Facebook is essential.
It doesn’t really matter if you use it as one of your primary mediums for marketing because your presence on the platform still makes a difference.
Everyone from your grandma to prospective 7-digit clients is on the network.
It might not be a priority for you right now, but you still have to do something about it and use it at one point in the future.
Simply optimizing your Facebook profile is critical if you want to maintain an omnichannel marketing presence.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to optimize your Facebook profile for lead generation and turn it into a landing page that converts, even in your sleep.
Should I Optimize My Existing Profile or Create a New One?
Well, that would really depend on you.
If you want your Facebook profile to be personal, then you would have to create a new one just for lead generation.
However, you’d still have to warm it up before you can use it to its fullest potential.
Check out our guide on warming up your Facebook profile.
How to Optimize Your Facebook Profile
Get Your Settings In Order
The first thing you’ve got to do is to make sure that your settings are in order.
This means tweaking your privacy settings until you can get random visitors or followers to see what you’re posting even though they’re not friends with you.
Here’s the thing.
What’s the point of optimizing your profile for potential prospects, if they can’t see what you’re putting out.
What you want to do is to access your settings page by heading over to the dropdown on the far right of your Facebook home page then clicking on “Settings & Privacy”. This will open a submenu with the option for you to click on “Settings”.
Next, click on “Public Posts” which will open a whole new section about who can see or comment on your profile and the stuff that you put out.
Make sure you sent all these options to “Public”, this will make sure that everything that you do on Facebook gets maximum reach, this makes all your efforts efficient.
Facebook Profile Photo
What kind of profile photo should you have on your Facebook?
Well, for starters, a headshot.
It would be great if you’re smiling, but you can always take on a more serious look if that’s part of your branding.
Most of the time we’d suggest a clear background at the back that you can replace with your corporate color scheme, but it’s perfectly okay for the photo to be set at the office.
For clothes, it’s highly suggested that you look like you represent the services you’re offering. So, if you’re working in industries with a lot of young people and tech, skipping out on something formal in favor of the t-shirts that you wear to meetings is a good idea.
You don’t want to come off as pretentious and most of the time dressing down is one of the best ways to go.
When in doubt, wear what you would in a meeting with a client.
This makes you look more natural in the photos you’re taking.
Facebook Profile Banner
Remember our guides on fixing your LinkedIn header image?
Read about creating LinkedIn header images that convert here!
The same rule applies to Facebook.
You have to remember that your Facebook banner/header image is the largest piece of visual real estate that you have on your profile and it serves as the main visual CTA.
It has to be optimized not only to convert visitors coming to your Facebook profile, but it should also be a way to show people who you are in less than 5 seconds.
Getting it right is critical.
You want to be able to make sure that your Facebook banner has the following things:
- Marketing copy of what you do
- The services that you offer
- Some social proof
- Social media handles
- A link to your website or meeting landing page
- OPTIONAL: pictures of the products that you sell
Apart from that, it has to be visually appealing so that people who look at it will be wow-ed by what they see.
It needs to grab attention.
For colors, you can use corporate branding, but make sure that there’s enough white space to go around so that you can frame the many elements of your Facebook cover image.
Fix Your Facebook Bio
Next on the list is sticking in a good bio and we follow one major rule.
Keep it simple
This is Facebook, so people want to casually check it out.
They’re not necessarily looking for details of your accomplishments, prospects just want to check out your photos, some of your posts, and maybe, read a little bit about what you’re doing.
I would recommend only up to three paragraphs, two if you want something really snappy.
You can add your professional email, website landing page, or your Calendly link to make sure that in case someone needs to convert, they don’t have to go far.
Also, if you’re going to use bullet points, feel free to use emojis to serve that purpose.
Clean Out Your Profile
We don’t mean just getting rid of those embarrassing photos, but a full scrub altogether.
If you’re optimizing your Facebook profile, you’re establishing yourself as an influencer/thought leader, and you want to maintain that image and not give any prospect a cause for concern.
Think about how politicians do it, this might irk you out as an example, but they have the best profile scrubs because they know that everything they do affects voter confidence.
Make sure you clean out the following – at the very least:
- Photos of anything that can be used to put you under an embarassing light, we’re talking drunkedness, obscenity, immaturity, etc. However, here’s the caveat, you don’t have to remove everything, you can use other candid photos of you being embarassing if you want to highlight a more natural side to you and “sell” that to your target audience.
- Anything related to politics, whether it be a campagn slogan or even a law passed by your favorite guy on the Hill. Staying away from political affiliaitions is critical in sales because it helps keep things professional.
- Posts about controversial topics, these can be a touchy subject for a lot of people, plus it’s personal so keep it to yourself.
Do a thorough clean of your Facebook profile.
If you’re starting with a fresh profile, then this should be much easier.
It’s Optimized, What Now?
Now, there are plenty of steps you can take.
You can have a more active role on Facebook and turn it into a lead generation machine through engagements with other people and active outreach.
Facebook can be a more passive platform where prospects can check you out casually.
You can even use Facebook solely as a retargeting tool to ensure that prospects are retargeted outside your main lead generation funnel.
One thing that you can do is to make sure that posts that you make on – for example – LinkedIn or Twitter, are also syndicated so that you can be more active on the platform.
The possibilities are endless.
Takeaways
Every profile that you have online increases the surface area of your marketing efforts.
That’s why it’s critical that you optimize everything so that if a prospect accidentally stumbles upon you, they can easily be convinced that you’re the one with a solution that can help them out.
Facebook is one platform that almost everyone has access to and there’s no excuse for you not to do anything about ensuring that prospects are nurtured the moment they enter your profile.
Make sure that you are making the most of your Facebook presence.
It can be the deal-breaker for a lot of clients.
