Social Media

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Does Your Business Need a Facebook Presence? Amanda G. Watlington, Ph.D., A.P.R. - Searching for Profit - May 19, 2009

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The business pages are all abuzz with articles and information on the rapid growth of social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter. Businesses large and small are asking themselves whether they need to have a presence on these social networking sites and are busily trying to figure out how to fit social media into their marketing plans.

Have you already set up a Facebook page? If you haven't yet built a presence, here are some things to consider before setting up a Facebook page for your small business. If you already have a Facebook presence, future articles will present a number of ideas that you can use to make Facebook an effective part of your business' marketing efforts.

Before you begin using social media applications like Facebook, take stock of yourself, how you market and what types of marketing efforts have been most successful for your small business. With over half of the Internet population accessing social networking applications on a regular basis, it is imperative for every small business to determine whether these are the appropriate media to reach the huge audiences that frequent these sites. In the end, you may find Facebook a valuable addition to your marketing mix or decide that it is not appropriate for your business, because it does not fit your go-to-market model.

Your Social Style

As a small business owner, you are the face of the business, and, like it or not, the business reflects your personality. If you are a highly social individual, a person who makes and stays in touch with large numbers of people, then you probably already have a Facebook page and want to know how to make it more effective. Facebook is an excellent application for staying in touch in a very personal way with many individuals. Not every successful small business owner is a "hale fellow well met," totally connected friend to everyone. If you tend to be more aloof and prefer to connect with your prospects and customers in a more low-key, somewhat more private mode, then you might want to consider using an application such as LinkedIn for maintaining your business social network.

Separating Business and Social Spheres

Before you decide to use Facebook for marketing your business presence, try setting up a personal page for yourself and get used to using the tools and features that Facebook offers. While you are familiarizing yourself with Facebook, pay particular attention to learn how to use the tools to manage your identity and keep separate your personal and business social spheres. If you anticipate using your personal page as your business page, then you'll want to carefully separate your social and business spheres. Let's say you are an avid golfer and run a small business. You must decide if it is appropriate for all of your golf buddies to be on your Facebook page, posting pictures that may not project a strong business image. Do you want friends at a party to become part of the viewable record that you present to all of your social networks  -- good friends and business acquaintances?

While you are learning to use the tools and manage your Facebook account, do some valuable market research by asking your clients and prospects if they are on Facebook and by asking them to join your network. Also, you can use the search functions of Facebook to identify other individuals who are already on Facebook. You will be surprised at how many of them are using these social networks.

Social Etiquette for Social Media

These are difficult economic times, and everyone is looking for ways to market most economically. If you have the time to devote to building and using your social network for marketing, social media may have marketing potential for you. Before you consider how you will leverage your friends and associates on Facebook and in other social networks, it is important to learn the etiquette appropriate for social media marketing. Remember that this is your network of friends. You do not want to loudly broadcast your message as you would with a traditional advertisement, but rather to influence your friends politely. Join the conversation, build a personal Facebook presence, and you will quickly see what it offers for you in the future.

Amanda Watlington, our New Media expert columnist, is the principal of Searching for Profit (www.searchingforprofit.com), Charleston, Massachusetts, a marketing consultancy which focuses on developing business results for clients adopting new marketing strategies.