Using Facebook for Business

Its 2011, a website doesn’t have to be the only place people can find you online. Sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and of course Facebook give you many other opportunities to present your business or your brand.  In Northern Ireland we tend to us Facebook more to promote business than most other social networks (with a few exceptions).

This guys knows a thing or 2 about Facebook

An Excellent Business Tool

Facebook is an excellent business tool. Not only is it a place where you can talk to friends, it can be utilized for your online business too. Use it to market your services or products, obtain business and keep in contact with your clients and customers.

Sign up for a Business Account

If you don’t have a business account on Facebook, then you need to sign up today. Make sure that you scan all the guidelines for doing business on Facebook and follow them faithfully. You’ll need to incorporate the proper apps so you can include feeds from your other social media accounts too. If you don’t want to share certain parts of your profile with the public, make sure that the information is cached away when setting up your account.

Begin a Fan Page for your Company

Gekkoshot fan page

You can also use Facebook to secure and purchase ads for your business and begin a fan page for your company. Include URL links to your website or, say, provide subscription information for your company’s newsletter. Facebook is also a good place to announce any webinars you will be hosting. Make full use of Facebook. Keep all your information current and develop your reputation as a credible source on the Internet.

Keep your Social Contacts and Pictures Organized

Keep your social lists managed, placing business acquaintances under the “Work” heading and of course your family contacts under the heading tab for “Family.” Obviously, Facebook is about presenting your best face forward, so you’ll want to add images of yourself that enforce your “brand identity.” Just make sure that your business photos are solely seen by  professional contacts and your personal photos are only displayed for family and close friends.

Include your Facebook URL in your Business Emails

A great way to highlight your presence on Facebook too is by informing your clients or potential customers that you can send them product or service updates via a newsletter. Also, you’ll want to acquire a Facebook URL and provide it to people who buy your services or products. Make it doubly easy to find you and correspond with you by including the URL in your emails or with any promotions material that you send to business friends and clients.

Link to Other Social Networking Sites

Facebook is a great business vehicle to share the latest product or service information and to provide subject expertise that can establish your credibility online. Therefore, make sure you don’t overlook adding any links to topical articles on your Facebook wall. In fact, make optimum use of links for all your media contacts. If you write a blog post, for instance, that is in response to a question you may have answered on StumbleUpon, make maximum use out of social networking by linking that post to your Facebook or Twitter accounts as well.

Showcase your Expertise

Add email contacts to your Facebook connections too. Of course, the “Find Friends” feature on Facebook can help you to expand you client base as well. You can tell your customers on Facebook about any special sales or increase your brand recognition and influence by remarking on research related to your product or service too.

Final thoughts, right from the horses mouth

Dont mess with the Zuckerberg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqSroLbXU_c

About the author

Woz - Warren Giffin is a web designer working with Dan Rubik and Prandeep Kolash within Gekkoshot. Die hard PC fan, slooooooowly converting to Mac. Follow me on twitter @warrengiffin