With 800 million users and growing, Facebook, whether you love it or hate it, cannot be ignored if you’re a budding Internet entrepreneur. Facebook is not just for people to keep in touch with friends or play online Flash-based games. It is also a vast virtual marketplace as well as a resource for advertising and much more. With the enormous number of Facebook users, you have the chance to broaden your horizons to one of the largest markets in the world. Any serious online business should be using Facebook in their marketing.
Facebook provides useful tools for businesses and individuals alike for making money and marketing their websites. The most important tools available for these uses are Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups. You can use these tools to help spread the word about your business, provide updates to existing customers and to get new clients.
Facebook Pages provide a place where you can have an online profile of yourself or your business. It also costs absolutely nothing, so there’s certainly no sense in missing out on it. Facebook Pages work because, when someone “Likes” the page, this appears on their own profile for all of their friends and contacts to see. This provides the potential for countless other visitors to come to your Facebook Page and, ultimately, to your main website itself.
Facebook Pages are also places where you can post regular updates about your company as well as relevant pictures and other media. This will keep your visitors interested and every update you post should automatically appear on the Facebook Wall of every person subscribed to your group.
When you first create your Facebook page, you’ll have a few choices. You can create a page for a business, a brand or an artist or public figure. Choose whichever is most appropriate for your situation. You’ll then be able to provide contact information and further details about your company. Once you’ve done this, you can update the page whenever you want in a similar way to how you would with a personal Facebook profile.
Facebook Groups work rather differently. People don’t become “Fans” of Facebook Groups. Instead they become members. Starting your own Facebook Group to promote a particular product or company is generally not as effective as starting a Facebook Page. Facebook Groups do, however, make it easier to have a more personal level of contact with your group members. This is because you can send a message directly to the Facebook inboxes of all group members easily.
It can also be helpful to join Facebook Groups which are similar to your own. If, for example, you are marketing a travel-related blog, then you’ll do well to join every large travel-related Facebook Group. You can then provide links and updates in the Group Wall for maximum exposure. A minimal amount of work is required and it’s an effective way of getting a sudden surge of traffic to your site.