Getting connected through social networking to promote your business by putting up a Facebook page doesn’t necessarily announce to the world that you’re there. Your job now is to promote it. Add a Like Box to your company Web site and encourage customers to follow you on Facebook. If you have a brick-and-mortar business, put up a few well-placed signs encouraging your customers to find you on Facebook. Include a sentence or two about your Facebook page in all your other advertising, like fliers, cards and newspaper ads.

Facebook has an advertising platform and even if your advertising budget is small this is a great way to get your name and product  information out to a target group. Go to www.facebook.com/advertising, click on the Create An Ad button and fill in the text fields with the information you want out there. Even paying once for ads, you are likely to attract new fans who are more than likely to stay with you.

There are other options such as Places and Deals that are good for small businesses because they can encourage prospective or existing customers to visit a company premises through deals. Check them out.

We know time is an important commodity for any business. Contact us for help with all this. For a small fee we can help you set up your  page, links, ads and anything else we think will help to promote your business through the incredible power of websites, blogs and social networking.

Many owners and managers are quick to say “Yes, lets get our business on Facebook!” when they don’t have much concept as to what it’s all about. So let me suggest that you do first things first. Created an honest personal page before you worry about your business page.

Create your profile

Join Facebook. It’s free. Then create your own personal profile. The more complete your profile, the more likely your are to connect with compatible Facebook “friends”.

Facebook will step you through the process. Upload a photo to your profile. Those who don’t post their photos are in the minority these days. They look like the odd balls. Post your education, business and contact info.

“Like” a page

Next learn how businesses and groups use Facebook. For example, if you are interested in golf you may want to type in “golf” in the search box in the upper section of your Facebook page. As I am writing this I come up on list of “Pages” and a list of “groups” that I can join. Click on one of those items. Then a list of similar “Like” pages shows up. Click on one of them and see if their wall and other content interests you. If it does click the “Like” button. Now their posts will show up on your news feed.

Nike Golf is the on the list of pages. I look over their wall and it appears to have some interesting info on their equipment. So I become a fan of their page.

Do this in a field you are interested in. See how Fans participate. See how businesses interact with their Fans.

Create a “Like” pages for your business

Once you have a feel for how the Facebook business “Page” concept works, create a page for your business. Invite people to join and start to interact with your fans. Who knows, they may be your future customers.

Time Is Being Invested

If you know someone who still has doubts about involving business with Facebook, tell them about this: People are now spending 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

Huck Huckabee

More and more businesses are creating pages on Facebook. Too often many of those businesses do not know the basic things to put on their pages.

Offer Several Forms Of Content

First, if you have a blog, set it up to automatically post to your Facebook. Different software has different tools. I use TwitterFeed to to have may blog postings automatically posted on Facebook. The initial part of the article is posted and then linked back to the blog. This generates traffic for my blogs.

Second, link to content related to your visitors interests. You’re an expert in your field. You have some information sources available on the web that many of your followers may not know about. Share them by providing links in your posts.

Third, put photos on your Facebook photos page. Photos of you, your staff, and other people related to your business give visitors a feel of comfort. It helps personalize your relationships.

Forth, post videos on your wall. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is a video worth? When you find something interesting on YouTube that you think will interest your fans, post it on your wall.

Finally, initiate discussions. Get your followers to respond. That’s where businesses start to learn about what they can do for their customers.

What is your favorite form of content on Facebook?

A Facebook Fan Page is a good place to post any information about your company that is pertinent. You can setup an information page with a general overview of your company. You can post videos. You can post company news. And you can interact with your customers.

Set Up Your Facebook Account

One of the greatest things about the Facebook page is that it is so easy to use.  Facebook doesn’t make it obvious how you get started in your creation of your fan page. They seem to try to trick you into buying a paid ad. You may want to do that in the future, but for now just follow these steps. You go to the Facebook.com site and click on the “Advertising” link on the bottom menu on the right hand side. When I first saw this I thought they were promoting their advertising. But, this is where you go to set up your business Fan page. Their next move is a little slick also. You come in on the “Advertising” tab. This is where Facebook is promoting their paid advertising. Click on the “Pages” tab and then click the green “Create a Page” button on the right. The rest of the setup process is just a simple walk through.

Put Good Content on Your Page

After you have set up the page we need to make your page something that people are interested in. That way they will become a fan of the page.

Your Information Tab

The next step is to get information about your business on your Info page. Tell the world who you are and what you do. This is where you list your website, give an overview of your company, post your mission statement and tell the public about the items you are promoting.

Post Photos

Facebook users are able to view a “Photos” page. This is one of the many applications available. When you click on the tab, Facebook will give you instructions for uploading pictures. You will need to As I am writing this they are updating this process to make it easier to load photos and allow them to be uploaded while you are doing other things on your Facebook account. On my site for Small Business Websites I have just uploaded several photos from several different folders on my computer. And I have posted them in a folder labeled “About Small Business Websites”. The process is very easy to use.

Research Applications

Many applications by Facebook and by third parties have been created for you to use. Do a little research on you own. And look for a future article on good apps for business.

Post “What’s on your mind?”

Click on your wall tab and post some information for your visitors to see. Post news about your company. If you are contemplating offering a new product or service this is the best place to ask a question. If you are early in the creation of your Fan page then you probably have few if any fans. Just the same, post a question. See if you get a response. Then ask is again when you get more fans.

Check your site regularly, review comments people have made and respond to them. Personal interaction is one of the main benefits of businesses using Facebook. Make your customer feel like the focus is on them.

Contact me at businessandsocialmedia.com if I can help you manage social media for your business.