You hear of millions of entrepreneurs and corporations jumping on the Facebook bandwagon to create word-of-mouth and buzz for their brand. However, why? Using Facebook can be a fantastic source to generate traffic and a community around your website or blog. However, should you promote your business with a personal profile page? Humm! Let me tell you about my experience.
Nine months ago, I jumped on Facebook to reconnect with old friends, family members who I have not seen in years and business colleagues that I can expand my network. After gaining a few hundred friends, I thought my personal profile would be the perfect platform to gain buzz for my Corporate Cosmo website. Therefore, I began branding myself as a Social Media Enthusiast. I would post links of compelling social media articles, promote the Nan Ross Show talk show and the Corporate Cosmo blog updates. However, those article links were not so compelling to everyone. After a few months, my twin sister and her husband told me they were planning to boot me from their friend list. “You are boring now! All you talk about is social media stuff that we really do not care about”. What the !@#, me boring? How dare they tell me I was BORING! Then I thought about it, what if others are feeling the same way as they do?
After carefully evaluating the constructive criticisms from my family members, I came across the Facebook fan page. I decided to separate my personal life from my business. At first, I send a request for anyone who was interested in learning more about the social media industry to join me on my Corporate Cosmos Fan page. Those who have joined my fan page are my supporters. The blog updates and social media article links are relevant to my target audience. I am not boring to this group of fans. So, what does it me for you?
Facebook fan page are for businesses, authors, celebrities and charity organizations to build a community around whatever they are promoting. This means, fans and supporters are interested in what you are trying to promote. Here is why you should need a Facebook Fan Page for your business:
1. Unlimited number of fans.
2. You do not have to accept a fan/supporter.
3. Your fans do not see your personal profile.
4. Send relevant updates and messages about new products, and updated websites.
5. Fan page are public, thus search engines can index the page.
6. It is free and easy to use.
Many people have their business URL on their personal Facebook profile. That is great to inform your friends of what you do, but not effective in creating buzz and building a community. Find a target audience who have interest in your service and keep them regularly inform of your business growth. Oh, yeah! Do not worry about why your friends may not care about what you promote, in due time they will realize the need for your services. Now, my twin sister is one of my biggest fans.
You are absolutely right on this one. Facebook has a limit of 5,000 friends (per account) to a business or someone in the entertainment industry this can truly be a hassle. A fan page eliminates the unforeseen challenges of having a lot of friends. Updates, event listing and more are also a lot easier with a fan page. If your business is not on Facebook by now, your business is not on the internet. Thanks for a great blog and a great show Nan. You rock girl!
Thanks, Glenn! You are right! It is more difficult to define your target audience from your friends list. However, your fan page can be your friends list that is narrow down to a specific group of individuals who are interested in what you have to promote.