No one could have predicted a few years ago how successful online social networking would have become. What we know now is that it is beyond a fad or a nitch market. Social Networking sites are the new wave in communications. Facebook, with it’s over 2 billion users, is quickly replacing other forms of online communication to become the premier place where information sharing takes place on the web. Facebook and sites like it are an ideal way of collecting marketing research as well as spread word of mouth marketing about your business. With a Facebook page for your business you can connect with your clients in a new, more personal way while at the same time collecting demographic information about your client base. Facebook also branches out your market utilizing your current clients and giving them an easy way to tell their friends about you. By becoming a fan of your page, they are identifying their affiliation with you to all their friends. Here are a few was to encourage people to connect with you in Facebook.
- Place an official link on your website so visitors to your website have an easy way of finding your Facebook page. This also helps eliminate non-official pages on Facebook.
- Encourage customer feedback through Facebook. People like that their voice can be heard. Allowing fans to comment and review your business on Facebook, gives them the feeling of empowerment, and give you great market research that you would usually only get from a focus group study.
- Give something away. Weather it be unique content, like an inside scoop, or actual product or discounts. There are ways of doing contests on your Facebook page that will encourage fan responses, which will in turn spread word about your business.
If you are not on Facebook yet, sign up now for a personal account and then once you are personally up and running, add a page for your business. Sign at http://www.facebook.com/
