When you setup a page on Facebook the URL will be something like www.facebook.com/your-page-name-1248972121.
This looks pretty ugly if you were to include it on any material like a business card or email signature!
But once you’ve got 25 people liking your page you can apply for your a URL that reflects your name or business name (also called a Facebook vanity URL).
Claiming a friendly username makes your Facebook page easier to find and looks more professional. Try and come up with one that is appropriate for your brand name but easy to remember and read.
Once you claim your username YOU CAN'T CHANGE IT – so choose carefully! *
How to set your Facebook user name
You have to be an administrator of a page before you can do this.
- Go to www.facebook.com/username
- Select your page from the drop down list
- If you get the message “CatsRUs is not eligible for a username at this time. In the future, CatsRUs will be able to set a username” it means you don't have enough people liking your page yet!
- Once you’ve selected your page, a box will appear on the right for you to enter your preferred username. Usernames can only contain A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and full stops - no breaks!
- You may find your business name has already been claimed by someone, in which case you may have to get creative – try adding a location such as “CatsRusNZ”
- Once you have one that is available, confirm your page name.
If you are using Facebook as your Business Page
If you are using Facebook as your business page, Facebook will want you to 'switch from using Facebook as your page to using Facebook as yourself'.
If you do this, (by clicking on continue), you can still set a username for your business page in the same way as above. If you are the administrator for more than one page, you'll get a list of all the pages to select from.
You can also change your page name from your business page administration panel, via Edit Page -> Page Info. There is an option to Edit the Page Address which takes you back to step 2 above. Again you will have to switch back to the real you to do it.
*Update Sept 2013 - You can now change the name after you set it, but only once. Guess they got a lot of people wanting to 'correct' their page name!
