If you think about the sheer size and scope of Facebook, it’s mind-boggling.
And when you consider the fact that one in five pageviews in the United States occurs on Facebook, the power of this social media behemoth is undeniable.
So, of course, you want to do everything within your power to connect with the largest possible percentage of your target demographic.
This enables you to build your following, generate more leads and rake in plenty of referral traffic to your website.
Of course, there are numerous variables that ultimately determine your success on Facebook.
But the way I look at it, your first order of business should be to make your Facebook page visually appealing to your target demographic.
It needs to pop.
In this post, I’m going to discuss the fundamentals of designing an eye-appealing Facebook page and cover some specific elements you should include to impress your specific audience, and most importantly ways to gain their trust.
Trust has always been important from a marketing perspective.
But in my opinion, it’s never been more important than it is today.
That’s because so many consumers have an underlying cynicism about brands and companies.
And why wouldn’t they be skeptical?
Marketing communications account for 70% of today’s spam complaints.
Just think of all the scam artists, false advertisements and deceptive advertising techniques people so frequently encounter.
Not to sound pessimistic, but modern consumers have a good reason to be suspicious.
As a marketer, you have to put your audience at ease.
And social media is a great way to do that.
Facebook in particular is ideal for creating trust.
You can even use it to turn casual fans into die-hard brand advocates.
In fact, Facebook has been instrumental in helping me expand my following.
As of right now, I have nearly 1 million followers on my Neil Patel page, and it’s growing every day.
In this post, I’d like to cover 22 essentials mandatory for creating a powerful Facebook page for your business.
These tactics have worked for me and countless other brands, and they can work for you too.
1. Start with a customized cover photo
The most important element by far is your cover photo.
It takes up the most amount of real estate and is typically the first thing visitors see.
It needs to be perfect.
I recommend creating a customized cover photo that encapsulates your brand identity and instantly gives people a feel for what you’re all about.
Here’s the cover photo I use for the Quick Sprout Facebook page:
If you notice, it includes the same branding elements as QuickSprout.com, with the green background.
And in my opinion, this is the number one thing you should strive for.
You want your cover photo to mesh with your existing brand so that visitors can connect the dots.
This is key for strengthening your overall brand identity.
Here’s a screenshot of HubSpot’s Facebook page, meeting this requirement perfectly:
It utilizes their signature orange color and their distinctive logo.
And here’s another thing.
If it makes sense, try to incorporate your unique selling proposition, like I did with the Quick Sprout page.
Ahrefs pulls this off flawlessly with their cover photo:
This is helpful for first-timers, who may not fully understand what product you’re offering.
I suggest staying away from mediocre-looking stock photos because they tend to come across as being inauthentic (and sometimes cheesy).
Fortunately, creating your own customized Facebook cover photo isn’t difficult to do.
If you’ve got even an ounce of “designing chops,” you can use a free tool like Canva to create a professional-looking image.
The last time I checked, cover photos display at 828 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall on computers and 640 pixels wide by 360 pixels tall on smartphones.
You’d want to stick with 828 x 315 pixels to ensure your image doesn’t pixelate.
Here’s how to do it on Canva.
First, sign up for Canva:
It only takes a minute.
Once your account is set up, go to “More” from your dashboard.
Then scroll down to the “Social Media and Email Headers” section.
From there, you’ll see “Facebook Cover.”
Click on that.
Now, you can choose from Canva’s pre-made layouts, upload your own to edit or create one completely from scratch.
It’s quite easy.
You don’t even need to have any coding skills.
There’s no excuse to use some crappy stock photo when you can create your own epic Facebook cover photo free.
By the way, here are a few other ideas of the type of content you can feature in your cover photo besides just your brand name:
- a photo of your main product
- an event announcement
- a contest announcement
- a testimonial
- icons of companies you’ve worked with
Be creative, and try to stand out from the rest of your competitors.
2. Rock your profile picture
The next thing most of your visitors’ eyeballs will gravitate to is your profile picture.
Just like your cover photo, this too needs to be professional-looking and fully customized.
Here’s what the Quick Sprout profile picture looks like:
And here’s what I use for my Neil Patel Facebook page:
As you can see, they’re both in line with the branding I use on each site.
They’re also fairly simple.
I recommend you don’t get too busy or cute with your profile picture and keep it fairly sparse.
After all, you don’t have much space to work with.
In terms of ideal dimensions, Facebook suggests going with 170 x 170 for computers.
