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25 Ways To Use Facebook For Business

Facebook’s not just for keeping tabs on friends and college students anymore — it can also be used as a highly effective business tool. It’s great for marketing your products, landing deals and connecting with your customers.

Written Feb 03, 2010, read 12461 times since then.

Facebook’s not just for keeping tabs on friends and college students anymore — it can also be used as a highly effective business tool. It’s great for marketing your products, landing deals and connecting with your customers.

1. Fill out your profile completely, all the required fields.
2. Create a business account which is also called a Fan Page.
3. Read the Facebook rules regarding business accounts.
4. Install applications to integrate feeds from your blog (add to Notes) and other social media accounts (Twitter) into your Facebook profile.
5. Protect any parts of your personal profile private through Settings.
6. Establish friend lists such like Business and Friend lists.
7. Add professional or business casual photos of yourself.
8. Add videos to your pages, click on the Boxes Tab to find them
9. Post any newsletter information and archive somewhere in your profile. 10. Obtain a Facebook vanity URL like Facebook.com/yourname
11. Add your Facebook URL to your email signature and any marketing pieces.
12. Post business updates on your wall. Like events and specials.
13. Share useful industry related articles and links that interest customers and prospects on your wall, to establish credibility.
14. Combine Facebook with other social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.
15. Research potential clients before meeting them.
16. Upload your contacts from your email list to find more connections.
17. Find experts in your field and invite them to post on your wall.
18. Market your products by posting discounts and special deals.
19. Create a survey or research data to gain credibility.
20. Use Facebook Connect to add social networking features to your web site.
21. Buy Facebook ads to target your exact audience.
22. Add basic information to your fan page such as links to company site, newsletter subscription information and newsletter archives.
23. Post upcoming events including webinars, conferences, street fairs and other programs where you or someone from your company will be present.
24. Update your group or fan page on a regular basis with helpful information and answers to questions posted on your wall.
25. Use Facebook search to find groups and fan pages related to your business by industry and location. Send no more than 25 friend requests to people in these groups.

Along with learning Facebook, you also nee to learn effective Internet Marketing is about how to get the most out of your profits. To accomplish this goal, more entrepreneurs are self-branding themselves first then their products or service, so that they will be targeting only potential customers. You will need to identify who these people are, where they are located and their financial status. Then you can create and implement an aggressive and effective internet marketing strategy.

Effective marketing knowledge will help you get the results you need, especially marketing skills, and learning how to work with the internet to grow your business more than you ever thought possible. It also takes enthusiasm, a willingness to learn and the commitment to use and test what you learn.

Think of the training as an ”internet college” course without the 4 years of studying to get to the top of your career. If you are serious about being an internet marketer, you can be successful within 3 to 6 months with the right information and direction.

Learn more about the author, James Hickey.

Posted by Archana Sunil PAHM, Sammamish, Washington | Feb 05, 2010

Wow! Thanks.
Posted by Terra Vita, Los Angeles, California | Feb 06, 2010

James, Thanks. This is very comprehensive.
Posted by Beverly Wertman, Kent, Washington | Feb 06, 2010

The fan pages are designed to manage basic HTML Codes. Search for the application called "Static FBML" created by Facebook. You must have this to update your fan page with HTML. You can customize a tab and format font, create columns, add pictures, etc. You can really make your fan page stand out.

It's also essential to create interactions between your fan page and your fans. You need them to comment on pictures, links, etc. and forward your page to their friends. Facebook will be supressing Fan Pages that don't have activity from the news feeds. Make Facebook only specials that people can "share" Post your menu, or products. Add interesting videos or trivia questions, have contests ect! The possiblities are endless.

Keep your personal page information separate from the fan page information. Your personal page should be a place to help get fans but your fan page should list your specials and information.
Posted by Ian Henderson, Portland, Oregon | Feb 06, 2010

Thank you for such a comprehensive list!
Posted by Harpreet Gill, Kent, Washington | Feb 08, 2010

Very interesting and informative at the same time! Thank you for sharing this with the rest of us.

I will incorporate some of the suggestions you made in your article today!

