COMMENTS
Many potential clients think that Facebook alone will do the trick at giving them an online presence.. I feel that it has hurt our company somewhat.
Brilliant! Besides my website, I probably use Facebook more than anything else - pouncing on status updates from friends lists which might yield a business opportunity.
The tips listed above should really help to enhance my business activity on FB - thanks Maggie!
Steve
@Scranton Web Design: It is true that Facebook alone cannot grow your business—you need to have the content in order to start using social media. It is not about simply joining a network, you have to back up these efforts with a strong website presence.
@Steve: Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm glad this post introduced some new tips for your business! ;-)
Great tips - This is not the first time I've seen the suggestion of using a landing page/tab on Facebook. My personal preference is to get right to the conversation on the Wall.
Good Advice. Never thought joining facebook groups could possibly be beneficial. Thanx.
I think that #7 - Become an Industry Resource - is a key thing for all businesses to focus on, as too often, pages are full of 'sales-y' posts and only talk about their own business. Better to add value to your fans and build relationships.
Thanks!
These are fantastic tips, and this is almost re-assuring. For my business (the Twitter app store) we naturally focus more on Twitter and our Facebook page is almost like...the neglected stepchild? It is nice to know that things like providing the right content, acting as a resource...these are the types of things that we already are doing. We just need to do more of it.
This is wonderful stuff. As a small marketing startup, we find this information invaluable, particularly as we have just started our Facebook marketing efforts. Thank you!
@Derek: Becoming an industry resource is really invaluable--by offering educational materials you establish the authority of your business, and become a trusted adviser!
@Janet: I think your situation is something marketers often experience as new technologies emerge. It is important to remember how communities differ from one another and prioritize accordingly.
@John: Thanks! Glad this post provided you with some helpful tips!
Excellent post. Concise, valuable, practical information. Thank you for pulling it all together in one place to find.
Excellent article!! I´m going to use this tips with my own website... Here in Argentina Facebook is very popular, much more popular than MySpace...
Thanks again and keep it up!
Great resource. I think its vital to have a regular presence on Facebook nowadays. However, I personally dont really see the use for B2B companies to be on Facebook. Becoming an industry expert is much easier through blogging and even microblogging like Twitter I would think.
Something which I personally am wary about is both being over sales focused, and updating too frequently. Annoying fans by popping up in their newsstream every few minutes, and simply bigging up your product is not a good practice, and something which we try not to do with our page: http://www.facebook.com/mylunch.ie
Also a landing page can be a very good conversion medium, but should be professionally done.
Some great tips here Maggie! I think that it's especially great that you mentioned FB advertising. It is inexpensive in comparison to Google Adwords and can be a very effective way to promote your page and eventually direct people to your site. Thanks for sharing!
I use Facebook marketing a lot and now i get leads from Facebook every day, so it's worth my time.
Thanks for this post to help remind me how i can use Facebook to its full potential.
Awesome post, keep up the good work Maggie!
Joseph Bushnell
http://josephbushnell.com
This presupposes a large business with a team, and does not address the small business with one to three people, nor the service business, such as a dental or medical practice, that has privacy and liability issues with direct contact.
@intransition: I understand your concerns regarding privacy and liability issues in certain industries. But they are plenty of examples of how companies in these fields have leveraged the power of social networks and Facebook, in particular. For instance, Elekta: http://bit.ly/aTBLg4
@Joseph: Thanks for your comment! Glad the blog post was helpful! ;-)
@Michele: Yes--FB ads can be pretty helpful when well thought-out and complimenting other marketing campaigns. Have you experiment with them yet? Let us know how this is working out for you!
@reverse phone lookup: There definitely is a lot of hype around social networks and they can't do miracles. Businesses should know that Facebook and Twitter have limitations. For instance, it is critical that you have great, remarkable content before you start joining online communities.
@Shane O Leary: I see how blogging makes more sense for B2B companies that want to establish themselves as industry resources. In that sense, Twitter is a great marketing channel. But it is worth experimenting with Facebook, even for the pure reason that it attracts different demographics and allows you to present yourself in a different light (with photos, notes, other applications).
These are great questions. I really enjoyed the Facebook app Starbuck's used to show their locations around the world. I thought of another cute idea similar to this. Rather than showing locations on a map why not show the weather where companies are located using a weather app. Mixes things up a little and makes it fun.
Photos are one of my top interests. If there are hardly any photos then I skip over the site. Text content is good for information but can get overwhelming/ tiring. Give your eyes a break from reading all the time and use images to display your message. Diversity is important.
-CKR Interactive Intern
www.ckrinteractive.com
I agree. Interesting contents or graphics, interaction at the same time building the business rather than selling is good in Facebook
Facebook like other social media networks is all about having conversations. if you regularly update your staus with valuable content and on your facebook page you will draw interested friends to your links.