Again, you can use Canva if you need to create your profile picture from scratch or edit it.
The bottom line is you shouldn’t skimp on either your cover photo or profile picture.
These are the first things your visitors will see.
Not only should they look great, they should also tie in to your brand as well.
3. Verify your page
Just like on Twitter, Facebook has a feature where you can add a verification badge as long as you’re a public figure, media company or brand.
Here’s mine:
It’s a simple way to prove it’s actually you and not a fake account.
Here are the steps involved in getting your Facebook page verified:
Check out this guide from Facebook for more information on the process.
4. Use your core branding elements
In order to build a solid brand, you need to have identifiable branding elements like a formal logo, recognizable color scheme, style, etc.
Facebook gives you an excellent opportunity to reinforce your brand, which helps with trust building.
Include a profile picture and a background picture that incorporate your core branding elements.
Take TechCrunch for example:
They use their signature green and white color scheme along with their logo.
5. Beef up your About page
The About page of your website is important.
In fact, “52% of people” want to see it on your website’s homepage.
It only makes sense to create a robust Facebook About page.
Here’s a good example from Chris Guillebeau:
Notice how he succinctly fills visitors in on his key info?
6. Include contact info
According to the same study from KoMarketing I referenced above, including contact information on your website is even more important than having an About page.
They found 64% of people want to see your contact information after arriving on your homepage.
Of course, you’ll want to include this on your Facebook page as well.
Include as much info as you can.
Ideally, also include a phone number because this tends to be a significant trust factor.
Here’s what I have for my contact info:
7. Link to your website
Any time you can create a link pointing to your website, you should do it.
This is just another opportunity for referral traffic.
It can also add to the trust users can feel from your Facebook page.
8. Post relevant photos
The first thing you’ll see when you scroll down most business pages is a “Photos” section.
This is another chance to crank up the eye appeal of your Facebook page and make it even sexier.
It’s also another way to reinforce your branding.
Add a handful of high-quality images to populate this section of your Facebook page.
Keep in mind visitors will see only three photos on your timeline, so you don’t need to be over the top in terms of quantity.
In fact, there are only three photos on the Quick Sprout page, and it’s done just fine:
What is important is that they all look great and enhance the overall aesthetic of your Facebook page.
You can then organize them into relevant albums like profile pictures, cover photos, timeline photos, etc.
Just be sure the three images displayed on your timeline are all home runs.
Ideally, they’ll be branded, and you can save the other images for the various albums that visitors can find by clicking on “Photos.”
9. Post personal pictures
Even if you’re a massive, big-name brand, you still want to create a genuine connection with your audience.
You want to come across as being transparent and authentic.
One thing I love about Facebook is that it enables you to combine business with pleasure.
I know it’s helped me increase my credibility by allowing me to show a bit of my own personality.
If you’ve ever scrolled through my pictures, you’ll see stuff like this:
That’s my mom and me.
Or this:
That’s my nephew and me having an epic intergalactic battle.
You want to be professional, but don’t be shy to share some personal information on your Facebook profile to help you gain trust and to be more likable.
10. Include behind-the-scenes content
Another way to forge a connection with your audience is to let them see what’s bubbling beneath the surface.
Give them a glimpse of what your team culture is like by including some behind-the-scenes content.
Here’s a great example from HubSpot:
11. Feature influencers
I’m sure you know by now just how powerful leveraging key influencers can be.
Associating your brand with an influencer in your industry is almost guaranteed to elevate your trustworthiness.
The bigger the influencer, the bigger the impact.
One of the best in the business at doing this is Tim Ferriss.
Scroll through his Facebook photos, and you’ll see him with countless celebrities and influencers.
Here he is with the founders of Shopify:
And here he is with author and tidying master Marie Kondo.
I know this isn’t viable for everyone, especially if you’re a new or small brand.
But it can have a profound impact on how much your audience will trust you if you can pull this off.
12. Post media coverage
Again, this won’t be realistic for everyone.
And I know this is easier said than done.
But including any type of media coverage you’ve received can increase your trustworthiness significantly.
Here’s a quick snippet of me on Viceland as an example:
13. Add videos
We all know video marketing is blowing up.
Just look at the massive rise of mobile video over the last few years:
Why wouldn’t you want to get in on the action?
I’ve found that adding video to my Facebook page has helped me increase engagement while establishing myself as a trusted voice in the digital marketing realm.
