By Amanda Bala

You have finally made the leap.  You went ahead and opened that Facebook account.  But now… do you know how to use it effectively?  In our last article, we talked about why FB is important to businesses.  Now let’s talk a bit about the Dos and Don’ts of Facebook etiquette.  What do you need to do to be a business success on Facebook? 

The first rule you should stick to when using FB for your business, is just that.  Keep it about your business.  Use separate pages for your personal account and your business.  Your clients and potential clients do not need to know what you did this past Friday night, or see the photos of your family birthday parties.  That being said, you do want to bring your personality into your business page.  You want your site to be visually satisfying and inviting to those who visit.  You need to be open and friendly on your site to encourage your fans to recommend it or participate on it.  How do you do this? 

First of all, you need to get fans to your site.  You can achieve this several different ways.  You can send a request out through your personal page asking your friends to become fans of your business.  You can also ask your family and friends to send requests out through their personal pages as well.  This is an inexpensive and easy way to get your fan base started.  It does not take a lot of time and is a good beginning.  Another avenue you can try is to advertise on FB by purchasing ad space.  These ads can be targeted by geography, demographic, age, interests, etc.  You name your price and it is a pay per click model.  The key here is to be sure that the money and time invested will bring you the return you are looking for. 

Now once you have fans, what should you post?  You want to be engaging with your FB posts.  You want to add things that encourage thought and discussion.  You can post news about your business or things happening in your field of expertise.  You can post reminders of upcoming events.  Photos and videos are great to add to your wall.  However, be sure that the posts are specific to your business and appropriate to those that will see them.  Again, it is all about balancing the personal with the professional.  Some other fun ways to generate traffic to your FB page is to share interesting and thought provoking questions.  You can even put a few controversial ideas out there.  When going this route, be careful that you do not take on any topics that could be considered too offensive.  However, if there is something controversial happening in your field, put it out there.  People love to discuss current events!

Now, the other side of the coin… what should you stay away from?  Again, you do not want to be overly personal. You also want to stay away from the hard sell.  Nothing turns a new FB fan off faster than getting several notifications in a row trying to be sold something.  Another good rule is to refrain from making derogatory comments about your competition.  It is great to keep up on what your competition is doing, but no one wants to hear you bashing another company online.  Lastly, keep it professional.  Profanity, offensive language and suggestive innuendo are all big No-No’s for your FB page. 

In the end, you want to come across as professional but friendly on your FB business page.  The goal is to get more fans, to get more referrals, to get more people looking at and talking about your business.  You want to give them a reason to come to you as opposed to your competition.  You have taken the time to put together a Facebook page for your business.  Be sure that your online actions are actually helping, not hindering your efforts.

By Amanda Bala

With the ever increasing popularity of social media sites that exist today, it can be difficult to choose which sites you want to partake in.  One of the largest and most commonly used sites is Facebook.  You would pretty much have to be living on another planet to not have heard about this social media giant. Facebook is one of the fastest growing social media sites in existence.  It has over 500 million active users and of these users 50% log on at least once a day.  The average user has 130 friends.  People spend over 700 billion minutes on Facebook a month!  This is not just in the United States alone.  Actually, 70% of Facebook activity is from other countries and there are over 70 different translations available.  What does all this mean for you?

When discussing Facebook, most people would agree that it is a site to connect with friends, both old and new, plus reach out to relatives and colleagues.  However, Facebook offers a lot more than just socialization.  Facebook is changing the way consumers purchase their products.  Think about it, 5 years ago people looked at circulars, went into stores, saw ads on TV or heard them on the radio and often searched the internet to find products.  Now, television and radio commercials are becoming a thing of the past.  Nearly 50% of DVR users fast forward through the commercials of recorded programs.  Also, with the increase in satellite radio, commercials are being lost from that media as well.  When is the last time you actually read through a circular?

Where is the marketing shift going?  Into social media sites!  An expectant mother wants to find the best stroller for her child.  She can search through ads in the paper, even check online for consumer reports.  However, when it comes right down to it, who will she trust?  The people she knows.  With a simple post on Facebook, she can ask hundreds of her friends and family what strollers they liked and why.  She can find out pros and cons of different models that might not be apparent in ads.  She can get opinions from the people she knows and whose knowledge she values. 

Companies and businesses have to be in tune with this marketing shift.  It is not a fleeting fad.  It took radio 38 years to reach 50 millions users, with television it was 13 years, the internet was 4 years.  Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months.  If Facebook was its own country, it would rank as the 4^th largest after China, India and the US.  Think of all the potential sales that exist in that market.  The untapped resources that are available with the simple click on a button.  Now is the time… Are you there yet?