Advantages of Facebook Business Pages
1. Interact with Customers on a Personal Level
How many times have you gotten new business through a friend or client referral? In business it's all about who you know, and Facebook provides a great way to network, get to know more people and maintain friendly relationships with current clients. Most businesses look for ways to get personal with clients, whether they use a warm greeting card around the holidays, an event or party, or just by stopping by their office. These kind of casual connections make for great business relationships.
A Facebook page gives your business a way to interact with potential clients in a casual and non-threatening environment where they are relaxed, open to communicate, and receptive to ideas. You're not talking “at them” like in traditional marketing, you're talking “with them” - it's a two way conversation. Clients can leave messages, comment on useful articles, and interact with your company in a personal and direct way. You are removing barriers between the personal and professional, and positioning your company to be a resource of information, ideas, and fun things to come. Who doesn't want clients to view them in this light?
2. Search Engine Optimization
You may have noticed this, but when a business has a Facebook page, and you type in the company name into Google, their Facebook page comes up in the top results along with their website. Facebook allows you to help customers find you more easily (sometimes above the similarly-named competition) and allows you to control the search results that come up on the first page of Google a little more. We all love control!
Also, by adding a social media component to your website with constantly changing content, you are helping your website get ranked higher by Google, which also helps your chances of being found by potential customers. Google is partial to pages that have recently updated content, and one of the ways this can be accomplished is by adding a blog or a Facebook fan box to your site, as we have done. (Check out our website www.harrismediadirect.com for an example). Having a Facebook page is another way (besides your website) that clients and potential customers can get to know you – and hopefully call on you for business.
3. Gain Your Client's Attention
Facebook gives your business the ability to update clients about important events, or to remind them about a special offer or promotion through status updates, messages and event invitations. When you have a Facebook page it is the equivalent of having email newsletter subscribers – except these subscribers will see the information you posted right alongside the status updates of their friends, family members and acquaintances. They'll see your update: “40% Off Widgets at ______ – Today and Tomorrow Only! View our page for more information!” right next to their friends update: “I'm getting married!” This makes your company's update much more difficult to ignore than an email, and your fans much more likely to act upon the information you post. Also, if you send out a message or an event invitation, it will go directly to their Facebook inbox, and definitely not to their email carrier's spam filter, where emails sometimes end up.
Now you may be saying “But my clients are in their 30's, 40's and 50's – they don't use Facebook.” I'm here to tell you that these ages are seeing the highest increases in Facebook use by far! According to an analytics report on Facebook user demographics by the company iStrategyLabs, between January 4 and July 4, 2009 the number of users who are aged 35 to 54 has grown 190.2%, while the number of users older than 55 years has grown a tremendous 513.7%.
1. Interact with Customers on a Personal Level
How many times have you gotten new business through a friend or client referral? In business it's all about who you know, and Facebook provides a great way to network, get to know more people and maintain friendly relationships with current clients. Most businesses look for ways to get personal with clients, whether they use a warm greeting card around the holidays, an event or party, or just by stopping by their office. These kind of casual connections make for great business relationships.
A Facebook page gives your business a way to interact with potential clients in a casual and non-threatening environment where they are relaxed, open to communicate, and receptive to ideas. You're not talking “at them” like in traditional marketing, you're talking “with them” - it's a two way conversation. Clients can leave messages, comment on useful articles, and interact with your company in a personal and direct way. You are removing barriers between the personal and professional, and positioning your company to be a resource of information, ideas, and fun things to come. Who doesn't want clients to view them in this light?
2. Search Engine Optimization
You may have noticed this, but when a business has a Facebook page, and you type in the company name into Google, their Facebook page comes up in the top results along with their website. Facebook allows you to help customers find you more easily (sometimes above the similarly-named competition) and allows you to control the search results that come up on the first page of Google a little more. We all love control!
Also, by adding a social media component to your website with constantly changing content, you are helping your website get ranked higher by Google, which also helps your chances of being found by potential customers. Google is partial to pages that have recently updated content, and one of the ways this can be accomplished is by adding a blog or a Facebook fan box to your site, as we have done. (Check out our website www.harrismediadirect.com for an example). Having a Facebook page is another way (besides your website) that clients and potential customers can get to know you – and hopefully call on you for business.
3. Gain Your Client's Attention
Facebook gives your business the ability to update clients about important events, or to remind them about a special offer or promotion through status updates, messages and event invitations. When you have a Facebook page it is the equivalent of having email newsletter subscribers – except these subscribers will see the information you posted right alongside the status updates of their friends, family members and acquaintances. They'll see your update: “40% Off Widgets at ______ – Today and Tomorrow Only! View our page for more information!” right next to their friends update: “I'm getting married!” This makes your company's update much more difficult to ignore than an email, and your fans much more likely to act upon the information you post. Also, if you send out a message or an event invitation, it will go directly to their Facebook inbox, and definitely not to their email carrier's spam filter, where emails sometimes end up.
Now you may be saying “But my clients are in their 30's, 40's and 50's – they don't use Facebook.” I'm here to tell you that these ages are seeing the highest increases in Facebook use by far! According to an analytics report on Facebook user demographics by the company iStrategyLabs, between January 4 and July 4, 2009 the number of users who are aged 35 to 54 has grown 190.2%, while the number of users older than 55 years has grown a tremendous 513.7%.
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