Jan
21

10 Ways to Build Your Business on Facebook

Wed Jan, 2009 by Derek Mehraban

Facebook is the easiest social networking site to use. It’s a great way to share photos, connect with old friends, and keep everyone up-to-date on what’s happening in your life. The question is, how can we use Facebook for business? Should business and Facebook even mix?

I say they can mix. And I have created a list of 10 ways to use Facebook for business. I hope you can learn something here. 

1. Connect with people. The larger your network, the more impact you can have to grow your business. Let your light shine and connect with the ones who can spread your message for you. I currently have 875 friends on Facebook, and it’s great to be connected with so many quality people.
2. Create pages and groups around. This is a great way to build community, and get people behind your brand or favorite cause. The LA2M community is growing large on Facebook, my Ingenex Digital Page could use a few more fans.
3. Be enthusiastic and consistent in all your efforts. Any social media presence on Facebook needs a social person behind it to build buzz. Empower someone in your oganization to be this person and have them build a community around your brand. Scott Monty does a great job of this for Ford Motor Company.
4. Show your personality. Facebook allows you to upload photos and video and share them with your entire network. Sure you can use YouTube and Vimeo and Flickr for photos and video too, then you post all your video and photos on Facebook with the click of a button. Charlie Wolborg has some fun videos he uploads from his vlog.
5. Comment on people’s status. A great way to show you care and build relationships with people is to comment on their status. With Facebook it’s easy to talk to our friends weekly as opposed to yearly, or completely losing connection. It facilitates connection. All these comments show up on their wall. For tips on how to use your wall click here.
6. Facebook Events are one of my favorite features. LA2M posts our events on Facebook, and everyone can say whether they are attending or not. Love it! The one thing is, nobody is “really” committed to coming if they say they are on FB, so it’s not the most accurate RSVP mechanism. You may want to use Evite for that.
7. Use Facebook ads. To build your brand you can buy some advertising on Facebook. These ads allow you to target by location, demographic, interests, and more. It’s a great way to put your logo up in front of people. And they most likely will not click on it, so the billboard like presence is good value for you on a PPC model.
8. Open up your office security networks to allow your employees to use Facebook at work. And then empower them to be fans of your company, share information, and be ambassadors for your brand. Firewalls will keep employees focused, but it will also keep them from talking about your company on Facebook.
9. Keep up with people you know in business on Facebook. I encourage you to let your guard down and socialize with people you do business with. This is a fabulous way to build relationships and have fun. Because if business is not fun – why do it. For more fun business tips visit Seth Godin’s blog.
10. Share links. You can take links from your company web page and share them on Facebook through the posted items application. If you have something worthy to share, share it with your network. Post it to your group or page. This keeps your network in touch with your web site, and is a good way to drive new visitors to your site.

For more on the Linkedin vs. Facebook Debate visit this post.

For Chris Brogan’s thoughts on Facebook Fan Pages.

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