Hello, I am trying to figure out facebook. I have never used it for personal use and have created a local business page. However, I am finding that you can't really link with people or search people unless it's a personal account. Am I right in assuming that it's very limited unless you have facebook for a business listing. Does anyone have any info on how to use facebook better, without paying out loads of money to facebook? Thanks. Ryann
had a play with facebook, it generates a few visits, but nothing exciting. Tried their advertising option, its pretty cheap, let it run for a month, got a few clicks, but no conversions that we could see, so knocked it on the head. The Twitter experiment is ongoing, but seems a better focus of energy IMHO
I am doing the same thing. playing around with Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. I am finding Facebook to be the worst, in terms of being user friendly for small businesses. MySpace isn't great but at least it's a lot more user friendly to a business. Ryann
I'm finding Twitter more successful to be honest. However I suspect it depends upon your offering and whether it fits within the demographics of the social media you are working with.
So am I. However, because of my lack of experience with FaceBook I thought I might be missing something.
I use facebook for fun and to keep in touch with friends and relatives, never used it for business purpose.
I think it depends on what kind of business facebook seems to work well for bars and the entertainment sector but doubt other sectors see same gains.
Currently we're using a facebook fan page for our business and it's going pretty well so far. Creating a page where people can connect with the business is invaluable. You might find this article interesting.
I guess it depends who the target market for your products and services is. Consumer products that can generate discussion are ideal for promoting on social networks, but for B2B services and products I can only see limited value.
A facebook is necessary for businesses nowardays.. create a fan page so users will join and to get updates on you and your brand.. this way you can update them daily on whats going on..
hi facebook is actually a great business tool, try to create a personal account, but show in your profile all what your business is about, then search for groups according to what you are in, and join to them , little by little you will be see for a lot of people !
Judith - nice idea but businesses and organizations are not meant to have personal accounts. Facebook regularly delete these accounts. Groups and fan pages are meant to be used. Bad times eh.
Ive heard so much about facebook, twitter etc but to be honest it looks so boring, just a social networking site for kids and certainly cannot see any benefit to any business ?
When used in the right way, these sites can provide a massive benefit to businesses. What kind of business do you run?
In my experience most businesses find facebook and other blog media to be of little value. The exception is where you can drive traffic yourself to your area, such as with pubs, winebars etc where people can use it to correspond with friends re meeting up. Most businesses find their entries just sit there! I know somebody who claims to have spend hours cultivating customers this way, with no worthwhile results. I guess it all depends on what you do.
Approved by Admin - Openmind Hi everybody, Will on behalf of LinkedIn here, your comments raise some interesting points about networking sites so I thought I would just flag LinkedIn to you as another way to get you and your business heard. Unlike other sites, it is designed specifcally with the business world in mind. The best use of social networking sites for business is that is offers a clear succinct way to introduce yourself, describe what you do, what your company does. As you may have seen from my previous posts, we’ve got our first LinkedIn Business Awards that have just launched. This in itself represents a networking opportunity for businesses and business professionals – and another chance for businesses to use social media to promote themselves and their brand. Nominations for individual awards as well as best business have just opened and we are looking for people to put themselves or their colleagues forward. Regards, Will
Facebook is good for business but it all depends on what type of business you have If you try to find market for energy resources on facebook than probably you're wasting a lot of time..