A Facebook page's web address is long, easy to mistype, and often buried behind several other pages with a similar name, so a printed link rarely gets typed out correctly. A QR code sidesteps that entirely: point a phone at it and the right page opens directly.
Put the code where regulars already look, on a window, a flyer, a receipt or a table card, and a scan opens the page directly, in the Facebook app if it's installed and in the browser if not. If the page has a username, type it here and the address is built automatically; groups, events and profiles without one have longer addresses, covered further down.
Creating a Facebook QR code
Find the page's address
Open your page in a browser and look at the address bar. If it reads facebook.com/yourpage, the part after the slash is the username.
Type the username in the Facebook field
Or paste the page link. The code opens https://facebook.com/ followed by that name.
Use the Link tab for longer addresses
Links to a group, an event, or a profile.php?id= address carry more than a username. Paste them in full in the Link tab.
Check it signed out
Open the address in a private browser window to see what people who do not follow you will see.
Page, group, event or profile: what the Facebook QR code should open
The address you print decides what people can do after scanning.
Business page
The best target for print. Pages are public, and most have a short username.
Group
Right for clubs and neighborhoods. A private group shows its name and a join button to people who are not members yet.
Event
Good on a poster for one event, but the link is of little use afterwards. Take the poster down, or use a dynamic code.
Personal profile
Possible, but what strangers see depends on privacy settings, and many profiles show very little.
Getting a Facebook business QR code noticed
Say next to the code what following brings, such as daily specials, event dates or closures, and print the page name in text for people who prefer to search. Receipts and bag stickers reach people just after a purchase, when they are most willing to follow; a window sticker reaches passers-by when you are closed.
If you also run Instagram, give each surface one code rather than two side by side. People scan whichever they see first, and a phone pointed at two codes may pick either.
What the Facebook code opens
The page's public address, https://facebook.com/ followed by the username, as in the sample. With the Facebook app installed, most phones open the page in the app; otherwise it loads in the browser, where Facebook may ask visitors to log in to see more.
https://facebook.com/harborlanehardwarePlacement and size for Facebook codes
Window stickers read from a meter or two: 10–15 cm. Table cards and counter signs: 3–5 cm. Receipts and flyers: 2–2.5 cm in solid black. Thermal receipts fade over weeks, so if customers keep them, print the code a little larger than the minimum.
Print it at least 20 mm (2.0 cm) wide
Facebook QR code mistakes
A profile.php link in the username field
The field keeps only the last part of a link, so profile.php?id= addresses lose their number and open nothing useful. Use the Link tab for them.
Changing the page username
The old address may stop working, and every printed static code with it. Settle the username before printing.
Leaving an event poster up
Months later, the code still opens a finished event. It looks abandoned, and people stop scanning your codes.
Static or dynamic for Facebook?
Pages get renamed, merged and sometimes replaced after a rebrand. On long-lasting print, such as window vinyl, a vehicle or packaging, a dynamic code lets you point to the new address without scraping off the sticker, and shows how many people scan. For flyers and receipts you print often, a static code is free and permanent. Dynamic codes need a free account; the first two are free forever.
How dynamic QR codes workFacebook codes at work
- A hardware store prints its page code on receipts so customers see weekend offers.
- A youth soccer club pins a code to its parents' group on the clubhouse noticeboard.
- A community theater prints an event code on posters for a single production.
- A farm shop stamps the code on its egg cartons.