I make it a point to include videos toward the top of my page.
By clicking on the “Videos” section of the sidebar or on “See All,” visitors can check out my full archive of videos.
If you haven’t experimented with videos yet, I strongly recommend giving them a go.
14. Take advantage of Facebook Live
But why stop there?
Facebook and several other social platforms now allow you to create live streams.
You should be interested because “Facebook Live Stream search popularity has risen over 330% since Facebook Live’s rollout.”
Engagement is off the charts, and I can’t think of a much better way to quickly boost your trustworthiness.
Just think about it.
People can watch your videos in real time and get to know you intimately, and you can instantly respond to their questions and comments.
Darren Rowse of ProBlogger takes full advantage of this new trend with great success:
15. Inform rather than sell
The beautiful thing about inbound marketing, and content marketing in particular, is that it gives brands a way to advertise without overt selling.
Rather than blasting your demographic with mind-numbing marketing messages, content marketing allows you to educate, inform and entertain them.
This way they’re learning about your brand and getting real value in an unobtrusive way.
My Facebook policy is to inform my audience—not to sell to them.
This has been a huge contributor to my success, and I recommend you take the same approach.
16. Stick to your central theme
I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Jack of all trades, master of none.”
This is what you want to avoid with your Facebook page.
In order to establish trust, you need to focus on your core competencies and not try to be everything to everyone.
Let’s go back to Darren Rowse.
His name is synonymous with one thing: blogging.
Not home renovation or gardening or crocheting.
It’s just blogging.
This is what has allowed him to be one of the top experts on the topic.
Be sure you’re doing the same and sticking with a central theme.
17. Follow a consistent posting schedule
According to an article from CoSchedule that analyzed research from 10 different studies, one post per day is the recommended posting frequency on Facebook.
Unlike on other platforms, like Twitter or Pinterest, where posting several times a day is acceptable and even encouraged, one post a day tends to work best on Facebook.
I do at times post more often as do many other brands, but this research tells us one important thing.
You need to get in the habit of consistently posting or at least curating fresh content.
18. Respond to comments
You know if you’re getting a lot of engagement, you’re winning on Facebook.
But to keep the momentum going and keep people interested, you need to respond as much as you possibly can.
That’s what I try to do.
I know it can be time consuming, but this is a must for building real trust with your followers.
19. Ask for input
Looking for ideas on which features to include in your new product?
Or wondering what topics to cover on your blog?
Just ask your Facebook followers for their input.
This is a great way to perform market research, crank up engagement and make your audience feel valued.
Here are a couple of specific examples from Mavrck:
You can get more ideas in this post.
20. Publish an occasional poll
Polls are another awesome way to engage your audience.
It’s a quick and easy way for them to give their opinions, feeling included.
Visit this page from Facebook to learn how to publish polls.
21. Pin epic content to the top of your page
There’s one more feature I love.
And that’s the one that allows you to pin a top post to the top of your page to maximize its exposure.
Let’s be honest.
Some posts are better than others.
Although you always strive to maintain quality standards, some content naturally rises to the top.
Maybe it’s an epic, long-form post or an article that received a ridiculous amount of engagement.
Whatever the case may be, pinning it to the top can boost your authority and credibility.
Here’s what you do.
First, make sure the post has a brilliant-looking image.
If it’s only so-so, I suggest changing it to something that looks amazing.
Then, scroll down to the post, click on the arrow in the top right-hand corner and click on “Pin to Top.”
That’s all there is to it.
From now on, this is the first post that visitors will see when they browse through your content.
If you want to switch it for a different post later on, follow the same process.
22. Have fun
One last thing.
Social media is meant to be fun.
It’s not meant to be overly formal or rigid.
So another key factor in trust-boosting is to have fun with it and let your personality shine through.
Letting your hair down, so to speak, can help you get the trust you’re seeking.
Conclusion
When it comes to your brand’s Facebook page, your main area of focus should be aesthetics and trust.
When you get right down to it, trust equals revenue.
Gaining trust is like knocking down the initial domino, which leads to a host of other benefits like engagement, a big following, leads, conversions and ultimately sales.
And the way I see it, Facebook is one of the best platforms pound-for-pound for creating trust.
You just need to understand which elements to leverage and put in the work to give your audience what they’re looking for.
By following these steps, you should be able to instantly grab the attention and trust of visitors so that they explore more of your content and convert into sales.