NETWORKING ON FACEBOOK

Social Media serves as a tool helping you, as a business person get your word out to many people at once.

Although Facebook was not originally intended as a professional tool, it certainly can be used effectively as a business tool and is definitely worth the investment of time and resources you have, in order to communicate whatever products or services you are offering as a business.

Facebook, as well as other online social networks, allow people to share valuable information and encourage those people to stay informed of what is going on in their social media communities. Their social network may be composed of personal relationships or professional relationships.

If you use Facebook as a professional tool, the rules of behavior will be different than if you are using it purely for personal use. Because of the fact that so many people visit Facebook on an regular basis, you would be missing out if you didn’t include it in your online marketing strategy.

When considering the people with whom you share professional relationships through Facebook, remember to always consider their needs and help them to solve their problems, as is the case with all of your online relationships. Also, try to discuss topics that you feel will be of interest to them.

If you want to leave a lasting impression on your readers, you need to have a clever marketing campaign. Your goal is to stand out from the rest. The following are simple, yet effective steps for using Facebook for professional purposes

1) Uploading your graphic image:

It is important to upload a good-quality photograph of you so that people can see what you look like. If they can see you, they will be able to relate to you more easily and will eventually be more inclined to do business with you. 

2) Writing a good Biography: 

You need a biography that describes who you are and what you are doing in a compelling manner. Remember that you have very little time to capture the attention of your readers so you better make it good. 

3) Make your Facebook profile as detailed and interesting as possible: 

It is acceptable to mix some personal and professional details on your Facebook profile. You need to make sure that you seem human so that your readers really feel that they can relate to you on a personal level.

4) Creating content:

Facebook provides you with a golden opportunity to share information about your business and about you as you relate to your business. By taking advantage of this, you will be positioning yourself as an industry leader and a subject matter expert.

5) Networking:

Facebook is an excellent social media channel for networking. You should network as much as possible with people who share your professional interests and goals. You need to identify and get to know the leaders in your industry. Make sure that when you are committing yourself to using Facebook for business, you don’t get distracted by the personal aspect of Facebook, which is very easy to do ;-)

Conclusion

People tend to spend a great deal of time on Facebook, time that they choose to spend there instead of on other sites on the Internet. Facebook has very little competition in that regard. Facebook is a social media network where people share life events, photographs, and establish new relationships as well as maintaining and strengthening already existing relationships.

Facebook Business Pages are an appropriate and effective way to use Facebook for marketing. With Business Pages, people don’t need to wait to be accepted by the person who owns the Page. They can immediately become a Fan by simply liking the page of their choice in one single click.

Facebook Business Pages allow you to interact with people of the general public. They are an opportunity and an effective way to build professional relationships. Not only will you be building professional relationships, but you also have the potential to increase your business. Just remember not to inundate your Fans with too many promotions and hard sells. You certainly don’t want them to feel that you are spamming them. The same is in the opposite instance where you neglect your Fan Page. It will only work and function to your advantage if you have a consistant flow of information to your various Social Media Sites.

If you ask yourself whether Facebook is good for business, the answer is definitely yes. However, it is very important to separate your business relationships from your person relationships on Facebook.

Facebook will prove to be a wonderful marketing tool that will make a large contribution to the ultimate success of your business

FACEBOOK ETIQUETTE FOR BUSINESS

Your personal Facebook and Facebook Business Page should remain relatively separate in order to keep your business branding professional. There are different etiquette standards for each, of course, there will be times when you have a Facebook friend who is also a Facebook fan.

Many business owners (the same business owners who initially only considered Facebook to be a social media site that they forbid their employees from using during work hours) have discovered its potential for extremely effective selling and business relationship building.

Your content in the two different types of Facebook accounts should be different and the language of communication should be different when speaking to your fans (people who have 'liked' your business page) when compared to the style of communication with your personal friends.

The benefits of a Facebook BUSINESS PAGE.

