For a long time now, Facebook has continued to sit on top of the social media chain, mostly unchallenged. According to studies published by Statista, over a billion people use Facebook every single day.

And that is being modest. The monthly count is much higher, at over 2 billion monthly users, way more than any other social media platform. If this isn’t a breathtaking phenomenon, consider this next one:

We currently have over 2 billion smartphones in the world. Of all of these – wait for it – a staggering 85% of those owners have the Facebook app installed. Let that sink in for a minute. The power and reach of Facebook are so massive, including it in your digital marketing approach is a no-brainer.

But how did Facebook become so big? How was this social media giant born?

How Facebook Started

2004-2005

On the second month of 2004, a student at Harvard University named Mark Zuckerberg launched a website. The website was called The Facebook. He did this with the invaluable help of his colleagues at Harvard, with whom he began to develop programs that already preceded the social network.

Before Facebook, Zuckerberg had developed a series of websites that functioned as social networks for colleagues at the university. One of them is Coursematch, an interface that helped users to choose their course and see other people enrolled in the same courses.

Another one is Facemash, which is the most popular one that may have inspired the launch of Facebook. Facemash worked by presenting to the users two images of male or female students. They are to choose who was better looking. Facebook was a big step forward from there.

 At that time, Facebook was a service for the students of that same University, but in just one month of its operation, it already had more than half of the students of Harvard subscribed to its web. Little by little, it grew to such an extent that it expanded to other academic institutions in the United States.

Its success was so great that in just one year after its launch, in 2005, it already had more than half a million users, as well as an office in Palo Alto California. Facebook even got some help through funding and had received funding of 500 thousand dollars from the founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel.

Later, Zuckerberg received the support of 12.7 million dollars from Accel Partners, with which he managed to grow that same year into more than 25 thousand secondary schools and 2,000 universities in the United States and abroad, reaching 11 million users worldwide.

The rest, as they say, is history.

2006

By 2006, the news feed appeared, and a toolbar for Firefox was created. It was possible to introduce more foreign universities and develop new services in its platforms, such as Facebook Notes or the import of service blogs like Xanga, LiveJournal or Blogger. That same year Facebook was made public allowing everyone over the age of 13 with an email account to be part of the community.

2007

The year 2007 was one of the great changes for Facebook since it inaugurated its function of sending messages through the cell phone. Among other things, profiles were created, private messages and pages were created. Pages ushered in a new world of functionality for businesses. Users grew to 30 million.

2008

In 2008 Facebook launched its version in French, German and Spanish to boost its expansion outside the United States and enabled the tagging of images. It was also in 2008 that Facebook chat was launched. Also that same year, the official mobile application for the iPhone was launched, further boosting the growth and helping Facebook reach an impressive 100 million users.

2009

This year Facebook launched the “Like” button. That same year, custom usernames were also enabled in the URLs. Twitter updates were also allowed to be posted on Facebook. At that time the number of users had grown to 250 million users.

2010

The “Like” button appeared in the comments. Facebook began to show user-oriented search results, mutual friends, etc. Facebook reached 500 million users, and its creator Mark Zuckerberg was named the Person of the Year 2010 by Times magazine, for having connected 500 million people.

2011

The timeline was introduced, as a new way to show the profile on Facebook. The HTTPS protocol was added with great advancement in privacy. The quality of the images we can upload was increased, and Facebook Chat gave way to Facebook Messenger.

2012 – Now

In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram in a big expansion move. Two years later, in 2014, Whatsapp was bought. Another two years after that, in 2016, Facebook Live was launched. Facebook Stories was launched in 2017, and we can only keep watching this space because Facebook isn’t slowing down.

Here is a link to more history on Facebook.

No doubt, there has been no other social media platform that has grown and continues to grow and offer innovations the way Facebook has.  Due to all the expansion, it has had worldwide, and especially due to the acquisition of other applications that have come to complement the social network, Facebook keeps growing and serving more businesses.

If 80 million businesses have a page on Facebook, you should get yours too.

Why A Business Page?

Today, most major brands have a Facebook business page where they can share content with their followers. This is different from the standard Facebook profile, where you add your friends and families and share selfies. Facebook pages are a lot more.

Pages are specifically for businesses. So, they come with a lot of functionalities that you wouldn’t find on a normal profile. If you are still wondering why you need a page for your business or if you have one, but you do not see the added value, maybe you are not doing well yet.

Here are some of the benefits of a business page over a standard profile:

It Is Mandatory

The first and most important of the reasons is that you have signed it by accepting Facebook rules. Although most of us have not read them, when you register on Facebook, you accept the terms and conditions. One of the rules is that you cannot use your personal profile for commercial gain.

If you use your personal profile to promote a commercial activity (for example your store offers or your business services), you may lose your access to Facebook. This is real and happens much more frequently than you can imagine. That is, you can lose your personal account, with all your contacts, posts, pictures, etc.

It Is More Comfortable

Having fans on your page is much more comfortable than making friends. To have friends, you must search for them on Facebook and send them a friend request, which they must accept. If they send you this, you must approve it manually. Do you really want to have to accept all your followers, one by one?

If a user discovers your Facebook page and likes it, he or she becomes a follower. The procedure is considerably simpler than waiting for someone to accept a request. A personal profile can have 5,000 friends. On the other hand, a page can have unlimited followers. Also, from the Internet user, who wants to make friends with a store?