Harpreet
Posted by Ben Jordan, Nashville, Tennessee | Feb 10, 2010

Very helpful and easy steps to follow.
Posted by Laura Crest, Bellingham, Washington | Feb 16, 2010

Most excellent "how-to" nuts 'n bolts guide. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by Patricia Klingler, Bellevue, Washington | May 06, 2010

Nice list, James. And so very helpful. I feel more encouraged to move forward with my Facebook profile and use it to support my business.

Thank you.

~ Patricia

www.coachzing.com
Posted by Nancy LaMont, Marysville, Washington | Jun 07, 2010

A fantastic list to help me move my "Facebook" along. Thanks,
Posted by Christin McDowell, Seattle, Washington | Jun 09, 2010

Not a bad article, though I would have liked to see how to use it moreso for my business vs how to set up an account. Thanks for posting this!
Posted by Teresa Rodden, Atlanta, Georgia | Jun 10, 2010

James, what a great deal of information. Thanks so much. Although I have done a lot of it - you have provided what could be used as a cheat sheet to help me be sure I'm taking full advantage of the opportunity.

Thanks again for taking the time to be helpful!
Posted by Sean Marshall, San Francisco, California | Dec 01, 2010

Thank you James for this list. I think Facebook can be a very powerful tool. It's seems more than ever that people want to connect online with businesses and Facebook is a great way to do that.

It's also interesting to note that the big companies like Pepsi and Toyota are now sending traffic to their Facebook page and not their websites!

What I think that means is that if they are using it, how much more should the solopreneurs and small businesses be doing it! In fact, I think it's actually better geared for small business because of the personal connection we can make on there.

For example, let's say you're looking for a new bedroom set and you come across my website. You check out my Facebook profile as well and find that I'm a dog lover. You love dogs too and bam! Instant connection and you'll feel more inclined to do business with me.

I don't sell bedroom sets but I betcha we can find someone on Biznik who does! :)

Thanks again for a great post.
Posted by Sal Ciuro, Toronto, Ontario Canada | Dec 24, 2010

wow! Thanks. Sal Ciuro Desco
Posted by Sabrina Gaffney, Long Beach, California | Jan 02, 2011

Very nice list, it reminded me that I need to integrate my blog into my notes page. Thank you for that.
Posted by Josephine Licata, Englishtown, New Jersey | Jan 28, 2011

Thanks!
Posted by Emily Corona, Atlanta, Georgia | Feb 18, 2011

I tried this face book thingy a little but I got nothing in return for losing my time for a branch of guffy friendos which I dont know nothing about apart from their avatar and their nickname.
Posted by Naima Lynah, South Plainfield, New Jersey | Mar 30, 2011

Ok, here is another comment. Job extremely well done. The steps are easy to follow. I'm overwhelmed and my head hurts with all the information that I've read on SEO and using Facebook and Twitter to work for you. Your steps make it a bit easier to understand and all the comments that follow are a big help as well. Thanks again for a job extremely well done.
Posted by Deric Wilborn, Seattle, Washington | Apr 28, 2011
It's great that this article has brought out a such an honest measurement of where people are on their Facebook journey.

Facebook is now, in my mind, the best single source to gain targeted exposure for a business. We now use the Facebook Fan Page as the initial gateway for our clients online presence. FanPages benefit from SEO as well.

Since the recent replacement of FBML (Facebook Markup Language) with IFrame code, the possible applications for Facebook Fanpages is growing at fast pace.

A few cool things you can do now on a Facebook Fan Page:
1. Stream live video of your event (potentially viral)
2. Make purchases from your online store potentially viral
3. Sell event tickets (potentially viral)
4. Potentially viral fan contests (i.e. prizes)
You see the recurring theme. =)

If you believe in word of mouth marketing for your business then you believe in the Facebook Fan Page.
Posted by Regann Marchantze, Escondido, California | Jul 25, 2011

Good post. I have read that Facebook is overtaking google for traffic and searches. It is beneficial to learn and use facebook as you have described. The fan pages as mentioned above are also becoming very popular. Thanks for the help, will use on my Tax Relief site.