Friday, February 25, 2011

Facebook for Business

Its a fact, today's high-speed ease and exchange of information over the internet is revolutionizing the way business is done.  The day's of the self-proclaimed Mom and Dad's type stores will, if not already, diminish into a thing of the past. 

 The quick and efficient online marketing opportunities have opened up doors to cheap, efficient, and target advertising with facebook at its core.

The benefits of using facebook to enhance your business or increase clientele are larger today than ever before.



According to Bells and Whistles, a full Social Media service in Australia, the top five business benefits of Facebook are:

Benefit 1: BRANDING: Facebook is great for creating your bran and instilling it into people’s ideas about you. Creating a brand allows you to be more recognisable in the heavily occupied business world so it is important to be able to stand out.

Benefit 2: CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT: Entice, engage and invite customers to your business with a variety of marketing initiatives—promotions, contests, events, sales, special offers—which can all be advertised on your Facebook page.

Benefit 3: DRIVE WEB TRAFFIC: By including a link to your website on your Facebook page you are encouraging fans, friends or interested parties to visit your website, therefore increasing your web traffic—remember the more people to your website the better.

Benefit 4: REPUTATION MANAGEMENT: Having a Facebook account not only allows you to “speak directly” to your customers but it also allows you to see what they think of you, your business and may offer suggestions for improvement.

Benefit 5: ACQUISITION OF NEW CUSTOMERS: Find consumers who you may never have had contact with previously. Facebook has the ability to open up a new world of customers to you.

(The remainder of the list 6-15 can be found HERE.)

Besides what's listed above, the greatest benefit of all is the fact that Facebook is FREE!  Yes, it costs you as a business owner/entrepreneur absolutely no costs to create a Facebook page for your company.  There are not limits to the number of times you reach out to your fans on facebook informing them of upcoming sales, specials, etc.  There is also no limit to how many people you are able to reach through facebook.  You can gather as many fans as you'd like (if they'll accept), and your not charged for anything!


If you like what you've read, and would like to take advantage of this new and excpetional marketing tool, it's not hard to get started. 

Hubspot.com has a great tutorial that can easily get you started on your own business fan page.  Just click the following link: Getting Started


 
To the left is another video explaining the benefits, and will also walk you through the process of how to enter the correct information for your business.



I encourage any small business owner to give this a try!  After all, what is there to lose? 

Friday, February 11, 2011

Privacy Settings

There are certain things that should not be shared over social networks.  Whether its personal information such as phone numbers, home mailing adresses, or your social security number.  Although most people are aware of this, some are slightly ignorant of the fact that there are people in today's society who will feed off your personal information and make your life a living hell. The majority of social networking sites today have an extensive list of privacy settings that can assist with this. The video below explains the importance of keeping YOUR information to YOURSELF!



Although social networks can increase your "circle of friends" in can also invite people with less than friendly intentions.  OnGuard Online is a website that also describes the negative aspects of social media and the people that are looking to do more than be your "Friend".

As i've stated in my previous blog's, there are many reasons that we shouldn't share personal information with people.  We should also beware of who we add as friends on these networks.  Employers and college professors should be on the DON'T ADD list, for several reasons.  Becoming friends with professors could have a negative affect on your college career.  They may see pictures of you participating in extracurriculars such as drinking, which will give them a negative perception.  Same goes for employers, it's no secret that employers will look at your profile to find out what kind of person you are.