What Can Businesses Do on Facebook?

“Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.”
--Putt’s Law

It’s here: the new age of social media. By now you probably know that you can use Facebook to reconnect with old friends from high school, post photos and catch up on what your friends are doing, but did you know there are a lot of business goals you can accomplish on Facebook as well?

Here are my top four things businesses can do on Facebook:

1. Prospect for clients – People can be searched and segmented by narrow topic areas on social media, making it efficient to prospect for clients who may already have an interest in your product or service. Because in social media people opt in to join your group or become a fan of your company, you also have the benefit of a more motivated, interested audience than you might have in the offline world.

2. Listen to what people are saying/thinking about your company, industry and brand – You can use that information to develop new products and services that will appeal to your customers or to refine the products and services you currently have.

3. Develop better customer relations – By engaging more frequently with your customers in a way they enjoy and prefer, you strengthen the bonds between you.

4. Build your credibility and expertise – By being visible and active on social media, you increase the likelihood that when people think of your industry they think of you first.

Notice one thing I didn’t say was SELL, SELL, SELL. Social media has the potential to reach a huge potential market, but that doesn’t mean you immediately should sell to everyone in your network. That can be a real turn off and lead to people disconnecting from you online because it is so self-serving.

It’s like if you went to a party or networking event and you met some new people. You wouldn’t immediately whip out your product and ask them to buy it, right? Instead you might chat with them to get a better idea of their areas of interest and their needs, and if there seemed to be an overlap with what you were offering, you might give them your card and suggest they visit your company. It’s the same thing online. You need to build the relationships before people want to buy from you.

Facebook is great for building the know, like and trust factor that is so important for long-term success. Because since social media is so new there are people out there pushing their products in a very aggressive way, and it might make you think that’s an appropriate strategy. It’s not.

That doesn’t mean social media won’t help you sell your services, you just need to think of it with a longer timeline and in a more subtle way, compared to, “Okay I’ve set up my Facebook page so now I expect to see a 20% boost in sales this month.”

Facebook can be an important marketing tool for businesses when it is used effectively with reasonable goals.

Barbara Wayman, president of BlueTree Media, LLC, publishes The Stand Out Newsletter, an award-winning ezine for people who want to know how to leverage the power of marketing and public relations. Get your free subscription today at www.bluetreemedia.com/ezine.html

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.

©2009 Barbara Wayman, BlueTree Media, LLC.

The Smartest Thing I Did Last Year

“The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.” --John Ruskin

The rugged individualist, bravely doing it all by himself – it’s a familiar theme from Hollywood but not the best way to run a business. The smartest thing I did last year was make a commitment to get help and support in many different forms.

In addition to a crack team of web designers and programmers, a graphic artist, accountant, IT specialist, lawyer, assistant and virtual assistant, Team BlueTree also includes mentors and a board of advisors. You may be surprised to learn that some of my advisors I have never met. Some are not even living.

This is an idea I picked up from self-help author Napoleon Hill. He created an imaginary board of personal advisors made from great figures of history. He chose people like Napoleon, Lincoln, Jesus and Alexander the Great and held imaginary conversations with them whenever he had an important decision to make. Because he had studied their lives, he gained new viewpoints into the insights, observations and advice his advisors would give.

This is habit that anyone can do – identify and learn from the best in your industry, your hobby, in politics, culture or the arts. My imaginary board of advisors includes many successful women entrepreneurs who have blazed a trail for me to follow. Just because I don’t happen to personally know them doesn’t stop me from following in their footsteps and being inspired by them every day.

• TIP: Make a list of people you especially admire. The next time you have a decision to make or you’re just ruminating on some initial thoughts, ask yourself, what would so-and-so say about this situation? Note what new insights and observations come to your mind.

Barbara Wayman, president of BlueTree Media, LLC, publishes The Stand Out Newsletter, an award-winning ezine for people who want to know how to leverage the power of marketing and public relations. Get your free subscription today at www.bluetreemedia.com/ezine.html

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.

©2009 Barbara Wayman, BlueTree Media, LLC.