Create a Facebook business Page

Go to facebook.com and log in with your personal account.

This step surprises everyone, so let's settle it right away. Facebook requires a personal account behind every business Page. That account is your key to the door, it is not your shop window.

• If you already have an account, perfect, move on to the next step.
• If you don't, create one with your real name and your real date of birth. That is what will let you get back in the day you lose your password.

Your privacy does not change. Visitors to your Page see neither your personal posts nor your friends list.

Phone or computer, both work. This whole guide works just as well on a mobile as on a computer. A computer is more comfortable for typing text and uploading images. A phone is perfectly fine if it is your only device, the journey is the same give or take 2 or 3 screens.

The quickest route is a single address. Open facebook.com/pages/create and you land straight on the form, with no menu hunting.

On a computer, through the menus. Click the square of 9 small dots at the top right, then Pages, then Create Page. Another possible route is your photo at the top right, then See all profiles, then Create professional Page.

On a phone, in the Facebook app. Tap the menu, the 3 lines at the bottom or the top depending on your device, then Pages, then the create button.

On a computer, Facebook shows a form on the left and a preview of your future Page on the right. That preview updates live while you fill in the fields. On a phone the preview comes after you confirm, and that is the only real difference.

One useful note for everything that follows. Meta renames its screens several times a year. If a button does not carry exactly the name written here, trust the meaning of the action rather than the label. The feature is still there, and the settings search bar finds it in 2 seconds.

Only 3 fields. They are the most important in the whole guide, so do not rush them.

• Page name, use the exact name of your company. That is what people type into search.
• Category, type your trade and pick from the list offered. You can add up to 3. This category tells Facebook who to show you to, so do not choose at random.
• Description, 255 characters to say what you do and who for. Write it in your customers' words, not in your internal jargon.

Then click Create Page. Your Page already exists, all that is left is to dress it up.

A Page with no visuals inspires no confidence. 3 settings are enough to fix that.

• Profile photo, your logo in a square format, 512 pixels a side at minimum. It displays as a circle, so keep your logo well centred.
• Cover photo, a wide image that shows what you do. Allow 820 pixels by 312 at minimum, and 1640 by 624 if you want it sharp on recent screens.
• Action button, the big blue button under the cover. Choose the one that matches your goal, Contact us, Book now, Send message or Learn more, and point it at your website or your form.

That button is the only place on the Page that turns a browser into a contact. It is well worth 2 minutes of thought.

No visuals to hand yet? Use your logo and a photo of your premises or your team, that is enough to get going. You can change both whenever you like, as often as you like.

Open the About section and fill in everything about you. Address, phone, email, website, opening hours. On a computer the shortcut is business.facebook.com/latest/settings/pages, which shows you your Pages and their details.

This information is not just for your visitors. Write it exactly as it appears on your website and on your Google Business Profile, down to the comma. That is what lets Google and the AI engines recognise that this is the same business.

Finally, create your username, the short address of your Page. You move from facebook.com/p/a-long-number to facebook.com/yourcompany. It is shorter, more credible, and far easier to read out over the phone.

Your Page number, worth noting right now. In the About section, right at the bottom, Facebook shows the Page ID, around 15 digits. Copy it into a notebook. You will be asked for it to open access for a supplier or to write to Meta support.

Your Page is live. It is still missing its 2 natural extensions.

• Instagram, so you can publish in one place and collect all your messages in a single inbox. The method is in our guide on how to link Instagram to your Facebook Page.
• Advertising, to run your ads on Facebook and Instagram. That goes through a separate ad account, which you create by following our guide to the Meta ad account.

You stay the owner of everything. Your Page, your account, your budget. Our agents work on them with an access that you open, and that you close again the day it suits you.

And the step right after, the one people forget. A Page on its own is not comfortable to run. Connect it to Meta Business Suite, the free tool that brings Facebook and Instagram together in one place. From a phone, follow opening the account on mobile.

The 4 addresses to bookmark.

• facebook.com/pages/create for the creation form.
• business.facebook.com/latest/settings/pages to find your Pages and their details.
• business.facebook.com/settings for your business portfolio settings, where access is granted.
• facebook.com/id to confirm your identity with Meta.

Otherwise, from Facebook on a computer, the square of 9 small dots at the top right also leads to Pages.

Just 1 personal profile, yours. Many business owners create a second Facebook profile "for work", thinking they are doing the right thing. It is not useful, Meta allows 1 profile per person. Keep your usual profile, it stays private. Your Page is a separate object, and it never shows your profile to visitors.

Confirm your identity, 5 well-spent minutes. At facebook.com/id, send in an official document. Meta processes the request in 1 to 2 days. That is what lets you take back control straight away the day you lose access to your account. Also switch on two-factor authentication, the confirmation by text message or by app when you log in.

The 3 settings almost nobody makes.

• Make yourself findable by search engines. In the settings, in the section about how people find you, check that permission to appear in search engines is switched on. It normally is by default, but not always.
• Add up to 10 links. Most Pages show only one. You can point to your website, your booking page, your other social accounts. It is free and it shows.
• Pick the right action button. Call, book, send a message, sign up. It is the only element of the Page that visitors really click.

If a label has changed. Meta renames its screens several times a year, that is normal and it breaks nothing. Type the keyword into the settings search bar, for example role, link or visibility. The feature is still there, under another name.