Does your business need a Facebook page? Are you hearing rumblings that the only way to market these days is lose the old ways and go web 2.0?
I’ll be focusing my posts on what’s going on with social networking and how it can help your business and when it might just be a waste of time.
Lets look at Facebook first. Facebook started as a site for college kids and many folks thought it jumped the shark when it opened it up to the rest of us. But it’s just not the case. Facebook currently has more than 120 million active members.
Depending on your business, having a Facebook page could be a bonus.
So far the best use I’ve seen on Facebook is for businesses that host events (wine stores, bars and pubs, clubs, event venues) and has the potential to be a good outreach tool for designers and programmers. Other groups that are learning to use Facebook successfully include higher ed, alumni group, non-profits and anyone involved in fundraising.
The first question to ask yourself is <span style=”font-weight:bold;”>how old is your target audience?</span> Since Facebook started disproportionately as a tool for college kids, it still skews young. I don’t know too many people over 40 on the site. (This is from experience not trusted market research.)
Facebook allows for business profiles and groups. In both cases, people can become fans of your page or group and you can send notes and invitations to all of your fans at once. Because this is “social networking” you’ll have to get used to the fact that your “fans” can post on your page and add comments good, bad and ugly.. but we all know that just means we need to really offer excellent service.
Some bars are sending out notices for every band that plays or updating their beer and wine list, but why not go a step farther and offer trivia quizzes, and small give-aways. You could give 5 free drink coupons to the first person to bring you ten new fans or put together some kind of “easter egg” hunt for local businesses where the first person who becomes a fan and answers a question about each participating business wins a gift certificate to one of the stores.
More later!
