page, if you have one. (If you don’t have one, launch one today.)
8. Spend an Hour Responding to Customer Reviews, Good and Bad
Managing customer reviews is a never-ending process, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Set aside an hour this weekend to read through and respond to customer reviews, both good and bad. You can safely ignore reviews that clearly don’t have any value for prospects (think one-word “terrific!” or “terrible!”) but most others probably justify some response. Just remember to think before you hit “send.”
9. Make Sure Your Events Page Is Up to Date
Like your contact details, your Facebook page’s Events portal is a vital resource for prospects seeking information about your company. If you regularly host real-world events or digital confabs, make sure they’re all listed here in one place. (Your website should have an Events page, too, but that’s another story.)
10. Add Some Original Photos (Not Stock)
You’ve already added a non-stock cover and background photo, but your Facebook page has plenty more room. Upload some lively, audience-appropriate candids that show the human side of your organization. Toss in a few product-related images for good measure, if appropriate.
11. Connect Other Social Media Profiles
While Facebook is really, really important to your company’s marketing efforts, it’s not the sole social media property you need to focus on. Make sure prospects visiting your Facebook profile can find their way to other parts of your social media ecosystem by including social media handles in your contact information; for those you’d really like to highlight, add a separate tab on the left navigation bar too.
12. Invite Everyone You Know to Like Your Page
Lastly, invite your Facebook connections to follow and like your page, and encourage your employees to do the same. A company-wide email or Facebook message works well for this; you can fire one off in five minutes and get back to whatever you were doing.
Like Housecleaning, But Better
Sprucing up your Facebook page is like deep cleaning your house ahead of a big dinner party, only more fun and — ultimately — more satisfying.
Looking over your Facebook page, it’s virtually certain that you can identify room for improvement without much effort. This low-hanging fruit may or may not align with the Facebook housecleaning tips we’ve discussed herein, but that’s an academic distinction. You can do much to improve your Facebook presence this weekend, and in the days that follow, without significant expense or diversion of resources.
It’s time to put your company’s best foot forward on Facebook. Here’s to a brighter future on the world’s most popular social media platform.
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