Can
your customers find you on Facebook? If you don't have an active page
on the social media giant, you may be missing out. There are some great
opportunities to promote your business via Facebook, allowing you to easily reach out to customers and potential customers.
Getting started on Facebook is simple, but read through the following tips and ideas to make the most of the experience.
1. Create a Facebook fan page:
Fan pages are a popular trend on Facebook, and one that hasn't died out
yet. Design an informative, inviting fan page for your business and
start inviting.
2. Create a Facebook group:
Groups are a more time-honored option than fan pages, and though they
tend to be less popular, they have more room for explanation and
information. Look into both fan pages and groups, and choose the one
that best suits your business profile and preferences.
3. Produce regular status updates:
If you go for days or even weeks without updating your page's status,
people are bound to forget your page exists—and may drop you entirely.
Set a schedule for updating your Facebook status and be faithful to it.
Prepare some updates in advance, and when you are too busy to post, you
can cut and paste in an instant.
4. Upload photos of company events:
Make sure someone has a camera on hand when you and your employees make
it big or have fun, and upload the photos to Facebook so people can see
the human side of your business.
5. Create events and invite the public via Facebook:
Any public events that you hold—charity dinners, informative luncheons,
or recruiting days—should have event pages on Facebook.
Putting your events online makes it easy for customers to remember what is coming up, and mark their calendars to attend.
6. Have employees sign up for marketing-specific Facebook profiles: A personal touch may be just what your company needs to have a friendly face in the online world.
7. Purchase Facebook ad credits:
Design a clever ad and link it to your web site, then purchase credit
for Facebook's sidebar, making it easy for customers to find you.
8. Link to blog entries.
Use the Share feature on your page or group to attach links to various
blog entries with explanations or teasers, and drive traffic to your
own site.
9. Connect your status updates with your Twitter account: To reduce the amount of work you do, have your Tweets automatically post to Facebook as status updates.
10. Remember that the rules change:
Facebook's Terms of Service are constantly being revised and updated,
so check back regularly to ensure that you are not violating any rules,
or missing out on the latest and greatest trends on Facebook.
