Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Facebook Page
Unregistered 04:34 PM 11-17-2015
Hi all, hope your week is going well 
Let me preface by saying I have not had a facebook page for 5 years so I am completely at a loss with how is all works.
I want to set up a page on Facebook to advertise to surrounding families. I think it would be a great way to newtwork and hopefully gain new clients but am so confused at how to do so. I would like a place where I can share photos with current families, events and closures.I obviously do not want to share all that with the general public-only those invited.
I went to start with a basic business page but had to make a personal page first-ridiculous!
What is the best way to make this work? I want my family, friends and clients to be able to share the public page. Should that be a group? A community page? A school? How do you all do it? For the private stuff, what is the best option? Again, a group/ Or just use the personal page? Is there a way to combine so there doesn't have to be two separate pages?
I would really appreciate some insight and information on how you all use facebook.
Thank you!
Let me preface by saying I have not had a facebook page for 5 years so I am completely at a loss with how is all works.
I want to set up a page on Facebook to advertise to surrounding families. I think it would be a great way to newtwork and hopefully gain new clients but am so confused at how to do so. I would like a place where I can share photos with current families, events and closures.I obviously do not want to share all that with the general public-only those invited.
I went to start with a basic business page but had to make a personal page first-ridiculous!
What is the best way to make this work? I want my family, friends and clients to be able to share the public page. Should that be a group? A community page? A school? How do you all do it? For the private stuff, what is the best option? Again, a group/ Or just use the personal page? Is there a way to combine so there doesn't have to be two separate pages?
I would really appreciate some insight and information on how you all use facebook.
Thank you!
Controlled Chaos 05:18 PM 11-17-2015
I recommend making a private group for sharing pic with clients- you can make it so you have to accept them into the group. Then for your advertising, mine is an open page that can be liked and followed by anyone. Having a perk al page is helpful as you start up - you can friend everyone you know and share your business page and ask them to like it to support your business. The more likes you get the easier it gets to get more. It's like a snowball.
organicdclady 05:43 PM 11-17-2015
I am trying to figure this out too. What category did you choose for the open page? I do not see where daycare would fit, local business and company or organization do not have anything related to daycare to choose from. I looked up multiple other threads and it seems as though this question has been asked 10 times but without a clear answer to this question specifically.
Ariana 06:37 PM 11-17-2015
Basically you need an FB PAGE for your business which is public and an FB GROUP for your daycare families. You also need a personal page otherwise you won't be able to post in your GROUP.
Look up on Google how to do all three for more clearcut directions. Make sure to set your GROUP to secret so that no one except the families can see what you are posting. When you set it to private it does come up in the newsfeeds so secret is the best option for complete privacy.
Look up on Google how to do all three for more clearcut directions. Make sure to set your GROUP to secret so that no one except the families can see what you are posting. When you set it to private it does come up in the newsfeeds so secret is the best option for complete privacy.
spedmommy4 07:10 PM 11-17-2015
This is mine:
https://www.facebook.com/milestonese...homepage_panel
I'm under daycare, preschool, & childcare. I only use it for advertising.
I don't use Facebook for a private page, I use Shutterfly. It's free and completely private. It's way easier to use than Facebook and I love it because parents only need an email and Internet access to see our childcare class page. (A lot of my parents don't have a Facebook)
https://www.shutterfly.com/sites/cre...234367df928dc5
Here is the Shutterfly site for more information. I made a classroom page.
https://www.facebook.com/milestonese...homepage_panel
I'm under daycare, preschool, & childcare. I only use it for advertising.
