http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Business-Name/123456789012345

Then you can have a vanity URL or custom username which is a way to customise the URL of your Facebook businesss page to anything you want it to be after facebook.com (as long as it’s not already taken).

For example Waimangu Volcanic Valley Rotorua New Zealand’s Facebook page URL is:

facebook.com/pages/Waimangu-Volcanic-Valley-Rotorua-New-Zealand/125335127492981

Since 318 people like this page, they could set a custom username.

Simply visit facebook.com/username and select your page from the drop list of Pages, enter your text, e.g. WaimanguVolcanicValley as their username, check availability and set it. Then you could direct people to:

facebook.com/WaimanguVolcanicValley

Now, isn’t that so much nicer? This would mean people could more easily remember your Facebook page address and you could use it more effectively across your traditional marketing.

If you haven’t got a Facebook business page yet, what are you waiting for?
There’s over 750 million active users worldwide and over 2 million users in New Zealand alone with over half of them on the site at least once a day.

Contact us and we can set you up a custom Facebook business page.

What this does is allow anyone with a GPS enabled smartphone to ‘Check-in’ to your business, which is instantly posted to their wall and any of their friends walls who they tag during their check-in. A great way to build exposure for your business and increase foot-traffic.

Access Facebook Places from touch.facebook.com on your web enabled smartphone or via one of these dedicated Facebook Apps: iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, HP webOS or Windows Phone 7.

What is Facebook Places?

Facebook defines Places as ‘a Facebook feature that allows you to see where your friends are and share your location in the real world. When you use Places, you’ll be able to see if any of your friends are currently checked in nearby and connect with them easily. You can check into nearby Places to tell your friends where you are, tag your friends in the Places you visit, and view comments your friends have made about the Places you visit. Use Places to experience connecting with people on Facebook in a completely new way’.

1. Check if your Place exists

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 and continue from step 3, if not, continue from step 2.

2. Create a Facebook Place

Fig 2.

1. Access the Places application on your supported device.
2. Click “Check In“
3. Enter your “business name” in the search box as you’d like it to appear on Facebook.
4. Click the Add “business name”… link below
5. Check your business name is correct and enter an optional description. Then, click the “Add” button at the top right of the screen. (fig 2.)
6. You will then have the option to both write a description of what you are doing at the new Place, and/or tag your friends there
7. Click the “Check In” button to share your visit.

The default location for any new Place you create will be where you are currently located. Also, keep in mind that any Place that you create is public. This means that other people may see your created Place while browsing Facebook or the Places application.

3. Claim your Facebook Place

To claim your Facebook 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 follow the steps.

Facebook will ask you to verify that you are the owner through a phone verification process, or you may be asked for document verification. If your claim is confirmed, you will be able to admin your Place on Facebook.

4. Merge your Facebook Place and existing Facebook Page

[NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE]
Once you’ve successfully claimed your Facebook Place, you can merge it to your existing Facebook Business Page.
Visit the Place that you have successfully claimed, and scroll to the “Merge with existing Page” link in the left side navigation menu. Click this link, and a prompt will appear to walk you through the process.

5. Offer Deals to customers via your Facebook Place

[NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE IN NEW ZEALAND]
By offering Deals via your Facebook Places page you’re instantly connecting with potentially thousands of people who have a smartphone and are using Facebook while near your location.
If you’re offering a Deal, you instantly stand out from the rest of the Places nearby, so will attract more views and will encourage more people to visit your business to redeem their Deals.
Find out more from Facebook

Hopefully that’s enough to get you started.
We welcome any comments or feedback.

It’s been another great year which was helped by the explosion of Facebook and Twitter for business use.
We recently hit a milestone of managing 100 domain names, which we were pretty chuffed about.

Our featured websites added in 2010:

• jillmarshallmedia.co.nz
• staranise.co.nz
• rotorua-education.co.nz
• astroaccommodation.co.nz
• rotorua-airport.co.nz
• mbdcontracting.co.nz
• rotoruabridal.co.nz
• sexualabuse.org.nz

Hodgeman Web & Design will be closed over the holiday season from December 24 until January 5.
We will have access to the internet and will be periodically checking emails for any emergency work.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas with your family and friends and a prosperous New Year for 2011.
We look forward to continuing our business relationships with you next year.
If you’re traveling over the break, please drive safely and don’t drink and drive.

We’d love for you to become a fan and like us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter.

Have a safe and enjoyable break and we’ll see you in 2011.