How to Choose a Category for Your Facebook Page

How to Choose a Category for Your Facebook Page

Would you like to put your organization on social media? If so, you’re about to connect with potentially thousands, or even millions, of possible customers.

You’ll need to select between categories for a Facebook page to define your organization. Picking right will help customers find you more easily. If you’re miscategorized, they might skip over you, thinking you have a different type of organization than you actually do.

Fortunately, we can help you find the right category for your organization using our Facebook business categories list. And the good news is that it shouldn’t take much time!

Keep in mind, it is important to get your categories right from the beginning. You can change Facebook page categories later, but you might lose some of the history you’ve already built while interacting with customers. If you use our Facebook page categories list, you will avoid that hassle.

It’s time to look at social networking in a new way, starting with Facebook. For you, this giant of a social network is not just a great tool for connecting with friends or sharing posts—it’s a key tool for your business. It’s integral to your social marketing strategy—meaning, if you want to be seen by your target audience, you need to harness the platform’s power.

Why is it so important? Well, with 1.32 billion daily active users, Facebook is the most widely used social platform, and it has more adult users (68%) than any other medium. Facebook’s reach means that your business has a greater opportunity to find a local audience and build your brand.

In addition, Facebook has been labeled the “most important” social platform for marketers; 96% of social marketers say the ROI of Facebook is greater than other social platforms. Did you know that nearly one-third (32%) of Facebook users engage with brands regularly? Consumers are using Facebook to discover new products, and eventually make purchases—44% say Facebook (more than any other platform) influences their shopping.

Simply put, Facebook can mean big business for your business. If you’ve yet to create a Facebook page for your business, the time is now.

How Your Facebook Category Impacts Marketing

When setting up a Facebook page for your business, selecting your category is one of the first tasks. Choosing the category appears to be a seemingly simple, inconsequential decision—just pick and choose, right?—but it has the potential to impact what audiences, and how many of them, find and engage with your business. If you categorize your page incorrectly, your target audience—and search engines—will not be able to find you as easily.

You want to make sure that your page is easy to find, and that the information you supply is accurate and optimized. So when considering your page type, think through a few questions:

• Who are you trying to reach?
• How can you accurately represent your business?
• What Facebook features will best help you market your business?
• Which category are my competitors using on Facebook?

With those questions in mind, you can make a smart decision about which Facebook page category will best suit your business and marketing needs.

Setting Up Your Facebook Business Page

You’re likely familiar with the workings of Facebook based on your own social media habits and practices. But let’s look at the platform with a business lens.

When setting up your page, the first major hurdle is choosing a page category—your first step.

These categories offer different benefits and abilities (even layouts), and determine which information is listed on your page. Thus, choosing a category wisely could help—or hinder—potential audiences from finding you. It could also impact your SEO, another key part of your marketing. Choosing the best-fitting page category for your business is an important starting point for successful social marketing.

If you don’t pick the right categories the first time, don’t stress. Optimizing any social media page takes time and tweaking. You can edit your page type at any time, but know: you risk losing information (such as reviews, map, or check-ins, for example) if you choose to switch categories after you’ve built your page and started engaging with audiences.

So what categories can you pick from? Let’s explore the page categories in more detail, (with real-world examples included).

• Business or Brand: If you have a brick-and-mortar location that you want people to find and visit, an online e-shop, or are building a brand or product line, the Business or Brand category is a good option. When fleshing out a page in this category, you can inform searchers by supplying an organization name, category, address, and phone number. You can also identify hours of operation, link to a website, showcase ratings and reviews, and supply basic contact information, in addition to your brand or product name.

• Community or Public Figure: Are you your own brand, or involved in an online or real-world community? If you’re looking to promote yourself as an individual or showcase a group, this figure- or group-focused category is a good option.

Once you’ve selected your base category, you can supply additional identifiers to help provide details for relevant audiences. For example, if you are a restaurant, you and specify the type of food you serve, or if you are a store, you could give details about the type of products you sell.

Facebook Business Page Categories

Use the following list of Facebook categories to make sure you best define your organization from the beginning. Our Facebook page category list can help you attract more visitors. Learn to master Facebook pages and categories to turn more visitors into customers.

