More businesses are finally starting to wake up to the social networking potential. Facebook, in particular, has become invaluable. As
The Los Angeles Times recently put it, "The free social networking site -- blocked in many workplaces as a potential time-waster -- is increasingly becoming an inexpensive marketing tool for small businesses."
If you haven't yet figured out how to make Facebook work for your business, consider these do's and don'ts.
Don't: Try to make money off Facebook. It may sound crazy, but the goal should be interacting with your customers and adding value to their lives, and then the money will presumably come. But if you actively try to directly profit off Facebook users, if that's your sole goal, you may wind up being sorely disappointed, suggests Jeff Widman, a
marketing expert whose specialty is helping clients create Facebook pages (his clients include Mint.com, Kiva.org and Microsoft BizSpark, and you can follow him
here on Twitter). "At the end of the day, if success is interacting with your clients, Facebook is a great way to do that. But if your goal is strictly to make more money, Facebook isn't a good way to do that."
Why? For starters, people don't enjoy being sold to. Facebook is about relationships. Start the hard sell on your Facebook friends, and soon you won't have any friends left.
Do: Hold a contest. If you're looking for a way to utilize Facebook, this is a popular strategy among businesses, large and small. Used to be, you had to advertise your contest on the radio and TV, and of course, you can still do that, but these days, there's a good argument that all you need is Facebook and some desperate journalist working on deadline who wants to use your business as an example for a Facebook story he's writing, and suddenly you have viral marketing.
Case in point:
Extreme Pita, a restaurant chain headquartered in Ontario, with numerous establishments scattered throughout Canada and the U.S. They're currently using Facebook and YouTube for an online video contest, where a customer has the chance to win $10,000. Their contest, which ends November 29, 2009, is called,
"The Billion Acts of Extreme" -- they're challenging Facebook users to show the world how "extreme" they can be. Facebook and Extreme Pita fans are asked to submit a 10-second video clip showing them living, working, or playing to the extreme. Hmmm, sounds like a good way to get someone hurt ("Look, Ma, I'm parachuting without a chute!").
Still, a contest can make a lot of sense. Spend $10,000 on marketing, or just offer it to one of your lucky Facebook friends and hope that the prize money generates a ton of advertising.
Don't: Make Facebook all about you. It might sound crazy -- you put up a fan page, and you get people following your company. Of course, it's all about
you. But, no, it's not, pal -- think again. As noted, we're all friends here. You need to make your company's Facebook page about your friends as much as it is. After all, you don't go to your best friend's house and talk only about you, right? You hopefully ask about his or her kids, or their career or if they've avoided getting the swine flu.
Heather Whaling, a public relations guru in Columbus, Ohio, who is all over the Facebook movement and is a huge presence on Twitter (follow her
here), says that if you run, say, a fitness center, you need to do more than just talk about your gym -- "you can post healthy recipes for your fans or write something up, saying, 'If you're too busy to come to the gym, here's what you can do to exercise at home.' It's not all about self-promotion, but adding value to your customers' lives."
Whaling, in particular, likes what
Bellybar, which sells nutritional snacks to pregnant women, has been doing with their
Facebook page. "They do a great job with that," she says. "Their product is for pregnant women, so they share all kinds of articles about pregnancy and giving birth, instead of just promoting their own product."
Do: Reward your friends. The Los Angeles Times recently ran an interesting story about Facebook and profiled Charles Nelson, president of Sprinkles Cupcakes, based out of Beverly Hills, California, and noted how his bakery has 70,000 Facebook fans. Every day, on their
Sprinkles' Facebook website, they announce a secret word, like "downtown" or "gingerbread," and the first 25 or 50 people to show up at one of their five stores and whisper the word, get a free cupcake.
Don't: Treat all your friends the same. Meaning, if you have a deal that's great for only a small contingent of your customers, try not to blanket everyone with e-mails announcing the aforementioned great deal. For instance, says Whaling, "If you have an event that's local, don't send an announcement to someone a thousand miles away. That will make them unfriend your page. You have to be smart about how you interact with everyone, that you're not communicating in a spammy way. That's really the rule -- don't be spammy."
Do: Use Facebook to benefit your clients. Maybe you can't think of a single way you can truly use Facebook to draw in more customers and create revenue, but you can almost certainly use Facebook to help your clients make money or simply have a better quality of life, and if you do, that goodwill will probably boomerang back in your favor.
John Pitts, an account manager for Travers Collins & Co., an integrated marketing communications firm in Buffalo, New York, used Facebook to help their client, which in turn, helped them. Their client, Westfield Memorial Hospital, is a small town care facility in Westner, New York, that currently has an emergency room on life support -- the state is considering shutting it down due to budget cuts.
The hospital allowed Travers Collins & Co. to set up a Facebook page, so, as Pitts explains, "we could harness the residents' cares and concerns and develop a spirit and following for this cause."
The final decision is still pending, but the hospital's Facebook page now has over 700 followers, many of whom are making it clear that they want the ER to remain open, and as Pitts says, "Groups and political leaders have rallied around this effort for the past several months. Individuals went to Albany recently to speak with government officials about the need for keeping this facility open, and we've been able to promote that fact [with our Facebook followers]."
Clearly, Facebook may not save the hospital's ER, and as Widman says about the online social networking site, "it's not a panacea for business owners," even as in the same breath, he calls it a "phenomenon tool" for entrepreneurs. Still, there's no question that whatever the outcome for the hospital, Facebook has been beneficial for companies like Travers Collins & Co. Over and over, Facebook is proving to businesses that it pays to be friends with your customers.
Geoff Williams is a frequent contributor to AOL Small Business, a Facebook user and will follow just about anyone back on Twitter. He is also the co-author of the upcoming book, Living Well with Bad Credit.