I don't use Facebook for a private page, I use Shutterfly. It's free and completely private. It's way easier to use than Facebook and I love it because parents only need an email and Internet access to see our childcare class page. (A lot of my parents don't have a Facebook)
https://www.shutterfly.com/sites/cre...234367df928dc5
Here is the Shutterfly site for more information. I made a classroom page.
organicdclady 07:26 PM 11-17-2015
PP, your fb page is awesome! Looks like you all have a great time learning! I love it. How did you get it to say childcare, daycare & preschool, preschool? Are those sub categories? How do you add them?
spedmommy4 07:57 PM 11-17-2015
Originally Posted by Raishelle:
PP, your fb page is awesome! Looks like you all have a great time learning! I love it. How did you get it to say childcare, daycare & preschool, preschool? Are those sub categories? How do you add them?
PP, your fb page is awesome! Looks like you all have a great time learning! I love it. How did you get it to say childcare, daycare & preschool, preschool? Are those sub categories? How do you add them?
Thanks! We do.
It's been awhile but I am pretty sure they are subcategories of the main one. The main one was preschool or childcare.
yodaone 08:52 AM 11-19-2015
Originally Posted by Ariana:
Basically you need an FB PAGE for your business which is public and an FB GROUP for your daycare families. You also need a personal page otherwise you won't be able to post in your GROUP.
Look up on Google how to do all three for more clearcut directions. Make sure to set your GROUP to secret so that no one except the families can see what you are posting. When you set it to private it does come up in the newsfeeds so secret is the best option for complete privacy.
Your post was very helpful, thank you!Basically you need an FB PAGE for your business which is public and an FB GROUP for your daycare families. You also need a personal page otherwise you won't be able to post in your GROUP.
Look up on Google how to do all three for more clearcut directions. Make sure to set your GROUP to secret so that no one except the families can see what you are posting. When you set it to private it does come up in the newsfeeds so secret is the best option for complete privacy.
Ariana 12:28 PM 11-19-2015
Originally Posted by heatherann:
Your post was very helpful, thank you!
You are welcome! Another tip is to keep your FB GROUP setting PUBLIC at first so parents can find you and join. Name your GROUP something unique to you so they can find you easily. After they join, set it to SECRET and post away.Your post was very helpful, thank you!
MarinaVanessa 01:00 PM 11-19-2015
There are many ways to start a business page for your daycare on Facebook. Here is what worked for me.
Yes, you have to have a personal page. The first thing you will want to do is to "friend" all of your friends and family especially those that live locally and have kids. They are the people that are most likely to "like", comment and share your posts. Adding acquaintances like other parents that you've met through your kids' schools, people you've been introduced to, people you've met through your husband etc. The more people you have as friends on Facebook the more people you can reach that can in one way or another connect you to someone else that may need child care or that know someone else who will. Then decide whether you want your personal Facebook page to be public, private etc. You have a lot of freedom to pick who see's your posts and who can't and that depends on your personal preference. If you don't plan on using your personal page very often then I recommend keeping it public and accepting pretty much anyone that requests to be your friend. If you want to use your Facebook page more often or on a regular basis and are leery of random people seeing your posts then set it to more private setting. Also keep in mind that you can have a public personal Facebook page and set each individual post to have it's own settings ... in other words, you can add "friends" to groups that you create (like friends, family etc. and they don't know that you have put them in those groups) so if you want to post a photo of your own son you can set the post settings so that only the people in your "family" group can see it and anyone else won't. Also keep in mind that the more security settings you have the less people you will reach, also Facebook's algorithm picks and chooses how many people and who on your page sees your posts so by keeping your page public you have a much better chance for more people to see your posts.
After you have your personal page set up you can create a business page. There are so many different categories that you can choose from but I found that my daycare page works best under "local business" and yes, I add my address. I can not emphasize how many leads I have gotten from adding my address on my daycare's website, Google Local listing and business Facebook page simple by adding my address. When people look for daycare they want something that's close to a particular place (their home, their child's school, their work etc) and I've had countless people during phone calls and interviews tell me that they called me first BECAUSE I had my address listed and they could already tell that my location would work for them. If you don't want to post your address then just pick a different category for your daycare Facebook page and just make sure that you fill out as much info as you can about your daycare. At minimum you'll want to add your city and general location, a little bit about your daycare (what you offer), contact information, general hours of operation etc.
