Facebook page-to-page communication

As a Facebook Page, you can't tag or message just anyone! And I think we need to talk about this more because I meet so many small businesses who feel silly for not managing to tag or DM someone - it's not you, it's Facebook. So what are the rules?

Who can tag your Facebook Page?

Anyone can tag your Page in their posts, but you can set it up so you have to review those tags. To set this up, go to your page settings, and then to "Page and Tagging".

The advantage of having this turned on is that spammers and scammers can't tag you in posts to help them reach your audience. The disadvantage is that even if someone tags you, that post won't get directed to your audience until you accept it. The question is, how quick will you be to accept it?

Who can you tag from your Facebook Page?

You can tag other Facebook Pages.

This means that if you've collaborated with another small business, or you had a great chat with them at a networking event, you can tag them in your posts. This allows your audience to click through and look at their Page, but it'll also show your post to some of their audience.

In some cases, small business owners choose to use their Profile to promote their business instead of a Page. Unfortunately, you can't tag those people.

Who can message your Facebook Page?

Unfortunately, the answer isn't "everyone" - that would be too easy, right? A Facebook Page can't message another Facebook Page. And, as a B2B, this is honestly my biggest pet peeve about Facebook! I want pages to follow me, they are my target audience and yet they can't message me.

So how do we get around this?

• Encourage people to follow and message you from their profiles
• Link your WhatsApp to your Facebook Page and set your "Action Button" to "Send WhatsApp message"
• Make sure you've got your email address displayed in your Details

Once you do all three of those, it's just about accepting that 90% of your incoming messages will start with "I couldn't find how to DM you from my page".

Who can you message from your Facebook Page?

The simple answer is that you can't start a conversation from your Facebook Page. You can't send a message to a Page or to a Profile - unless the Profile has messaged you first! When you think about this and about how your messenger isn't full of messages from total strangers who want to sell you things you don't need, the previous point almost starts to make sense. Almost.

It used to be that you could reply to someone's comment on your post via a direct message, but they've been fazing that feature out. So this means that if you want to take a conversation to a private space to build on that relationship or to offer more personalised support, you need to ask them to message you.

Thanks for reading! I share a blog like this one every other Tuesday, and if you feel like they help your social media presence, and more importantly, your business - then please consider leaving a tip.

Every time this tip jar reaches ￡15, I'll run a giveaway on social media so a small business can access my membership group for two months.

Tesni xx