Social Media Marketing - How To Claim Your Business: Facebook Places
Posted by Jody Raines
Social Media marketing has adopted Facebook with great passion,
and this week, the announcement of Facebook Places was eagerly greeted with equal enthusiasm.
What’s all the excitement about Facebook Places? (and why should you care?)
If you have a business located at a “brick and mortar” location (a location that your customers can visit) you really need to understand Facebook Places and how it can help your business...Why? Because most likely your competition will understand it, will begin to use it, and your customers will be using it!
What are places? Places is a “mobile application” that allows users to check in and say where they are. It’s a lot like FourSquare, only it’s connected to Facebook and therefore there is a built in audience of potential visitors to your location. As part of your Internet Marketing strategy, it's a good idea to know what Facebook pages is all about.
To see whether your business is listed you should use the most recent version of Facebook application for iPhone or touch.facebook.com. Other mobile devices and the web will be added as Facebook continues to roll out the program.
You can also access Places through your device’s web browser by following these steps:
- Point your browser to http://touch.facebook.com.
- Tap the Places tab.
- When you are prompted to share your location, tap "Share Location."
According to the Facebook FAQ, here’s how to ‘claim’ your place: “To claim your Place, search for your business name on Facebook via the normal Search bar. If your business’s Place already exists on Facebook, click on it to visit its page. At the bottom left side of your Place there will be a link that says "Is this your business?" Click on the link and you will be directed to a claiming flow.
Facebook will ask you to verify that you are the owner through a phone verification process, or you may be asked for document verification. Once your claim is confirmed, you will own your Place on Facebook.”
Whether you list your business or not, chances are that it will be listed by a patron, so it’s better for you to “claim” your business up front. By “claiming” your business, essentially you are registering your ownership with Facebook... and you can then assure the accuracy of the information and use Facebook to promote your business location.
Will claiming your business assure your Internet strategy of success? Not really. Will it mean you will have more customers? Possibly. Bottom line: You don't have to bother claiming your Place. But, if it's going to be there anyway, you may as well at least manage and maintain the basic details. By claiming the Facebook Place you are able to edit the address, business hours, profile picture, contact information, and other settings such as designating admins authorized to alter the Places page.
The neat thing about Facebook is that for the most part, users tend to cluster geographically and then spread out. It makes sense because most of the people you interact with on a consistent basis are local. And the power of a referral to your business or about your business can resonate with other, like-minded people.
If your Facebook Place doesn't exist yet, you can use the smartphone Facebook app to check-in at your business to create it. Once your business has a Facebook Place, there is a link at the bottom that says "Is this your business?" Click that to begin the verification process.
It’s not difficult to claim your place, but you will need to send Facebook some evidence that you are the owner... such as your Federal EIN (Employee Identification Number), a scan of official documents such as your articles of incorporation, certificate of formation, local business license, or Better Business Bureau accreditation.
After you submit your documentation, you will receive an email confirmation, and your submission will be reviewed.
Note: The Places application is still being rolled out, so you may not be able to access it yet. Check The Facebook Blog for updates on product launches and other Facebook-related stories.
WebMarCom is an Internet strategy and Web Marketing Communications Agency based in South Jersey and Philadelphia.