Do you have a Facebook page or place?
Are your local visitors not able to check into your location?
If so, then this article has been made for you!
I’m going to take you through the two options you have to get your check ins working on your Facebook place.
How to turn on the check in functionality for your page
- Navigate to your page
- Click the ‘Edit page’ in the top right
- Click ‘Update Info’
- Enter your full address into the address field
- Click ‘Save changes’ at the bottom
You may have to wait a couple of days, but soon you should have the ability to check into your page on Facebook through a mobile device.
Unfortunately, for some this functionality never appears, in which case you need to take one of the following steps:
#1 – Easy option – Check settings and wait it out
Facebook is pretty slow to implement any changes to your place, I have seen some cases where they have taken up to a month, so if it isn’t urgent, then please sit tight and wait it out.
Before you sit tight and wait it out, make sure you have the correct settings for your page:
Navigate to your page, click ‘Edit page’ then ‘Manage Permissions’.
Make sure your country restrictions are empty, with the radio button selecting ‘Hide this page from viewers in these countries’.
And make sure your ‘Age restriction’ is set to ‘Anyone (13+)’.
If they are set, and you have a location entered into your information page then it’s often just a matter of waiting for Facebook to play catch up.
#2 – Hard option – Merge places
Requirements: Proof that you represent the business, whether it’s an email address with the business domain e.g. your-name@your-company.com. Or documentation like a utility bill that you will need to take a picture of and upload.
Claiming your page can also take up to a week, so it’s not an instant result, but can still be quicker than the first option.
Mobile first!
If you’re anything like me, then you probably don’t have the patience to wait for Facebook to play catch up, in which case there is a little bit of work for you to complete, but it will have quicker results.
First, you need to physically go to your location with your mobile.
When you are there, click the check in button, in the search box, enter your page name (which shouldn’t appear – if it does, then your check in is working correctly).
The search results should update too “Add [your page name] in [your location]”.
Click that and follow the instructions on your phone to complete the creation of a new place.
When you are done, click ‘Add’ then complete the process of checking into the location.
While you are still on your phone, go to the ‘Nearby’ section and search for your newly created page to check it’s still there.
If you didn’t post a message when checking in, then either like, or share the page so you can find it again quickly on your computer.
Time for the computer.
You can put your mobile away now, the next steps must be completed on a computer so you have access to all of the settings.
First, go to your profile and click the post you made – it will either be in your recent activity, or on your wall – and go to the location you just created.
In the top right, click the cog and claim the page as your own.
Follow the on screen steps to complete the process of claiming your page – you will need either business documentation, or a business email address to complete this step – e.g. your-name@your-business.com, a Gmail, Hotmail or equivalent email address won’t work.
The next step is to merge this new Facebook place, with your existing place.
Facebook have a great tutorial on merging two Facebook pages, so I won’t go into more detail here about that – just make sure the location name and address are exactly the same!
NOTE: These instructions aren’t perfect, you need to merge from the page you want to keep, not the one with the most likes – Thanks for the heads up Ann!
Once they are merged, you should now be able to check in to your page!
I’m looking forward to Facebook taking away some of these hoops that we have to jump through, but until then these options should see your page to a fully functioning check in feature.
Let me know how you get on in the comments below!