It Is More Practical

A personal profile is designed for leisure. Therefore, it has no business tools, since it is not supposed to be used for business, anyway.

Facebook pages have access to a lot of information about their followers in the Insights tab, from the demographic profile to the time they connect, and the posts they like most, etc.

All that information helps you define what content is most relevant to your audience and therefore, to better connect with your audience. Also, on a page, you can include location, contact information, schedule posts, customize the pages, and advertising.

These tools will facilitate the work of your business, but they are not accessible for a personal profile. Do not complicate your work more than necessary!

It Is More Secure

Your personal profile is only accessible from your personal account. One person, one access. However, your business page can have more than one administrator. You can assign an editor (or a moderator, advertiser, analyst, jobs manager to your page) who will access it from your own personal account.

The different roles have different levels of access. That is, you can have help to manage your page without having to give your access to data. Do not ever give them. You would be given free access to your personal account.

It Is More Professional

Using a personal profile instead of a Facebook page demonstrates a lack of knowledge and neglect of the company’s image. Also, we cannot stress enough what would happen if Facebook detects that you use a personal profile for commercial purposes. You can lose the account with all its content, contacts, and publications.

It Is More Functional

Facebook Messenger offers companies the possibility of creating bots programmed to help with customer support. Thus, the user can have immediate information at hand. No one will have to wait to make a query and receive a response on behalf of the company.

However, since it is a business function, it is only available on Facebook pages. Facebook profiles can’t access this beauty. Remember that being a robot can work for you 24/7. So, it is a tool with great potential for your business.

It Is More Growth-Inclined

Facebook offers you the possibility of publishing ads about your company for people who are directly interested in your product or service. This is done through its market segmentation tool, which allows you to determine the age, place of residence, interests, jobs, and much more information that could help you target your ideal audience.

The beautiful thing about this is that you do not need a big budget to start. Facebook allows you to create marketing campaigns by investing from only 1 dollar a day and you can have as many as you want.

Like the other benefits mentioned, this is only available to Facebook business pages. Maybe at the beginning, you should invest some money, but the amount will be completely justifiable when you see the results. Remember to always measure the ROI or return on investment of your campaigns.

How To Create Your Facebook Page In 10 Steps

If you have decided to create a Facebook page for your business but have no idea how to do it, do not despair. Following these simple steps will turn the process into a walk in the park. This is inspired by similar step-by-step instructions on Social Media Examiner. Here they are:

1. Log Into Facebook

If you do not have a personal profile, create one, either for yourself or for your company directly. Once you have logged in, it is time to create your business page, which will automatically be linked to your profile even if they are managed separately. Do not worry; your customers will not be able to see your personal information.

2. Create A Page

While connected to your profile, go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create/ and decide which category offered is best suited to your business. Warning: do not select “Local Business or Place” unless you have a physical store because otherwise, your clients can check-in at your “office.”

3. Choose Your Category And The Page Name

Select the category from the drop-down menu. It is not an irrevocable decision, so do not get too stressed out. Type the name you want for the page. You can either use your brand or use keywords that can help your page be easily found on Facebook. It has a limit of 70 characters for the name, but only the first letter must be capitalized, although you can request a change later before you get 200 fans or ‘likes.’ Accept the conditions and click on “Get Started.”

4. Add Your Profile Photo

This is the image that appears next to each message that enters the newsfeed of your page. The ideal size is 180 pixels x 180 pixels, but it can be larger or with different dimensions that you can manually adjust once loaded from your computer. Click on next when finished.

5. Add Information About Your Page

Go through the About section and fill it out. The basic thing is the blurb that appears under your profile picture, briefly describing your business. Use only about 150 characters because it is what will be displayed, and remember to enter the link to your website or your profiles on other social media platforms to make it easier to locate your business. Save the information.

6. Like Your Page

Facebook allows you to do this, and why not? After all, you have to like your business to start at all. Haha!

7. Invite Your Contacts By Email

This is another step, but you shouldn’t do it until your page is a bit more complete, and when you want to do so, personalize the message. Don’t use the Facebook option.

8. Share Something

Facebook asks you to share your status update for the first time. You can do it now or leave it for later.

9. Upload Your Cover Photo

Your cover photo must be at least 399 pixels wide and works best if it is 851px by 315px in size. To change it, select change cover and choose if you want to upload it from your computer, your profile or make a new one.

10. Add More Information About Your Page

Now, update the information on your page and use it to talk about what your company can do for others. The sections you can complete depending on the business category you chose at the beginning.

You can always do this at any time. This is so important because some things you write initially might become outdated. You might change your location or phone number. Always ensure you have accurate, up-to-date information on the page.

Now That You Have Your Page

Be very conscious of what you post and how you post it. Add a lot of visual content to your page. Use beautiful designs about your brand, and images related to your services or products. Also, use nice banners for your offers and upload videos. All these will make your profile more visual!

However, it is not just about the looks but how regular and consistent they can be. As a general rule, if you want your business page to go far and make your brand more popular, it is advisable to publish daily, or at least five days a week.

When your followers see your posts every day, they will have you at the back of their mind. This will make it easier for them to become clients in the not too distant future. Check out our services to see we can help your business!