Claiming Your Listings: Facebook

Overview

You may have not set up a Facebook page for every branch, but there is a very good chance one has already been created for you. That’s because general Facebook users and 3rd party aggregators went out and created them for you (sometimes even creating duplicates), without your knowledge.

Facebook has changed the names it uses for different kinds of pages – and the word PAGE itself is something unique. Below, we’ll go through the steps to set up a structure for your multi-branch credit union account.

What you might have at the beginning:

• One Facebook page for your credit union, likely tied to your headquarters branch location
• “Rogue” pages that were created by Facebook
• Additional branch pages you created

What you want in the end:

• One BRAND page for your credit union, which publishes the primary content feed and has links to all relevant information members/potential members may want. This will not be tied to an address/branch location.
• Locations pages for each branch, which allow users to add reviews and ratings, but which can show the content published on the main brand (previously called Parent) page.

What this will look like this:

How do I get started?

Check all the known pages in the Listings Tab in CUBrandMonitor – this is your reference point. Which pages already exist for your credit union?

1. Create a BRAND Page: For your primary BRAND page, you’ll take your current main Facebook page and migrate it into a location, leaving a BRAND page behind – this keeps the ratings and reviews you’ve already accumulated.
2. Add Branch Locations: Upload the addresses and info for your branch locations.
3. Clean Existing Listings: For “rogue” pages, you will want to claim or merge, where they will be replaced by/edited into Locations (see above image).

 

Step ONE: Set Up Brand Page – With Locations

1. Configure Admin Rights: Log in and make sure that the email you’re using with Facebook is your work address.
   This verifies for Facebook that you are a representative for your credit union. If you’ve been managing with a personal email address, we recommend following the steps shown here and add your work address as an admin. Once you have that activated, log out and log in as the admin, so you can manage from that email address.

2. Request Locations Access: On this page, request access to the Locations functionality for your page. This will let you add each brand as an easy-to-manage Location, rather than as separate pages.
3. Receive Confirmation: Once the system processes the request, you’ll receive a message in your support inbox, which lives under SETTINGS on your main page. This can take a few minutes.
4. Migrate HQ Branch: If the page for your credit union that you wish to use as the ‘Brand” page has a street address on it, you will encounter a warning message asking you to either remove your address info or migrate existing ratings and reviews to a new Page. We recommend selecting to migrate, which will move that location-specific page into an official Location page. This means any ratings and reviews will go to that location, while overall information can stay on the “Brand” level.

IMPORTANT: Once you save, it can take a little bit of time for the system to process the changes, which will allow you to add Locations. We recommend turning your attention to dealing with any branch-specific pages, either claimed or rogue, then coming back and managing locations.

 

Step TWO: Verify Your Page

Verifying will allow you to rank higher in Facebook’s results algorithm.

1. On your Brand Page – go to Settings. On the right side, there will be an option listed as Page Verification near the top.
2. Click Edit, then click Verify this Page. 
3. You’ll be given two options – to verify by phone call or verify by using documents.
4. Phone verification: You can edit the phone number shown there, and add an extension. This process worked for some locations we’ve verified, and not for others. We recommend trying it before assuming it won’t work.
5. Documents verification: You can upload any of the following documents to verify the location:
   1. Business utility or phone bill
   2. Business license
   3. Business tax file
   4. Certificate of formation
   5. Articles of incorporation
6. Once you’ve submitted these, you’ll need to wait. Our verification came through within a week – and we were alerted by a message from Facebook within the app.

 

Step THREE: Merge / Claim Single Unofficial Pages

Note: To merge or claim unofficial or single (that you/your CU created) pages, you will need to be the verified admin for your main page.

1. CUBrandMonitor will show you all the Facebook listings you need to manage – go to Listings and sort by Facebook as your provider. You can click directly to the listing url from each listing shown on that page.
2. Click on a listing and open it in Facebook. If the Page is unmanaged, you’ll see Unofficial Page below its cover photo. You can request to claim the Page and become its admin, and you can merge it into a Page you already manage for your credit union. Here’s what that looks like: 
3. Click Is this your business? below the Page’s cover photo.
   You’ll be presented with two options – to merge the page into a Verified Page that you already manage for the credit union, or to claim and verify the branch – through a phone call or via documents, as described above. 

4. Choose to Merge the Listing:
   If your business e-mail is associated with your account, select it in the drop-down and you will be sent an e-mail to verify. If not, you will have to submit the documentation listed as described above when you verified your main page.

Callahan Tested: It took about 2 business days to receive an e-mail address we tested. You will get an e-mail through Facebook letting you know the page has been converted into a merged part of your main page.  Once pages are merged, the old url will redirect to the primary page – this is how it will look:

 

Step FOUR: Configure Your Locations

1. Once you have your Brand Page fully set-up, you can start adding in your child pages to the relationship! You can create new locations or add in pages that have already been created, such as those you claimed in Step Three.
2. Go to Locations under Settings – General, you’ll now be able to start creating branch-specific locations pages. Note that you’ve got the option for each branch and in general to choose to show posts and nearby locations. You can also add custom pictures and backgrounds to branch pages, if you wish.
3. Add A Location lets you create one branch page at a time. You can either choose from an existing page that you have claimed OR create a new one. You can also utilize the bulk upload functionality if you don’t have claimed pages for branches already. This would be the base if you did NOT have valuable pages you didn’t want to simply merge into the main page.
4. The bulk upload instructions can be found here. You’ve got the ability to download your location data with addresses from CUBrandMonitor, so this can be a very quick way to get all your branches set up quickly.