How to Use Facebook Effectively for Business
Posted by Lamees Abourahma on Fri, Sep 16, 2011 @ 09:09 AM
Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg
used it to get back on an ex-girl friend in 2004. President Barack Obama used it to win the Presidential Election in 2008. Egyption youth used it to start a revolution and throw down the government in 2010.
How can you use Facebook effectively in busienss?According to the Facebook Statistics page there are 750 million active users on Facebook. The substantial influence that Facebook bears in the marketplace is undeniable. Company giants like YouTube and Pringles have embraced the social media giant as an inexpensive and "must have" marketing tool to use to great advantage. Astute small businesses use Facebook as a way to compete with larger companies and affordably reach new customers. Facebook and other social media tools have leveled the playing field for smaller businesses, opening up a larger marketplace than would have ever been affordable on a small business budget, prior to the establishment of the social media.
Facebook for Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing is an Interent Marketing methodology that is based on getting found online by creating "remarkable" content and promoting the content with social media, like Facebook. HubSpot, is a marketing software company that is using Facebook very effectively in their Inbound Marketing strategy. In addition to the company's Facebook page, every employee at HubSpot has a Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, which they use to promote the company's very impressive library of remarkable resources as well as cover the never-ending customer and marketing activities that the company host.
Facebook For Lead Generation
One story about a small businessman operating a wedding photography business exemplifies the power of Facebook target marketing. Mr. Mayer, who was having little luck with his traditional marketing efforts finally struck gold when he spent $300 on Facebook marketing to generate $60,000 in wedding photography bookings. Lead generation is the lifeblood of any business. Facebook offers an affordable technique for business to target market for leads. Before trying Facebook, Mayer had advertised in a bridal magazine and marketed his services at a trade show, barely paying for the expense of the advertising with revenues earned as a result.
The other benefit to Facebook marketing is the instant feedback provided as soon as the advertising is released. This instant feedback allows a business professional to adjust quickly if the results are less than expected. Being able to change the marketing message quickly saves money and time, two resources that any business values.
Fan Gating or Like Gating in Facebook
When used properly, "fan gating" or "like gating" is a technique for quickly increasing a company's fan base. Visitors are required to become a fan to access enticing content, contest details or special deals. Companies lure potential fans in with the promise of something they want. Cheese and Burger Society used this application to devise a clever marketing campaign that allowed fans to send a cheeseburger to their friends.
Tab Applications Build a Large Following Fast
As the 5th largest Facebook page with 25,437,451 fans and counting, YouTube has proven how valuable tab applications are for building a following. The top videos and life in a day tabs used by YouTube have made this company's business page so much more interactive and interesting than a simple corporate Facebook wall that sounds like every other wall. Being creative and engaging fans pays big dividends for building loyalty and brand marketing purposes.
Build Your Fan Base
The more fans a business page attracts, the more exposure the business gets. For this reason, it is important to build the fan base population as large as possible. Pringles Facebook page uses videos to great advantage on their Facebook page. Funny videos are apt to go viral, being sent from fans to new prospective fans. Through the strategic use of videos, Pringles has set a good example for other companies to follow.
With millions of people already on Facebook and couting, chances are your customers, prospects, vendors and partners have joined or soon will join this social network. You might want to look into your existing business systems to figure out how to incorporate Facebook into your market research, lead generation, lead conversion, leadership and other business systems. This article presented some examples of companies who endorsed this social network and used it effectively for their business.
Do you know other compaies who are using Facebook well? We'd love for you to share these examples in our comments section.