If you publish content on your Facebook Business Page, you have a good chance that it will be included in search engine results, which may, in turn, strengthen your chances of good search engine optimization (SEO).

Facebook Insights ( analytics ) which Facebook sends out to all Page Admins and Page Owners once a week, allows you to measure and monitor your effectiveness on Facebook.

If a person wants to become your fan on a Facebook business page, he or she does not have to display his or her personal profile to be able to connect with your business. This eliminates the privacy concerns that many people have.

There are many things that you should do when you have a Facebook business page to generate more business. There are also things that you should NOT do when you have a professional page because it may not be appropriate and will not produce any positive results.

Do's

Promote your upcoming events: If you are holding an event (in a physical location), make sure that you let your professional Facebook connections know about it. Give them as many details as possible to encourage them to attend the event. Chances are very good, if your professional connections are situated locally that they will be able to attend your event. They may well in turn also encourage some of their business connections to attend. You have a good chance of continuing the relationships with those business connections if you have been able to interact with them at your event first. You will see that they will keep coming back to you to do business.

Offer online coupons OR special offers: A powerful way to entice people to buy what you are selling is to post “online only” coupons on your Business Page wall for your products/services. The coupons should offer some appealing discount or bonus offer and the incentive will be that anyone who orders from your business’s Facebook page will be able to take advantage of the promotion. This will go a long way toward turning regular customers into loyal customers. You are expressing gratitude toward them for going above and beyond when it comes to following you. The strategy will strengthen the bond in your relationship.

Product research: The customers who target your business and become your fan on Facebook are probably much more interested in your business than average customers. Those people will be more than happy to provide you with feedback for your business that is valuable for your business. This will give you very valuable insight into what your customers are thinking and what they would like your business to offer and it will also clearly communicate to them that their opinions, feelings and ideas are valued by you and your business.

Don’ts

There are certain etiquette rules that you must follow no matter which type of Business Page you choose.

Don’t post on your wall numerous times a day: No matter what you are trying to market, don’t post numerous times on your wall. This will definitely annoy people more than intrigue them. (ie: you want to avoid coming across as SPAM)

Friend requests: You shouldn’t send out a friend request accompanied by information on your business. Build the relationship 1^st and then share your Business with them once trust and credibility is established.

Don’t ignore your fans: It is essential that people feel that you and your business are approachable and that feedback is welcomed and will be taken seriously. However, you need to be discriminating when it comes to responding to feedback. There is definitely a balance that you need to achieve when it comes to feedback response. You don’t want to ignore the comments that you receive. If you do that, before very long, people will stop paying attention to you and your business. You should consider which type of comments will help you to strengthen your reputation and exposure as a business owner. Your responses to feedback will generate content (through discussions) and in turn may generate other people responding to you in turn. The more discussions that occur, results in more exposure for your Business.

Conclusion for Personal and Business Facebook Accounts

Whether you are more comfortable interacting through your personal Facebook account or your Facebook business page, it is very important to follow the appropriate rules of etiquette. You should state, up front, what your intentions are when you approach someone about connecting with them. In this world of social media, it doesn’t take a very long time or a great deal of effort for people to get annoyed by your interacting with them if you do it too frequently or too aggressively. Always respect boundaries and be sensitive to those you interact with on social media.

You need to make sure that you are always sensitive and that you are providing people with helpful and informative information that gives them exactly what they need and want in the quantity that is good and comfortable for them.

A good suggestion is to write a blog article no less than once a month. Post to either Facebook or Twitter a max of once daily and a minimum of twice weekly. Please note that minimal flow of information will stump your Page growth, therefore its essential to allow for a consistant flow of information on your social media sites. If there is no flow of information- there will be no growth of your followers and fan base ;-)

For any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact Chanel by simply clicking HERE to email her. We are always happy to advise and help our fellow business owners and entrepreneurs. Please also like us on Facebook to stay in touch by simply clicking HERE to see our Page.