Why?

We've all got profiles on Facebook by now, I don't think I actually know anyone in real life who isn't on Facebook. Hell, even my regular grocery store cashier has a Facebook profile (I know this because she always looks at me disdainfully when she has to put her mobile phone down to ring up my toiletries) but not very many people know how to set up a Facebook page. Hell, not very many people would even think they have the need to. But those people are probably missing out.

Who?

I believe we can all benefit from Facebook Pages. Be it a small business owner peddling their hobby items, a corporate company trying to control their Online Reputation Management, or a mommy trying to help her kid raise funds for the school play.

When?

Well, now is better than never. But realistically, I'd say that if you have a reason to set up a Facebook page, you should do it sooner rather than later. The more time you give yourself to set it up and get it running, the more time you'll have to build up a following and a few fans, using your existing friendship base.

What?

Okay, so let me break down the benefits for you:

• Instead of spamming all your friends, you can have this separate page where your friends can choose to join and support your business/cause/brand without you feeling guilty.
• Once the friends have become page fans, you can broadcast to all of them, all at once, either via the Wall, the Facebook Note facility, or even send out a message to all page fans directly into their inbox.
• Just like a profile, you have the space to enter in your information, contact, business and cause details.
• It's open to the public, and searchable on Facebook, so anyone with a shared interest can join your page at the click of a button.
• Page updates integrate into the public timelines of your fans, so messages will never be ignored and unseen like Facebook Groups.
• If someone comments or likes activity on a page, they will automatically be notified of any follow up discussion.
• Most importantly for me, with a little bit of basic coding knowledge, you can customise tabs on your page. So you can load contact forms, applications and custom designed boxes, almost like having a mini website, right inside Facebook! These are super handy for things like competitions, catalogues, price lists etc.
• Insights, insights, insights. Aside from telling you how many people have viewed your page, Facebook Insights will also let you know which content on which day was the most popular, how many people have joined or unliked your page, demographics of which people from where like your page and it will even tell you what blood type they are. Okay, scrap the last bit, but I bet you if Facebook wanted to, they probably could.

How?

Now that you're aware of all the benefits to a Facebook page, follow these instructions to create one:

1.  Go to http://facebook.com/pages
2.  Fill in your details (Remember that your page name cannot change at a later stage, so choose it wisely)
3. Upload your page's profile picture. Remember to use a biggish one, so that you can still crop identifiable sections of it in order to have a thumbnail that people will be able to recognize at a glace
4. I would recommend getting as much content onto your page as possible before inviting your friends to like it, that way, they will get an idea of what they can expect from the page, and make an informed decision of whether they should be a fan or not
5. Speak in first person, no one likes talking to a robot. "We are creating our page kindly become a fan of us" will never be as personal as "Hi guys, I've just created my first fan page, please support me and my business/cause/brand" or "Remember to comment if you have any feedback for me"
6. Once you're comfortable that your page has enough information, content, photos and value to offer, start with suggesting your page to your friends. I would not advise recommending the page to every Tom, Dick and Harry you have on your friend list, but rather a select few people you know will be interested. That way, once you have a built up following of fans, they'll be loyal and interact, rather than pretend that they didn't see your updates and/or hide your page entirely from their timeline.
7. After you've received 25 fans, you can now give your fan page a proper URL domain. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username and choose your special page's name carefully. This needs to be specific to your business/cause/brand because you can never change it. Let me say that again: You can never change your fan page's user name. So choose wisely.

Final tips:

• Update your page at least 3 times a week

• Be relevant to what your page is about

• Be personal to your fans

• Acknowledge all feedback and comments

• Most importantly, never delete things that are not profanity, hate speech or spam, at the risk of being accused of censorship