subject: Harnessing Facebook For Small Business Owners [print this page] What do social media and small businesses have in common? A lot, once you think deeply about it. The recurring problem with a small business is the really tight limit on expenditures, and we all know how costly marketing and advertising can be. But thanks to social networking, this limit is starting to disappear, because these tools empower you in so many ways.
In this article, we will understand what Facebook can do for your business.
Why Facebook?
The first and most obvious question in people's minds is 'why should one even consider the Facebook platform for launching one's business?' For this, you need to look at some of the facts. Even if you don't personally have a Facebook presence, it is pertinent to note that Facebook has 400 million active users, and growing. Also, almost half of these users are active on any given day. That's an immense market waiting to be tapped. Moreover, Facebook has been designed to promote people and services, and not just create profiles and chat with friends.
- Cost and Reach
The two things one needs to look at when using any type of marketing medium are cost and reach. And in both of these areas, Facebook has a clear advantage. When it comes to cost, Facebook promotion is literally free, and you need to pay only when you go for some advanced advertising techniques. Facebook is very popular, and people are beginning to trust it more and more. One can leverage this trust that people have on the website, and pitch that towards one's own services.
Reaching out to the right people is also very easy on Facebook. There are many active communities and user groups that have been created for specific purposes. So, if you are a music service provider, you can advertise in music communities and make the most of this opportunity. Contrast this to traditional marketing, where one is more or less shooting in the dark and presenting the service to literally anyone who happens to come his/her way.
- Type of Content
Facebook sees almost five billion posts related to new content every day. This includes text, photos, articles, blog posts, links, videos, audio, etc. This means that there are many different ways for you to present your services. Flash and other such technologies help in creating visually engaging content like video tutorials and so on. Video integration has already worked wonders for Facebook, and people are exchanging a lot of videos every day.
Another popular emerging area is applications and games, and they can also be utilized for getting a better hold on the market.
Strategies for Facebook
If you have finally agreed to use the Facebook platform to market your product, you now need to scout for ways to go about the same. Are there certain strategies that can help you do better, or are you supposed to go about it the way you want to?
The good news is that Facebook presents some ready made solutions for marketing, and it would be wise to focus on the following:
The first thing you do is set up a fan page on Facebook. This will have all the info about the service you are offering, and it should be neatly designed. Once that is done, you can start posting page links on various groups that interest you.
You should join as many groups as possible to reach out to more people and promote your business. Try participating in discussions and contributing meaningfully to them. Over time, this will help mould your online personality, which in turn will attract people towards your business and will lend you reputation and credibility.
You can also consider sending messages and interactive tutorials to people to help them learn more about you.
If all this seems insufficient after some time, you can opt for Facebook advertisements, where you can use these advertising channels to reach customers directly and stand out from the crowd. You can opt for a Pay Pe
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