Facebook – Can it be used to help your business?
by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF
FacebookIn my last newsletter we talked about social networking. I explained what it was and I gave you a few examples of where you could find it. So, today I would like to take one step closer to this new found beast and see if it has anything to offer in terms of using it to help your business grow.
Of course not all social networks are created equal. There are many different sites out there with very different opportunities. You must first determine what you want to achieve out of social networking online and then find the site that will give you the biggest benefits. Today we will focus on the ever popular Facebook.
As I mentioned earlier, Facebook is a social networking site that was first designed to give incoming college students, faculty and staff a way of getting to know other people on campus. It was first limited to Harvard students only, but since then Facebook has expanded to include anyone aged 13 and over.
With over 100 million active users worldwide, is there a way Facebook can be used to help your business?
Well, believe it or not Facebook now offers it’s very own business solutions!
Facebook’s business solutions are powerful tools that can help spread your brand and your business to existing and potential customers. Let’s review some of the ways that Facebook’s business solutions can help your business:
Facebook Pages — Facebook Pages were created to give businesses their own profile on Facebook.
Facebook Pages give your business or brand an identity on Facebook much the same as a Facebook profile does for an individual. Users can show their support for your brand or company by adding themselves as a fan, writing on your Wall, uploading photos and joining in discussion groups. When they do any of this, all their friends can see as these actions are automatically generated into News Feeds.
If you have created a Facebook Page you can store photos, videos, information about your company, and add custom applications. All activity on Facebook Pages gets posted back to your Mini Feed for all to see.
Facebook Platform — Facebook has a very powerful API that allows anyone to build any application for use on Facebook, for example the Facebook Photos application. These applications can even serve their own ads. There is a special applications area on Facebook where you can browse or add third party applications. Not only do these applications serve to boost your business but if someone adds your application to their profile, it is noted in their News Feed for all of their friends to see.
Facebook Ads — You can create a Facebook Ad and target it to the audience you choose!
Facebook’s powerful advertising engine enables businesses to specify a specific demographic target, see how many people are in that demographic, and advertise to that demographic. You can buy ads either based on the number of clicks (CPC) or by the number of impressions (CPM). Active ads can even receive performance metrics, including feedback on how to optimize your ad.
Facebook Polls — Facebook Polls allow you to run a targeted survey to the demographic you want. Survey your target audience on their attitudes towards a particular topic or get their feedback on an important business decision. Results are captured in real time so you don’t have to wait!
Facebook Insights — With Facebook Insights you get meaningful statistics on who is engaging with your Facebook Pages and who is clicking on your Facebook Ads. Facebook Insights gives you access to important data such as activity, demographics, ad performance and trends. With such indepth analysis you can optimize your ads and improve your conversions.
Facebook Connect — Just recently released, Facebook Connect is the next evolution of Facebook Platform. Facebook Connect enables your website to easily integrate with Facebook. By integrating Facebook Connect into your won site you enable your users to connect their Facebook account and information with your site. Users can connect and find their friends who also use your site and they can share information and actions on your site with their friends on Facebook.
It is becoming more and more popular to promote your business, products and services using social networking sites online. However, before you jump on the bandwagon, you must look at your objectives and your target market to determine if it is right for you and your business.
There are many, many different kinds of social networking sites with many different purposes. Some are dedicated to business, others are only photo sharing sites, some are to help employers find the right employee while some are to help individuals find their right mate. Over the next few weeks we will take a deeper look at some of these sites and find out what their purpose is and if they really can help you grow your business.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Internet Marketing and e-Business expert, Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF is the author of 8 Internet marketing books including the best-selling book 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site. To learn more about Susan and what she can do for your business, visit http://www.susansweeney.com