Facebook for Business - Pros & Cons

J

Jackie D

Registered User
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This is something I'd also be interested to hear opinions about, especially with reference to a Financial Services business. Not using a personal facebook profile, but setting up a specific Facebook commercial page.

Do a search, for example, on Facebook for Waldorf Astoria New York to see the famous hotel's Facebook page.

All opinions welcome.

Liam D. Ferguson
 
I think you would be foolish not to consider Facebook to advertise your business. A month ago I would have through the same but after doing some research this is something we will do to promote our business. You have to realise that 1 in 5 pages loading now is a Facebook page (read this somewhere recently). I think there is something like 400K users in Ireland and you can also use Facebook ads to target a particular audience.

We recently attended a course given by Damien Mulley which was excellent. Have no connection with the guy but just found the course well worth it.

Facebook and blogging seem to be tied together as re: advertising your business.
 
I think that it really depends on the kind of business you have. For certain businesses it just looks unprofessional in my opinion.
 
Signing up with a Facebook add means you can target females in a certain age, status etc and homes in the advertising to people. It is the future in my opinion.
 
If it's minimal cost and upkeep then there's little harm in theory and largely in practice. Though depending on the ad and content it may have the potential to back fire with some sarcastic teens.

Couple of issues with facebook to be aware of in terms of marketing. It is hugely popular and very busy, but who are the ones clicking on the ads and what products are they clicking on and why?

There is a distinct split between what your market may use facebook for and what most of those who click on the ads use facebook for. Among an older population it is still a "social networking" means as in keeping in touch and saying howdy. To a younger population it is a mini-internet where you will click on just about anything that crops up anywhere near you. However, is this your market?

Second, some companies have got huge responses from ads, but then who are they? Generally known brands of certain consumer items that also offer a chance of winning a years supply of something like Giant Chocolate Buttons. If you're offering mortgage advice as an example, is that going to appeal? Though if you offer me a chance to win a year's supply of Giant Buttons, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

Another issue is whether you're interested in personal or company business. Most employers block access to social networking sites so people won't see it during working hours, are they likely to remember it and access it during working hours?

However, some of the demographic assumptions are just that. Most of the more mature users claim they just use it for "keeping in touch" but they're just as much addicts for pretending to be farmers, thinking I give a damn they think they're smart because they did ok at scrabble or some form of special gun I can blow people apart with on mob wars.

The conclusion here is that there is a reasonable spread of different ages using the site, but is it enough for the time, trouble and effort required?
 
missdaisy said:
I think that it really depends on the kind of business you have. For certain businesses it just looks unprofessional in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Re my statement that it depends on the kind of business you have I would have to echo what Latrade says. For people of my generation (and we are under 30) this is a social networking site to keep in touch with people. I think facebook is great for businesses in the media sector or entertainment sector. I don't think it's great for smaller enterprises and I don't think it looks professional for, e.g. architects, accountants, financial advisors etc, to advertise on facebook or have a facebook page.

That is just my opinion though!
 

+1

I dabbled in facebook. Found it great for getting in touch with people I hadn't seen in ages. Classmates, college friends etc.

But then jumped ship because 90% of it is stuff like that.
 
I think you have to look at it differently. I am 38, I don't use Facebook and don't plan to use it for personal use but it does give me access to potentially 900k members.

e.g. A florists or photographer may not read wedding magazines but will advertise in the magazine and I think its the same with Facebook.

However its not enough to put up a Facebook page with your company name and opening times - you have to give a little and its a case of give and take.

One of the example provided in the course was the ice cream maker who had a Blog listing his receipts - it build up followers who enjoyed the Blog but as they never got around to making the ice cream purchased for him instead.

A solicitor might Blog on a particular aspect of law, and someone reading might like his approach and hire him as a result.

A Facebook page for a professional does not mean posting pictures of his/hers kids birthday.

Like you I would have though the same about Facebook a few months back but after some research have come around to its benefits.

But lets not start on Twitter ........
 

Fair point and although the regular updates may take some time, you do have little to lose in doing so.

It's all a matter of what your target market is, facebook while a behemoth does have a specific profile of users who will click on adverts. However, if that's your market, go for it, but make sure as picassoman says, you put the effort into into.

Have a look at a few different companies on there to gauge the good and bad yourself.
 
Have you ever look at LinkedIn for your business? I have been using for years now and it offered me unbelievable amount of resources and connections.

One of the main difference between facebook and the likes of LinkedIn is the quality of the connections you make there. FB can bee very social and you might get someone writing or posting a picture that is totally not related or even rude on your business page.

At the end of the day it is up to you and how related is the type of your business to who logs on to FB. Another question you might ask yourself is why do people go on to FB? How serious will they your biz page. You can have a look at my facebook company link for an example if you like [broken link removed] (you might to log into FB before you can see the page!)

Best of luck!

Tarek
 

+1 for LinkedIn Its becoming very popular in Ireland and is recognised as a business networking tool.
 
A lot depends on the nature of the business. If you are selling directly to consumers (e.g. flowers, restaurant, grooming services etc), then Facebook is probably the place where you are going to catch customers - though you need to be creative about how you use it.

LinkedIn is very good for professional networking, though 'hard-sell' doesn't go down too well.
 
Most Business' that move into social media lack a strong strategy and direction. All too often in my experience a fifty something executive asks at a board meeting ‘are we doing social media?’ Why, because he read about it in a Sunday supplement. Only to have the IT guy, of all people say he’s handling it.



Facebook as a tool is only uselful if you actually create a fan page, as this will actually be spidered by google. There’s alot of clever moves required to remove no-follows and get the PR (page rank) link juice too. Not as simple as it seems
 
D15 Chamber of Commerce recently hosted a talk on this topic. Ian Cleary from RazorCoast presented and I found his presentation very informative. His opinions on Facebook can be found here.



I've no other association with the company.
 
What a good question. I never really thought of the consequences until I checked your links out. I only focused on the positives. Im thinking that perhaps accept only trusted sources, ones that you dont mind sharing your inner most secrets about what happened last Sat night with and photos included. I was beginning to promote my business on Facebook but now Im re evaluating. Thanks. Some good comments from other users here too.

Cheers & Good Luck,

Eli.
 
Elitreacy (and maybe MarysCross),

You don't use your personal Facebook page to promote your business - rather you create what is know as a "page" on Facebook for your business.

You keep the two seperate. But you have to be a Facebook user before you create a page - i.e. you cannot just create a page without a personal account

-pm
 
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