It’s already old news that Facebook made some big changes to Pages this week. If you haven’t upgraded your nonprofit’s fan Page yet, you may as well hop on the bandwagon and start learning how to use the new features. Facebook has made a few much-needed improvements that make upgrading your organization’s Page worthwhile. Here’s a great article to help you get started.
Something that Facebook hasn’t changed, however, is the ability to create a custom username for your nonprofit organization’s Fan Page. A custom username lets you direct your supporters to your organization’s Facebook Page with a short, easy to remember link (eliminating that nasty string of numbers at the end). It’s a simple step you can take now to improve your nonprofit marketing efforts.
Instead of the default link to your Page that looks like this:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Fan-Page/123456789101
You can create this shorter, more memorable link instead:
http://www.facebook.com/My-Fan-Page
As long as your organization’s page has 25 fans or people who “like” it, it’s eligible for a custom username.
Follow these (quick and painless!) steps to create a custom username for your organization’s Facebook Page
- Go to http://www.facebook.com/username
- You’ll see something similar to this on your screen:
- Select your organization’s Page from the drop down menu (you must be logged in as a Page Admin to do this).
- Facebook will let you know if your Page is eligible (at least 25 fans/’likes’).
- Select your preferred username (ideally the Page Name), check its availability, and click to confirm.
- UPDATE 4/25/11: Facebook does allow you to edit or change your username after you’ve confirmed it, but be aware that doing so will change the URL of your Page to match the new username.
- Once you’ve created a custom username, use it from now on when creating a link to your organization’s Page. You don’t need to update existing links, however, unless you want to–Facebook will automatically redirect users who use the old url.
Questions? Read up about custom usernames for Facebook Pages here. Visit Facebook’s Pages Guide for more resources on starting and managing your organization’s Facebook Page (if you’re new to using Facebook as an organization, visit the link to resources for “Nonprofits”–you’ll find a helpful best practices guide.)
