Why is it that some people still are on the fence about Facebook for business? If it’s a fear –fear of change, technology, transparency, etc. – ok, I get it and can speak to fear. Otherwise, I’m confused. Let’s look at the basics.
Whether you’re a business that sells products or services to consumers or other businesses; whether you’re for profit or not; whether you’re a public organization, private or municipal… You deal with people. In some manner – you speak to, sell to, receive donations from, need information from – people.
Old Facebook
LOTS of people are on Facebook. There are over 400 Million active Facebook accounts. Even if you want to split hairs and say some people may have more than one account… let’s face it. There are still a whole lot of PEOPLE active on Facebook.
The saying “If you want to catch fish – go to where the fish are.” applies here. With the number of people active on Facebook, why would you NOT consider Facebook for business? Don’t think it’s going to fade away any time soon either. Facebook might be getting older but it’s not getting old – as Randall Stross writes in a good NYTimes article.
The question isn’t whether you can leverage Facebook for business, it’s HOW can you leverage Facebook for business. Here are just three simple ways:
- Post upcoming events and activities you or your associates are involved in / support.
- Provide value to your clients and prospects (and establish credibility) by sharing links to helpful articles and resources.
- Promote products by posting discounts and package deals.
Of course you must get the foundation in place first, which means:
- Establish a business presence and
- Invite your clients, prospects, contacts to join you there.
There are a couple of ways to establish an organizational presence on Facebook; a Group Page or a Fan Page (or both). There are operational differences between them. For example, non-Facebook members can view a Fan Page (if security is set as such) but must have a Facebook profile to view a Group Page. For more help determining whether a Group, Fan Page or Both are right for your objectives, here is Dani Babb’s article on Entrepreneur.com.
Once you have your Group and/or Fan Page established there are many ways you can use Facebook for business. Mashable.com has some great information on this (and almost anything else social media).
So let’s all agree. We CAN use Facebook for business. OK? …ok.
