• Cross promotional opportunities through Facebook's social plugins including the Like Box and Like Button.
• It's in compliance with Facebook's TOS, "Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook."

Lets get started on creating your Official Facebook Business Page! In the example below, I simply used the screenshots I took when creating the SEO Department at People To My Site's Official Business Page.

Navigate to Facebook.com and sign into your account.

Once you've signed into your profile, find the 'more' link under the left-hand navigation in your profile screen.

After clicking the 'more' link, you'll see that a drop-down menu will appear. Click on the 'Ads & Pages' link.

After clicking the 'Ads & Pages' link, you'll be taken to your Pages Administration area. From there, you'll want to click the 'Create Page' button.

After clicking 'Create Page,' you'll be prompted to select either a Community Page or an Official Page.

A community page would be used to generate support for a cause (or something similar to that nature), whereas an official page is used more for local businesses, brands, products, organizations, artists, bands, or public figures. In this case, we'll be selecting an official page - however, do not select it just yet as there are a few quick things to configure.

For our purposes, we'll click the 'Local Business' radio button under the Official Page section on the right. If the situation is appropriate, you may choose to select one of the other options.

In addition, you'll want to select your Page's name. Make sure it is as accurate and clear as possible, as you WILL NOT be able to edit page name after it has been created.

Also, you'll want to click the checkbox that says, "I'm the official representative of this person..."

Once you've finished the steps from Step #6A, you'll want to click 'Create Official Page.' You'll then be prompted again to click 'Create Page.'

Once you've successfully created your page, you'll be prompted to do several things to get it up and running, including:

• Add an image for your profile picture
• Provide some basic information
• Post status updates
• Promote page on your website (optional)
• Set up on your mobile phone (optional)
• Tell your fans

As the first step towards filling out your profile, let's add an image. Click 'Upload an Image,' and you'll then be prompted to browse for an image file on your computer. The image should be in one of the following formats: JPG (best quality), PNG, or GIF.

Next, you're going to want to tell your fans about your page. Click 'Import Contacts' to let your current customers and subscribers know about your new page.

You'll be given two options for gaining your initial fan base. You can:

• Upload a Contact File - (Outlook, Constant Contact, .csv file, etc.)* Upload a contacts file below and Facebook will securely import your contacts.
• Find Your Web Email Contacts - (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) Searching your email for contacts is the fastest and easiest way to find potential fans.

If you choose the second option above, "Find Your Web Email Contacts," you'll be able to potentially build your initial fan-base from your list of email contacts.

Simply enter your email address, then you'll be prompted to allow Google (or your email service) to connect to Facebook in order to import your contacts. Click 'Allow.'

Now it's time to provide some basic information about your Official Page. Click the 'Edit Page' button back on your 'Get Started Tab' to begin filling out some basic information.

There will be several sections to fill out within your profile:

• Address
• City/Town
• Zip
• Phone
• Hours
• Website
• Parking
• Public Transport

Simply fill out the information to the best of your ability, and please remember to add your website's link. When you're finished, click 'Save' and then click the 'View Page' button on the top-right portion of your profile interface.

Now it's time to post a status update. Click the 'Post Update' button in your 'Get Started' interface.

You'll now be taken to your Facebook Page's wall area. In the text-box, you will be allowed to share a message, share a link, post an image, share an event, or post a video. Once you've decided the type of media and/or content you wish to share, simply click 'Share' and it will be posted to your wall.

You can now see your wall. Take some time to review the functionality of your activity feed. Your activity feed is the area on your wall where all of your shared content is displayed and archived.

With your activity feed, you can view:

• Just your activity, or
• Your activity along with the activity of others (as people will be allowed to post things to your wall).

Now, you'll want to go back to the 'Get Started' area to finish your initial setup.

You can also promote your Facebook page on your website via a 'Like Box.' Simply click the 'Add Like Box' button under the 'Get Started' area of your Official Page.

You'll then be taken to Facebook's Like Box page to set up your social plugin. The Facebook Like Box will enable you to:

• Cross-promote your Facebook page on your website, and vice versa
• Gain more followers to your Facebook page
• Keep people who visit your website up-to-date on your Facebook promotions

Once you've decided on the specs for your Like Box, you can simply click 'Get Code' and Facebook will give you the code to place the Like Box on your site.

This is what your Like Box will look like on your site.

Now, you'll want to add a brief description to the left-hand area of your Official Page. Click the section of profile under 'Suggest to Friends' in order to begin writing your Official Page description.

Begin writing your Official Page description. Keep the following in mind:

• Ensure that the description accurately describes your business and services
• Use keywords that you would like to show up for when others search on Facebook or Google
• Don't force or overuse marketing messaging here. Simply describe yourself and the purpose of your page

Finally, it's time to share your new page with your Facebook followers! Click the 'Suggest to Friends' link under your profile picture in the left-hand area of your Official Page.

After clicking 'Suggest to Friends,' you'll be prompted to select some friends to suggest your page to - as well as add a brief message. To suggest friends, simply hover over your friend's profile picture and click it.

Once you've finished selecting all friends whom you wish to suggest your page to, be sure to add a personal message.

Once you're ready, click 'Send Invitations.'

Note: Suggesting your Official Page to friends can be a great way to get a solid base of followers initially. In addition, if you can get your Facebook friends to suggest your page to their friends, you can further develop your follower-base (and quickly I might add)!

As your page begins to grow, you'll notice that your "Like" count will begin to get greater in number.

• As you begin to get more people "Liking" your page, you'll find that there will be a lot more interactivity between you and your follower-base in regards to things you post. This increases the likelihood that people will share your content to others.
• You Facebook page should also be a good source of referral traffic to your website - that is if you share links to your site's content frequently. This helps with website popularity, which we know helps build up SEO equity.
• You'll also begin to expand your circle of influence, and trust - which can be key to establishing yourself as a social authority.

Congratulations! You've set up your Official Facebook Page and are well on your way to learning how to market it. Below are a couple of tips to follow:

• Post content and messages to your page on a semi-regular basis (i.e. don't set it and forget it).
• Post things that are helpful to your users in some way, or that drive them back to your site.
• Create a mix of personal and professional messages, and don't be overly promotional of yourself.
• Share pictures and videos along with other content to keep your page interesting.
• Post messages with links to your site.
• Suggest your page to friends, and encourage them to share it as well.
• Place a Facebook icon or the Like Box on your website.

UPDATE - December 14, 2010:

Some after-post notes - (thanks to the great Cheryl Harrison):

• You can set a vanity URL for your Official Business Page once you've reached 25 fans. Simply visit facebook.com/username to do so. Keep in mind, once you set your vanity URL it can't be changed.
• The maximum size specs for Facebook profile images are 540 x 180 pixels, so make sure you utilize the space as best as possible.

Hope you enjoyed this post, and good luck putting together your Official Facebook Page!