You can use Facebook to gain new clients, stay in touch with current clients, promote new products and sales offers and create buzz and PR that is specific about your business. There are many businesses using Facebook to market and seeing success in doing so.
Facebook Page or Group?
Which One is Right for You?a Facebook Page can be seen by unregistered users, where a group page can only be seen by registered Facebook users.
Consider that when you send a message to Facebook Page members, they will only receive an update notification, but if you are sending a message to your Facebook Group they will receive the message via their Facebook inbox. If you want to be able to communicate in a personal way, a Facebook Group option may be a better fit for you.
Facebook Pages
Facebook Offers you Facebook Pages. What does that mean? You can use Facebook Pages to create and give your business their own profile on Facebook; the best thing is right now they are free. These pages give your business an identity on Facebook which strengthens your brand. Current customers or even potential customers can become fans of your page and by doing so this allows them to follow you and receive any updates that you post to your page.
The great thing about Facebook Pages is that every time someone becomes a fan of your page all of their friends see that they have become a “fan.” This often attracts other followers as well as creates a buzz regarding your business and of course your Facebook Page.
You can use your Facebook Page to not only share your company information, but you can also use it to post photos, videos, applications and messages. Any activity that you perform on your Facebook Page is then broadcast into the mini-feeds of your followers.
When creating your Facebook Page, there are things to keep in mind, do you want to promote your business locally, do you want to promote your brand or a product.
Each of these categories will provide you with an opportunity to complete your “basic information”, “detailed information” or your “contact information.” Each option will provide you with a page that enables you to provide different ways of showing your information. It’s important to realize that you cannot edit your page type once you select it, and also remember that the page type that you select will categorize your page with other like pages in that category; this is why you want to make sure you select the correct category to be displayed in.
Your Facebook Page can be used to attract new customers while helping you maintain current customer relationships.
Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups, carry a similarity to Facebook Pages, the difference is they are built around a group of people rather than your business or your brand. You must be a member of Facebook to create a Facebook Group. In order to create a group just login to Facebook and then click on the Groups link in the main menu on the left hand side of the page. You can use Facebook Groups to create awareness, but they do not have the feature that allows users to become fans, they only become members. The downfall of this is it will not share as much information with friends of “group” members as they interact with the group. Many businesses using social media are discovering the charms and benefits of Facebook fan pages.Considerations:
- a value-added service that allows businesses and organizations to build an interactive facebook page to engage existing or potential customers.
- Fan pages are a great way to reach consumers without resorting to direct email (spam) or hit-or-miss mass snail mail (spam in paper form). Since users make the decision to connect with your company, marketing messages will be anticipated not disregarded. People who add themselves to your fan page typically expect to see at least a little advertising come their way.
- Fan pages are a great way of reaching customers and it won’t have an impact on your marketing budgets.
- Fan pages won’t turn up in search engine results so only registered members will even know they exist.
- There are several elements a page needs, like creating contests or giveaways, in order to gather a large following.
- Make your page an information resource, not just an overblown advertisement. It’s not enough to simply bark marketing slogans at visitors, be sure to offer plenty of information and insight about your industry.
- Facebook fan pages are fairly high-maintenance and need to be regularly updated and monitored. A page that looks abandoned is worse than no page at all.
