Ever since the emergence of social media websites and Web 2.0, people have been flocking to them. Nowadays, everybody has a Facebook account. It took Facebook less than 9 months to get to 100 million users. There are a lot of benefits that you can get out of Facebook as a business owner or entrepreneur. The most obvious benefit to you as an individual is for you to stay connected with friends and family all over the world. Facebook is also great for you as a business owner. It’s one great way for you to stay connected and interact with your customers.
You need to really think out of the box if you are planning to market your business online. Here are 5 ways for you to use Facebook as a means of communication with your customers:
Create a Facebook page instead of using a personal profile for business- This should be the first step you should do in optimizing your business for social media. It’s free and it’s customizable. You can create additional tabs that would have relevant information on your business. Plus there’s no limit as to how many people on Facebook can like your page. If you tried to set up a profile for your business instead of a page not only are you breaching Facebook’s terms of service but you have a limit on the number of people you can connect with in a profile. Once your page has been “liked” all the posts and updates on your page will be visible on Facebook walls of the people who liked your page.
Invite new prospects and existing clients to like your page- This is one good strategy to start with. Facebook has no limits as to how many people can be added to your network. This way you can still be in touch with your previous clients while being equally active in finding leads for new ones.
Create groups- By creating groups, you make a more intimate setting for you and your clients and prospects. This way you can post discussion topics where clients can interact with each other and interact with you. These groups may be public, private or by invitation only
Show what you are selling- Facebook allows you to upload pictures individually or by album. This is a great way of showcasing your portfolio or your products. If you sell products, you may want to also add the ability to buy products from your Facebook Page
Add RSS feeds to your profile- You can add blog feeds to your notes. This is one great way of getting new people to read your articles and can even drive them back to your blog bringing more traffic. It can also help for SEO and to build your brand.
Facebook has become an increasingly important tool for any small business both for Search Engine Optimisation and for Customer Service. By carefully studying what Facebook can do for your business, you can create marketing strategies and campaigns that would certainly get you more leads and then you can turn these leads in to more customers.