[intro]If you’ve not dipped your toes into the world of social media before, Facebook is a good place to start. In this Guide, you’ll learn how to create a personal Facebook Profile, which will enable you to create a Facebook Page to promote your EKM online shop and attract new customers.[/intro]

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If you wish to create a Facebook Page to promote your EKM online shop, you will need to create a Facebook Profile first that represents you as a person, as opposed to a company. Equally, if you wish to promote your Products using Instagram and Instagram Shopping, you will also need to create a Facebook Profile, as Facebook owns Instagram, and you will need to provide a product feed to Facebook to reference your Products to tag them in posts on Instagram.

In this Guide, I’ll be showing you how to set up a very basic Facebook Profile. All of the privacy settings are locked down, as this minimal profile is all you need to create a Facebook Page to promote your EKM online shop. However, if you become more comfortable with using Facebook as an individual in the future, you can amend the settings accordingly. 

Creating your Facebook Account

1. To begin, click this link and click the green Create New Account button on the right hand side:

2. In the window that appears, you need to complete the fields provided before clicking the green Sign Up button:

[caution]You must use your real name here - do not use the name of your company, or a fake name. If you do, Facebook can and will suspend and even close down your account if you cannot prove your identity matches your Facebook Profile. This could cause serious issues further down the line when you are managing a Facebook Page and ad campaigns on any of Facebook's platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp.

Also, when creating a password, ensure it has a minimum of eight characters which are a combination of upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and ideally a symbol such as % or £ for added security. [/caution]

3. You’ll then see this page. In a separate browser tab, open your emails and look for the email from Facebook - if it’s not in your main inbox, be sure to check your junk and spam folders as it may have been sorted there instead. Copy the FB code from the email and type it into the field provided, before clicking the Continue button:

4. You’ll then see this window. Click the OK button to continue:

5. You’ll then be directed to this page. This is your newsfeed, and what you’ll see every time you log into your Facebook account. If you add Friends to your Facebook account, you’ll be able to read statuses from them. As you’ve only just created your account, at the top of your newsfeed is a prompt to remember your password on your browser. If you’re happy to do this, click OK:

6. Your next step is to review your privacy settings. Click the profile icon in the top right-hand corner:

7. From the drop-down menu, click Settings and Privacy:

8. From the second drop-down menu, select Privacy Checkup:

On this page, you have a number of different privacy settings to review. If you wish to create a Facebook account for the sole purpose of creating a Facebook Page to promote your EKM online shop, the settings I will recommend here will essentially lock down your entire personal profile. You can, of course, return here in the future and amend any settings as you feel comfortable with.

Who can see what you share

9. Click the first icon:

10. Click Continue:

11. For email address, click the Friends button, and amend this to Only Me:

12. Repeat this process for the date and your year of birth, again by changing the default from Friends Of Friends, to Only Me:

13. For the Friends and Following questions, amend these both to Only Me, before clicking the blue Next button: 

14. On this next page, ensure that Future Posts are set to Only Me, Stories are set as Friends  and Limit Past Posts is set to Limit, and then click the blue Next button:

15. On this final window, click Next:

16. Now you need to click the blue button:

[tips]If you wish to amend your settings in the future, you’ll find these articles helpful. [/tips]

How to keep your Account Secure

17. Click the icon:

18. Click Continue:

19. Click Next:

20. Click Next:

[tips]It's a good idea to set up 2 Factor Authentication on your Facebook account for extra piece of mind. If this is something you want to set up, click the Get Started button and follow the instructions onscreen.[/tips]

21. On this final page, turn on the switches for Facebook and Messenger. This is how Facebook will let you know if there has been some unusual activity on your account, such as a log in on a new device in a different location, for example. If you rely on emails and don’t see yourself logging into your personal Facebook account too often, turn on the switch for Email Address too, before clicking Next:

22. Click the blue button:

[tips]To read more about keeping your account on Facebook secure, click here. [/tips]

How people can find you on Facebook

23. Click the icon:

24. Click Continue:

25. Change the Friend Requests option to Friends Of Friends, and click Next:

26. For Phone Number and Email Address, amend this to Only Me, and click Next:

27. For this final window, click the switch to turn it off and then click Next:

28. Click the blue button to continue:

[tips] If you decide that you would like to add your Friends to your Facebook Profile, follow the steps here. There’s also more articles here from Facebook which help you learn more about controlling who can find your on Facebook.[/tips]

Your Data Settings on Facebook

29. Click the icon:

30. Click Continue:

31. Some platforms online will allow you to create accounts on them by using your Facebook profile. This is especially useful if you want to save time when signing up for something. In the future, you can see what apps you've used with your Facebook profile in this part of the settings. Click Next:

32. Click the blue button:

Your Ad Preferences on Facebook

33. Click the icon:

34. Click Continue:

35. Click Next:

36. Click all switches to the off position, and then click the blue Next button:

37. Scroll down on this next page, and amend the ‘Who can see your social interactions?’ answer to Only Me, before clicking Next:

38. Click the blue button:

39. To return to the newsfeed, click the X in the top left-hand corner:

[tips]To learn more about Ad Preferences on Facebook, click here. [/tips]

Your Notifications

40. When you first log into your Facebook account, any notifications will be signified by a number on the bell symbol in the top right-hand corner. Click the bell:

41. On the drop-down list of notifications, you’ll see both updates from Facebook and notifications from any Friends, Pages and Groups that you’ve added to your Profile:

[tips] If you plan to use Facebook on your phone or mobile device, you’ll need to download both the Facebook app and the Messenger app to your device. The Facebook app allows you to view your newsfeed, whilst the Messenger app allows you to read direct messages sent to you on Facebook. [/tips]

Viewing your Profile

42. To see what your Profile looks like, simply click the profile icon in the top right-hand corner of your newsfeed:

43. This is what your profile will look like at this point:

a) If you feel comfortable doing so, you can click to add a Profile picture of yourself by clicking here.

b) You can also upload a horizontal cover photo by clicking here. 

c) Further down the page, you’ll see a single status with your birthday listed. You’ll notice that there’s a padlock symbol on the status. This is because this is only visible to you. 

d) You can click any of these grey buttons to add information to your Intro box if you wish to do so. 

e) Finally, if you click the eye symbol on the right-hand side, you can see how your profile displays to other Facebook users.

[tips]If you need help populating your profile with a photo and a cover image, these articles will help you. [/tips] 

Your next steps

Now you have created a Facebook Profile, you can:

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[contact]If you need our help with your EKM online shop, contact your Ecommerce Expert, Account Manager, or the Customer Support Team, who can point you in the right direction. Our opening hours are 9 am - 5.30 pm Monday to Friday, for telephone calls, live chats, and emails. Over the weekends, we're open from 9 am - 5.30 pm, both Saturday and Sunday, to answer emails and live chat, which you can access from the Dashboard of your EKM online shop. Outside these hours, you can leave a message for us in the live chat window or email support@ekm.com, and we will answer as soon as possible.

If you'd like to suggest a feature or an upgrade on any of the EKM platforms, please let us know on the EKM Suggestions Board. If you have a non-account-specific question to ask the EKM Team, join us in the EKM Community. [/contact]