The neat thing about listing your business page as a local business is that it gives you an opportunity for a few cool options.
Ratings: After you have reached a certain number of "likes" and have had your business page for a certain number of time (30 days I think, but don't hold me to that) you will get the opportunity to add the option for people to rate your daycare and leave feedback. You can then ask your current and past clients to leave positive feedback.
Call to Action: This gives you the option of choosing to enable the "Call to Action" link (which shows up below your banner) to either call you or to message you.
Offer: You can easily create an offer or special on your business Facebook page which can pretty much be anything you want it to be. You can add a photo, a price/percentage off, expiration date etc. Even restrictions.
Events: If you participate in community events, go to workshops, hold your own events like open-house/Holiday events etc that are open to the general public then you can easily create an "event" with all of the info like location, time, description etc. and post it to your page. Add a personalized photo as your banner ... like a creative photo of some of your toys, your space, an activity that the kids are involved in (you can take a photo of their hands only or of their backs of their heads if you don't want to post photos of their faces) and then add your logo or a professional photo of yourself as your profile picture.
For your public local business page you'll want to post semi-regularly at minimum and these posts can be about a variety of topics and things. I like to post important laws and regulations that are important to parents (like car-seat laws), links to articles about child development/importance of play/healthy eating habits etc, photos of activities we are doing, photos of meals we are eating etc.
When I first created my business Facebook page I posted about two to three times a day on it for about 2 weeks before I shared it. I wanted to make sure that when I shared it that I wasn't sending people to a blank boring page. Then I shared my business page on my personal page asking them to take a look and to "like" it. I said something fun and cheerful like "Hey friends and fam! As you may or may not know I do daycare from my home. I just made a business page, can you take a look at it and "like" it (sharing it would make you that much more amazing). Feedback is also extremely helpful! Thanks so much!!" Then I just kept posting to it at least weekly (too many posts of the same type make is spammy) and shared the posts with articles on them to my personal page.
After a while you'll get enough likes from your own friends and family and they'll like/comment/share your posts (articles and activities) and then their friends will see them and potentially do the same. Eventually the "page likes" will start coming on their own and your business Facebook page will start working for you instead of you working for it. Mine currently has 6 new likes this week alone and I haven't done anything differently and I've only posted 3 times in the past 7 days.
I personally don't have a private daycare group page dedicated to my clients so I won't go into that but I will say that if you create a "group" make sure you ask anyone you want to invite first before adding them. I'm in a direct sales company which relies heavily on social media for advertisement and I can't stress enough how upset people become if they are added to a group without being asked first. Adding people to the group without their permission beforehand is a quick way to be "unfriended" and "blocked". Trust me, I work my other business on social media and I unfriend/unfollow/block people that add me to their groups without asking me first.
I know this ended up long but hopefully it'll help you out some
Here's my Facebook business page if you want to take a look: https://www.facebook.com/Helping-Han...21459/timeline
Yes, you have to have a personal page. The first thing you will want to do is to "friend" all of your friends and family especially those that live locally and have kids. They are the people that are most likely to "like", comment and share your posts. Adding acquaintances like other parents that you've met through your kids' schools, people you've been introduced to, people you've met through your husband etc. The more people you have as friends on Facebook the more people you can reach that can in one way or another connect you to someone else that may need child care or that know someone else who will. Then decide whether you want your personal Facebook page to be public, private etc. You have a lot of freedom to pick who see's your posts and who can't and that depends on your personal preference. If you don't plan on using your personal page very often then I recommend keeping it public and accepting pretty much anyone that requests to be your friend. If you want to use your Facebook page more often or on a regular basis and are leery of random people seeing your posts then set it to more private setting. Also keep in mind that you can have a public personal Facebook page and set each individual post to have it's own settings ... in other words, you can add "friends" to groups that you create (like friends, family etc. and they don't know that you have put them in those groups) so if you want to post a photo of your own son you can set the post settings so that only the people in your "family" group can see it and anyone else won't. Also keep in mind that the more security settings you have the less people you will reach, also Facebook's algorithm picks and chooses how many people and who on your page sees your posts so by keeping your page public you have a much better chance for more people to see your posts.