Advertising/Marketing: This is for businesses that help other businesses communicate through writing, advertising, consulting, social media, and more.

Agriculture: This category covers various types of farms, along with agricultural services and cooperatives.

Arts & Entertainment: This category includes entertainment venues, including race tracks, bingo halls, and performance houses. It also covers zoos, museums, and amusement parks, along with venues like circuses and escape rooms.

Automotive, Aircraft & Boat: Do you sell or service vehicles? This is for any kind of dealer of vehicles or vehicle parts and for businesses that repair and maintain vehicles.

Beauty, Cosmetic & Personal Care: Use this category if you provide cosmetic services, which can include cutting hair, putting on makeup, image consulting, tanning, and much more. You might also be a spa, tattoo shop, or similar location.

Commercial & Industrial: This category covers many types of larger business-to-business services, services to governments, and manufacturing. Your firm might provide environmental services, services to hotels, manufacturing, metal or plastic fabricating, and similar services.

Education: Do you provide schooling, training, or similar services? You might be any level of school, an archaeological service, an academic camp, or a test prep center. You might even provide tutoring or educational consulting services.

Finance: This is for many types of businesses in banking and finance. You could provide loans, collections, consulting, and more. You might deal in insurance, investments, or investment management.

Food & Beverage: If your main activity involves food and/or beverages, select this category. Then, find your exact type. For example, if you are a restaurant, you could select Chinese and then the regional type of Chinese food. Keep searching until you thoroughly and accurately classify your business.

Hotel & Lodging: There are many types of lodgings today. If you provide a physical place for people to stay a day or night—from a campground to a B&B to an RV park to a fully furnished apartment—this is your category.

Legal: You might be a lawyer in any category of law practice. Or, you could provide a service that is related to the legal system, such as notarizing, providing bail, investigating, process serving, or lobbying.

Local Service: You serve your local area with babysitting, photography, plumbing, home improvement, event planning, or other services for individuals. Or, you provide janitorial, design, consulting, cargo, or other services for businesses.

Media/News Company: This category covers the production of various types of information-based products and services, including books and games, animation, radio shows, social media platforms, magazines, and similar work.

Medical & Health: There are dozens of medical specialties and services. If you’re a doctor, therapist, or dentist, select one of those subcategories and then find your specialty under it. You can instead select types of medical services, alternative health services, medical centers, and related businesses.

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO): Choose this if your organization is classified as an NGO. This often means that the organization is working on a humanitarian service or a political cause. You probably have volunteers, and you might accept donations.

Nonprofit Organization: Your organization exists and operates for a cause or objective other than financial profit. This might be for religious, educational, or scientific reasons.

Public & Government Service: You might need a Facebook page for an office that provides a government service. This might be a library, food bank, child protective service, car registration center, passport service, or many others.

Real Estate: Do you service the real estate needs of individuals and/or businesses? You might broker homes, appraise properties, run a mobile home park, hold funds in escrow, create home titles, or provide similar services.

Science, Technology & Engineering: Your organization may be in a highly technical specialty in engineering, robotics, biotechnology, aerospace, chemicals, solar energy, or other fields. You might provide other engineering services, such as surveying.

Shopping & Retail: This covers any type of store or retail establishment. Search through the subcategories to find the exact type of goods you sell. It also covers other types of sales such as auction houses and flea markets.

Sports & Recreation: This category covers recreation venues, instruction, and teams, along with professional stadiums and smaller businesses like go-kart tracks.

Travel & Transportation: Your organization provides any service or vehicle that helps people travel. You might own taxis. You might rent out vehicles. You could even manage a transit hub, like a bus station. You could provide a related service, such as handling luggage.

Optimizing Your Facebook Business Page

So you’ve chosen your page category based on the needs and desires of your business. Now what?

After you chosen your main type and selected accompanying detail categories, you’ll flesh out your page and start using it to target and market to audiences. You’ll supply the required info for your page type, then outfit it with content and photos, and work to optimize your page elements for SEO. Make sure to cross-promote your page on other social channels and supply your website with Facebook “like” boxes and links. Engage with audiences and explore advertising options to start building marketing traction.

Want to get your business seen on Facebook? It all starts with choosing the best category for your business page, so choose wisely.