Facebook? You’re Mad If You Don’t!

While discussing Facebook with a close friend and fellow business owner, I realised that there are still many people who do not know that social networking, particularly on the increasingly popular website Facebook, has become an important marketing tool for organisations of all sizes.

Did you know?
- There are more than 350 million active users.
- 50% of those active users log on to Facebook in any given day.
- More than 3.5 million events are created each month.
- More than 3.5 billion web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos are shared each week.
- More than 1.6 million active Pages on Facebook.
- More than 700,000 local business have active Business Pages on Facebook.
- Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans.

Let me just repeat myself, there are 350 million active users, more than 700,000 local business have active Business Pages and all types of pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans.

Those statistics are phenomenal!

A Facebook Business Page offers a range of benefits that would excite any small business owner:

1. Connections: With the ability to customise your Business Page, you can encourage discussions with your fans, create and upload videos, profile your products or services and have a welcoming page that introduces new people to your business.  Your fans can submit testimonials, comment on your notes and keep up-to-date via blog posts or tweets.

2. Search Engine Optimization: Besides creating a “vanity” URL name (eg: facebook.com/wahmbizsuccess) you can add keyword-rich descriptive text in certain areas of your Business Page, add backlinks to your website, link your blog posts to Facebook, upload photos, current events and other content.  All this and more helps you with your search engine optimisation.

3. Communication: Besides connecting, you can keep your fans up-to-date by sending an ‘update’ that appears in their inbox, post your business status updates, add notes and link to your blog.  These communications automatically appear on your fan’s personal pages therefore reminding them of your business and encouraging the to reconnect with you.

4. Insights: These tools show you how users are interacting with your page, broken down by Wall posts, likes and comments.  It also provides you with statistics on where your fans are located and which languages they speak.  You can even explore your reports.  This information is invaluable for target marketing.

5. Budget: The best thing for the budget conscious business owner is that a Business Page is free.  Yes, that’s right, you can set up a basic Business Page yourself and it won’t cost you a penny.  Actually, it won’t take much of your time either.  If you want to customise your page with additional features such as landing pages, newsletter subscriptions and the like, that too can be within your budget.

If your business doesn’t have a Business Page yet, I suggest you put it on your to-do-list and mark it as a high priority.  You’ll be delighted with the connections you make and soon recognise the unlimited possibilities of promoting your business.

Biography: Nicole is the founder and owner of Bauhinia Solutions.  Bauhinia Solutions offers virtual assistance in business planning, copywriting, graphic design, web development, WordPress design and customisation, Facebook customisation, blog management and social media management.

Website: www.bauhiniasolutions.com