Does Your Region Have the Right Type of Facebook Page?

I spend a lot of time talking to RCs and Webmasters regarding social media best practices – especially about Facebook.

I get a lot of questions: How often should I post? What if someone posts something bad on my page? How can I keep up with a Region website AND a Facebook page?

But, before answering any of that, I always ask the person: What type of Facebook page do you have? Because if you don’t have the right type of page, you can be stopped before you even start.

All AYSO Regions, Areas and Sections should have a Facebook Business Page. If your Region has a personal profile, Group Page or Community Page, you do not have the correct type of Page.

Here’s why:

• Facebook Group pages are not indexed in Google, which means after putting all that work into your page with posts, photos, etc., it’s not helping your SEO at all.

• Facebook Group page posts and Community Page posts also don’t show up in your or your members’ News Feeds – not good!

• By definition, Facebook community pages are for users who want to create a page about an organization/celebrity, but are not officially representing it. This is not the case with your Region! You want to be the official representation. That way, no one else can come along and start a Facebook business page (while you’re hosting a community page) and become the official source.

For these reasons and more, Business Pages are the best option by far for your Region. With the proper Business Page, you’ll collect likes, show up in your fans’ News Feeds (and their friends), improve your Region’s SEO rankings, make your Region an official brand and create an engaged audience that will no doubt help improve your registration numbers.

If you ever have any questions about Facebook pages, send me an email to AliyaH@ayso.org!