Posted 14 years ago on 5/23/2010 and updated 12/6/2010
Take Away:
Currently Facebook is the "it" website for social networking. Create a business page for your business, but ONLY if you‘re going to post business stuff to it at least once a month. A simple approach is to show the more social side of your business. Yes, you can post company happenings like specials, awards you‘ve won, events you‘re attending, and company functions like company picnics and get togethers.
You have to have a personal account, but if you really don‘t want to be on Facebook, you can create a personal Facebook account and only use it for business. This approach allows you to friend clients and interact with them, but you‘ll have to be disciplined and keep your family and true friends off of it, and keep it business focused. Meaning, like the old days, keep your politics, religion, and sex to yourself. You‘ll have to act within your personal Facebook page like you act at the office--professionally at all times.
If you already have a personal account, create a Facebook page for your business. If you don‘t wish to mix personal info with business, set your privacy settings to friends-of-friends and direct business-folk to your page. Facebook groups are limited to 5,000 members and are used for family, or friends, or club-like activity. However, if your club activity is public, it is better to use a fan page any way. Just like your public account, fan pages are indexed by the search engines but groups are not.
This article is part of our Internet Marketing knowledge base. Before you implement this checklist, have a plan. Read my Social Networking Business Strategies article.
Facebook Checklist
Currently Facebook is the "it" website for social networking. Facebook replaced MySpace which replaced AOL which replaced Compuserve which replaced Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs).
The following is our checklist for setting up a business Facebook account. For questions, refer to the Facebook Business Help pages.
Must-Do List
Create a personal Facebook account. Facebook offers both personal and business accounts: More Info.
Note: Facebook wants you to use a personal account whether it‘s for business or personal. There business account is actually not a full account!! They are designed for individuals who only want to use facebook to administer Pages and their ad campaigns. Business accounts, for example, cannot view the profiles of users on the site or other content on the site that does not live on the Pages they administer. In addition, business accounts cannot be found in search and cannot send or receive friend requests.
Fill out your profile as complete as possible. This will avoid potential abuse conflicts. If you have an incomplete account with little to no posts, Facebook may think you‘re a Russian bot.
Hide your birthday to make your page look more business-like.
Uncheck Show Sex for same reason.
Leave your political views and religious views blank (inappropriate for a business page).
Install appropriate applications to integrate feeds from your blog and other social media accounts into your Facebook profile. (Although you should be careful before integrating your Twitter feed into your Facebook profile, as a stream of tweets can seem overwhelming to your contacts.)
Keep any personal parts of your profile private through Settings(friends-of-friends may be your best choice).
Use friends lists if your business warrants. If you‘re mixing personal and business in a single Facebook account, consider using friends lists such as Work andFriends greater control over your profile privacy.
Post your newsletter subscription information and archives somewhere in your profile.
Add your Facebook URL to your email signature. Although I don‘t usually recommend it, you can even consider adding it to your marketing collateral such as business cards.
Use Facebook Connect to add social networking features to your web site.
Ongoing To-Do List
Post Pictures - Post business work-oriented pictures to humanize your company. Even small businesses of just a few employees should consider doing this.
News - Post business updates on your wall. Focus on business activities, such as Working with ABC Company on web site redesign.
Content - Post topical and current articles (linksare OK).This helps establish credibility.
If you conduct surveys, consider sharing survey data.
Coupons - Market your products and servicesby posting Facebook-exclusive discounts.
Group or Fan page - Start a group or fan page. Start a fan page ifyou have a single primary service or product,you‘re famous, your brand isfamous, or your clients are very loyal; otherwise, start a group.
Add basic information to the group or fan page such as links to company site, newsletter subscription information and newsletter archives.
Host an Event - Just like eVite, you can manage an event (post info, invite guests, review replies, etc.)
Tip: Use the Events Calendar app instead of the standard Events app so that you can add recurring events to your account and fan pages. Then delete the standard Events tab.
Photo Albums - You can have as many photo albums as you want. Humanize your company by creating a photo album of your last company picnic or other event.
Working-It!
The following are some ideas on how to get the most out of social networking. If you‘re a small business, you‘ll have to pick and choose from this list. Large companies can dedicate an employee to these tasks.
Before traveling, check contacts locations so you can meet with those in the city where you‘re heading.
Research prospects before meeting or contacting them.
Use Find Friends for suggestions of other people you may know to expand your network even further.
Look for mutual contacts on your contacts friends lists.
Find experts in your field and invite them as a guest blogger on your blogor speaker at your event.
Suggest Friends to clients and colleagues by helping them, you establish trust.
Post upcoming events such as webinars and other programs where you or someone from your company will be present.
Facebook FAQ
If I have a Facebook account, do I still need a business website?
Yes. A Facebook account is not a website. A Facebook business page is not good enough either. At a minimum, a traditional website is an interactive brochure of your products, services, contact info, etc. Plus, not everyone is on Facebook.
Can I separate my personal and business?
Yes, your personal facebook account is for you. If you post inappropriate posts, do NOT allow clients to friend you. Redirect them to your business page. Keep your account personal Facebook does not want you to create multiple accounts for yourself so you have to truly separate your own personal account from your business account and they cannot appear to be linked in any significant way. Although Facebook offers a true business page for businesses.
I have personal pictures and info on my Facebook page, can I clean that up?
Sure, but you should clearly separate your personal stuff (you) from your business (not you). Instead of cleaning it up, make it private and redirect business related people to your page.
If I‘m doing Google Adwords (or something like that), do I need social networking? How to the two fit together and/or compare?
They are separate things. Adwords pushes ads onto other websites that you pay for. Social networking on Facebook is free and you have to draw people to your Facebook page.
How do blogs relate to social networking?
Blogs are about publishing info and not about meeting people, but are one of the best techniques for drawing people to your business. But, you do have to post. My recommendation is to start a blog ONLY if you can post fresh material weekly. One article per week at a minimum. The article can be short, a link, a joke, etc. But, you should have one significant article per month. Alternatively, you could use a blog as a monthly, or quarterly newsletter. That approach allows you to collect stuff every month or every three months, organize it into a single "newsletter" like page, and post it. You just have to get in the habit of collecting material on a regular basis so you have more than enough material and can weed out the less important items.
Reciprocal Back Links
Exchange Links with the PrestwoodBoards.com!
As a final note, you can include our online community as part of your internet promotion model. Back links are important in that they increase the visibility and importance of your website. Search engines count the number of links to a website and use it to rank the website. So, in addition to linking to/from social networks such as Facebook, find additional web pages you can post links to your websites. Start a blog or a Prestwood Home Page! To get started, join our website and fill out your profile completely.
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