To start a Facebook page, you must create it from a personal account. Once you have a personal Facebook account, you can create a business page under “Ads and Pages”. Facebook will guide you through the set-up for choosing which type of business and page you’d like. Then you will be shown a blank page with your business name, ready for you to add information like hours, products, mission, and business info.

Edit Page Options

You will notice in the top right of the page (below the logo) a link that says “Edit Page.” This link is visible only to page admins. Under this link, you’ll see a variety of options:

1. Settings. This gives you the ability to change who can access the page by country and age.
2. Wall Settings. This gives you the ability to change the default view for people coming to your page. Currently, both Page administrators and fans can post content (links, photos, video) to the Wall, with everything visible by everyone. You can change these settings, and also change where users who view the page will be directed instead of the Wall.
3. Mobile. Gives you the ability to update your Page via email or text message using your mobile phone.
4. Applications. There are several different applications that you can add to your page (more can be added for free and/or pay using the “Browse More Applications” link at the bottom of the page; “Polls” offer a good way to interact with users.)

1. Photos. Gives the ability to post photos. You can also control whether administrators or users (or both) can post photos. You can view the uploaded albums/photos in the Photos tab (you can also choose to have your albums visible as a box further down the page on the left-hand side).
2. Discussion Boards. Allows you to create discussion topics for your users to contribute to.
3. Links. Collects all the links that you post to your Facebook page (and give you the ability to control who can post links).
4. Video. Gives you the ability to upload video and post to your page. If you want to use a video from YouTube or another site that allows you to embed, you will need a FBML box (detailed below).
5. Notes. Gives you the ability to share written entries (like blog posts) that might not make sense as status updates. You can link this application to a blog’s RSS feed, and it will automatically import posts from that blog into your Facebook page each day.
6. Events. Gives you the ability to post events to your page (and control who can post them).
7. FBML Box. FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language, which is similar to HTML code. These applications are what run the tabs at the top of the Facebook page and allow you to customize your Facebook tabs to include whatever photos, video and text you’d like.

Once you create your first FBML box, if you want to add another FBML Box, click on the “Add another FBML Box” link at the bottom of any existing FBML application, click “edit page” and then add a title and the applicable code. Keep in mind that only four tabs are visible at any time beyond the permanent “Wall” and “Info” tabs. Any others are hidden in the tab marked with >> (you can drag the current tabs to that menu to switch what’s visible). If you do add another tab and want it to show up in the tabs menu, you’ll need to click the “+” sign at the top of the page.

Updating Your Status and Adding Content

You may want to let your fans know about news, events or interesting links. You can do this using the Status Update box at the top of the Facebook page (which works in the same way as in a personal profile). You have several options here:

• Basic status message. You can type any text in the box labeled “What’s on your mind?”; this text will appear as a Wall post and also remain next to your name at the top of the page until you delete it.
• Attach link. The first option in the Attach menu below the status box allows you to paste and share a URL. You will be able to edit the link title and add/edit short descriptive text (recommended), as well as choose the thumbnail image that applies with the link (if there is one). You can also add a comment in the status text box, which will appear along with the link on your wall.
• Attach photo. Allows you to post a photo that you’ve uploaded, or to share an entire album.
• Attach event. You can post basic event info (title, location, time) here to post to your wall. If you want to include more event information, you can use the Events application box, located on the left side of the page. More info on this is included below.
• Attach video. Allows you to post video you’ve uploaded.

Creating Events

If you have an upcoming event you’d like to share with your page’s fans, go to the Events box and click on “See all.” You will see a list of past events you’ve posted, as well as a “Create one” link at the top of the page. By going here, you can add an event title, a location, a start time and an end time. Once this basic information is added, you will be taken to a page where you can add more descriptive text and links (for tickets or more information). If you choose to, you can then share this event with all your Page’s fans on your wall. This event will now have a dedicated page that you can go back to check how many people have RSVP’d.

Insights

This will give you information on who your page’s users are, how the page’s popularity is trending, how much users are interacting with the content you post and more. You should also get a weekly email with information about the main metrics regarding your page.