After you have your personal page set up you can create a business page. There are so many different categories that you can choose from but I found that my daycare page works best under "local business" and yes, I add my address. I can not emphasize how many leads I have gotten from adding my address on my daycare's website, Google Local listing and business Facebook page simple by adding my address. When people look for daycare they want something that's close to a particular place (their home, their child's school, their work etc) and I've had countless people during phone calls and interviews tell me that they called me first BECAUSE I had my address listed and they could already tell that my location would work for them. If you don't want to post your address then just pick a different category for your daycare Facebook page and just make sure that you fill out as much info as you can about your daycare. At minimum you'll want to add your city and general location, a little bit about your daycare (what you offer), contact information, general hours of operation etc.
The neat thing about listing your business page as a local business is that it gives you an opportunity for a few cool options.
Ratings: After you have reached a certain number of "likes" and have had your business page for a certain number of time (30 days I think, but don't hold me to that) you will get the opportunity to add the option for people to rate your daycare and leave feedback. You can then ask your current and past clients to leave positive feedback.
Call to Action: This gives you the option of choosing to enable the "Call to Action" link (which shows up below your banner) to either call you or to message you.
Offer: You can easily create an offer or special on your business Facebook page which can pretty much be anything you want it to be. You can add a photo, a price/percentage off, expiration date etc. Even restrictions.
Events: If you participate in community events, go to workshops, hold your own events like open-house/Holiday events etc that are open to the general public then you can easily create an "event" with all of the info like location, time, description etc. and post it to your page. Add a personalized photo as your banner ... like a creative photo of some of your toys, your space, an activity that the kids are involved in (you can take a photo of their hands only or of their backs of their heads if you don't want to post photos of their faces) and then add your logo or a professional photo of yourself as your profile picture.
For your public local business page you'll want to post semi-regularly at minimum and these posts can be about a variety of topics and things. I like to post important laws and regulations that are important to parents (like car-seat laws), links to articles about child development/importance of play/healthy eating habits etc, photos of activities we are doing, photos of meals we are eating etc.
When I first created my business Facebook page I posted about two to three times a day on it for about 2 weeks before I shared it. I wanted to make sure that when I shared it that I wasn't sending people to a blank boring page. Then I shared my business page on my personal page asking them to take a look and to "like" it. I said something fun and cheerful like "Hey friends and fam! As you may or may not know I do daycare from my home. I just made a business page, can you take a look at it and "like" it (sharing it would make you that much more amazing). Feedback is also extremely helpful! Thanks so much!!" Then I just kept posting to it at least weekly (too many posts of the same type make is spammy) and shared the posts with articles on them to my personal page.
After a while you'll get enough likes from your own friends and family and they'll like/comment/share your posts (articles and activities) and then their friends will see them and potentially do the same. Eventually the "page likes" will start coming on their own and your business Facebook page will start working for you instead of you working for it. Mine currently has 6 new likes this week alone and I haven't done anything differently and I've only posted 3 times in the past 7 days.
I personally don't have a private daycare group page dedicated to my clients so I won't go into that but I will say that if you create a "group" make sure you ask anyone you want to invite first before adding them. I'm in a direct sales company which relies heavily on social media for advertisement and I can't stress enough how upset people become if they are added to a group without being asked first. Adding people to the group without their permission beforehand is a quick way to be "unfriended" and "blocked". Trust me, I work my other business on social media and I unfriend/unfollow/block people that add me to their groups without asking me first.
I know this ended up long but hopefully it'll help you out some
Here's my Facebook business page if you want to take a look: https://www.facebook.com/Helping-Han...21459/timeline