How to use Facebook for Marketing Your Business

Facebook OWNS the social media network! (Facebook has 36% of the social media network visits this week according to Hitwise data center, whereas LinkedIn is only 0.25% in comparison.) Only a few months ago, Facebook lagged behind MySpace.

So if you have a business and want to market it on social media, it’s time to learn all the Facebook rules, tips, techniques and subtleties.

Full disclosure. As you can see from my business fan pages here and here on Facebook, I’m still learning about marketing a business on Facebook. Joan Stewart has helped me. If you’re in the learning stage too, you may find these resources helpful.

1) First step. You’ve got to set up a PAGE to market your business, don’t do it as your profile or a person’s profile. (You will however, have to have a profile to attach it to.) A PAGE is what you need to market with Facebook.  Take a look at the thumbnail below to see where the link is.

2) What’s the benefit of setting up a Facebook Page? I think About.com:Marketing provides a compelling reason –

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.

3) When you’re creating and adding to your company page, your writing style, tone and manner has to mimic the medium. It’s a “friendly” tone, more personal like texting or talking on the phone, compared to a typical website tone or brochure tone. As Small Business Trends’ Anita Campbell and Steve Rucinski heard in their recent interview with Shama Hyder on How to Use Facebook to Market Your Business “…you don’t want to come off as too stuffy. That’s for LinkedIn. That’s where you have a very static page. Facebook is about community, it is about writing on each other’s wall, creating messages, sharing and getting into discussions. It’s a very lively, active community. You really have to find that balance.”

4) Because of the geographic capabilities built into Facebook, it’s potential to promote your business in the marketplace makes it powerful. Check out how Suzie Cheel at Abundance Highway Markets and Promotes her Business via Facebook.

You can also change your region: today I moved my region from Australia to one of my favorite cities, San Francisco. This gives you more scope to broaden your networks. You can change your region twice every 60 days.

While I’m still very much a “Newbie” on Facebook with my groups, pages, profile and events, I’m learning more everyday about how to use Facebook for marketing a business.

I’d like to open this up to my readers! How do you use Facebook to market your business? Send me your tips and links! If I get enough of them, I’d like to put them in an ebook pdf to make an even stronger resource. I’m especially interested in links to great articles and blog posts.

Leave a comment, either here or on my Marketing Wall on Facebook (click here and then share a tip with a link or video.) If you’d like, I’ll be glad to link back to your Website, Fan page or Blog and give you credit for the tip.

UPDATE March 2009: Andy Wibbels has a handy chart that maps out the confusing array of Facebook choices. Click here to access his Facebook Cheatsheet PDF. Thanks Deborah!