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I was recently asked by a local Chamber of Commerce about how Facebook can be used to “advance” local businesses.

After looking over my responses, I decided that they were a pretty good guide for anyone new to social media who wants to jump into marketing. Even if you aren’t focused on Facebook, this advice holds true over a wide variety of platforms.

Facebook For Locals

How can you use Facebook to advance your business?

Facebook is great as an exposure platform. Using a combination of targeted advertising and their “Fans” pages, it gives you direct access to a valuable demographic, college students. At least that’s how the song and dance goes.

The issue, in general, with using Facebook in this way is that the exposure does not convert very well. If you go to Facebook to look at photo albums and catch up with friends, you are very unlikely to click through on advertisements.

Most studies on the subject put conversion rates on Facebook advertising (for most products) at one fraction of one percent.

What does that mean for local businesses? If you want to use Facebook to directly drive sales, then your campaign is going to be much more complex than simply slapping a few ads onto a page and hoping for the best.

What makes Facebook a useful tool for (local) businesses?

The biggest benefit that local businesses can draw from Facebook is raw exposure. While it is unlikely you will make significant sales based on your Facebook fan page (or even targeted advertisements), if done well having a presence on Facebook can be extremely valuable for branding your product. This assumes that your product is targeted towards one of two demographics:

• College aged students.
• Early adopters.

Facebook works best when you have a clear message to deliver and an exciting way to deliver it. If you are just posting an online billboard, your ad dollars will quickly be drowned out in the noise. Never forget that the people visiting the site care little to nothing about your brand message, and have been trained to ignore you.

What are the advantages of joining Facebook for a business?

Having a presence of Facebook “can’t hurt.” At its basest level, it’s like being in the Yellow Pages. If you have the opportunity, you probably should do it. That being said, unless you have a media manager who understands the platform well, the advantages that you will see from joining the network will be limited.

The biggest misconception is that these networks can be “conquered” without any effort, which seems silly when you think of the work it takes to craft any advertising effort. Why would you spend days designing a terrestrial ad campaign and then think you can create a successful one on Facebook in an hour?

Do you have any specific recommendations or suggestions for new users of Facebook?

Set goals. Are you on Facebook to expose people to your product? Get new customers? Make sales? The better your understanding, the better you will do.

Be realistic. Facebook is not a magic bullet solution to developing an online identity. Be sure you are using it for a reason and not just because it’s the hip new platform.

Too many people think that putting up a Fans page will get them into the hearts and minds of their customer base. There are lots and lots of people going after the same carrot. Like any marketing endeavor, you need to be savvy and have a deep understanding of the environment if you’re going to be truly successful.

Be willing to put in the time. Managing an online community requires time and focus. It’s not worth doing if you’re not willing to invest time to do it correctly.

Are there any potential drawbacks associated with the Facebook system?

There are always potential drawbacks when you expose your brand to public scrutiny. One
point that I stress more than any other is that you should never put anything online that
you wouldn’t want your lawyer and your mother to see.

Remember that the Internet never forgets and what seems like a clever marketing campaign can quickly backfire if done without foresight.

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