Do you know all of the tricks you can use to make Facebook work for you? Yes, Facebook was originally created as a place for friends and family to connect and share parts of their lives, but it has blossomed into so much more.
Facebook offers a variety of primarily free resources that businesses can take advantage of. First and foremost you need to create a profile for your business. You should establish a business account. A business account is tailored for people who are using Facebook for marketing purposes and is thus better suited for a company’s needs. After creating your account you should quickly read through Facebook’s rules for businesses in order to protect yourself from any potential problems. You will then find that there are quite a few applications which have been created for businesses to keep their profile up to date. You can connect your Facebook with your company’s personal blogs and twitter accounts so as to keep your “friends” up to date and interested in your company. Once you’ve done this and updated your personal information you should make sure to connect your Facebook URL to your email signature and website. This will help you to build your database of friends. You can also use Facebook’s friend finding tool to find clients who you are already connected with. The only way you’ll benefit from having a Facebook account is if you use it to network.
In addition to creating a profile for your business you may want to set up a Facebook group or fan page. Typically a group is a better idea unless your business or product is very well known. This can be an additional way for you to network and communicate with potential and current clients.
Your company can also utilize Facebook as a means of advertising. You can purchase ad space on Facebook to try and reach more people. Facebook is an extremely effective mode of advertisement especially because you can tailor your add so that it reaches your target audience and millions of people use Facebook.
There are of course some potentially negative aspects that can come from having a Facebook. You should make sure that you keep your Facebook very professional in order to avoid sharing too many personal details. You also want to make sure to keep your page fairly streamlined in order to avoid scaring potential clients away.
In short, Facebook can help you earn new clients, keep in touch with existing clients and advertise new products and sales offers. But you have to remember that by placing your business in the public eye you are further exposing your company to the public eye. If managed correctly however, Facebook can only help you.
