Idiot's guide to Facebook for business use?

Savvy_Sue

This is on behalf of DH, who says he is struggling to navigate FB these days, and also he really needs a page for his business (sole trader).

Neither of us are great at social media (I'm downright anti-social, but there you go), so if anyone could point us to some simple guide to how he creates a new page for his biz, and goes on to develop it / publicise the courses he runs etc, then we'd be very grateful.

Did search this board but nothing terribly recent turned up.

BTW, he thinks he's got the hang of LinkedIn. I refuse to go on that so I have no idea ...

paddyrg

I think it might be useful for some businesses, some of the time, but it's certainly no panacea. If I'm hiring a generator, will I go to facebook to find a supplier? Will it affect my decision if they've got 10, 100, 10000 'likes'?

Linked In just seems to ask me if I know people, certainly not thrown up any jobs. Maybe it has for someone, but not me, nor my sector.

Social media may be great for social things, but it seems a little 'meh' for a lot of business stuff, to be frank.

Savvy_Sue

I know it's not going to be a panacea, but I do think it could have some usefulness, if he could just work it out! Anyone?

phill99

I'm a sole trader running a property maintenance / home improvement company. I attended a Facebook Marketing course 2 years ago and must say social media has revolutionised the way I market my business. If you get it right, you can get leads directly from facebook as well as it reinforcing your position with your existing customer base. Social media is the first form of marketing that allows your business messages to be in someones pocket, in their hand bag or on their desk 24 hours a day. It allows you to 'push' your business to customers and potential customers, rather than them having to 'pull' it. It allows you to show samples of your work and to be considered an expert in your field which means your job leads are 'warm' rather than 'cold'.

However, I would caveat this and say that its a slow burn and doesn't get instant results. You need to manage your content and what you post, be aware of the best times to publish a 'post' and to know the typical age range and gender of your audience profile (all of this info is easily available on FB). It is also best used in a business to consumer environment and not a business to business environment. It also needs to form part of a wider marketing strategy and not be seen as the be all and end all in marketing. It should not be seen as 'advertising' but as 'marketing'.

I also now encompass Pinterest and Houzz.com as part of my social media strategy. If you would like further help, please PM me.

robatwork

There was an article in a recent PCPRO magazine that went through all the caveats of setting up your business on facebook.

I can't find a link but it was in the last few months....

Savvy_Sue

Apologies for apparently ignoring you all, have been unable to connect ...

Anyway, thanks for the help, DH has started to find a few useful guides and read them, so hopefully he's making some progress now, and he'll see if he can dig out that PCPro article you mentioned Rob. Phil, he'll be in touch when he's gone as far as he can.

My problem with FB is that whenever I look at his a/c, it's full of 'look at this funny cat' videos etc posted and then re-posted by his 'friends'. I have very few friends because I can't cope with all that stuff other people post and re-post.

BUT if he gets a business page he'll want other people to share what he's posting there to publicise training he's running etc.

Charityworker

I use Facebook for my business and so does my daughter. I also have a page for my caravan. I'd say 99% of my income from all of these small businesses is from Facebook. Any business that gets all snobby saying they don't use Facebook is missing out on a massive marketing opportunity which is free! If you get it right and you network with the right people and the right pages you will no doubt see your interest rise.

Savvy_Sue

Apologies for apparently ignoring you all, have been unable to connect ...

Anyway, thanks for the help, DH has started to find a few useful guides and read them, so hopefully he's making some progress now, and he'll see if he can dig out that PCPro article you mentioned Rob. Phil, he'll be in touch when he's gone as far as he can.

My problem with FB is that whenever I look at his a/c, it's full of 'look at this funny cat' videos etc posted and then re-posted by his 'friends'. I have very few friends because I can't cope with all that stuff other people post and re-post.

BUT if he gets a business page he'll want other people to share what he's posting there to publicise training he's running etc.

Also thanks to charityworker.

cally6008

Join a couple of local selling groups and post the link to his business page on them
Pick groups that have LOTS of members
Watch out for groups that have strict rules on when businesses can post.

Vectis

Charityworker wrote: »

I use Facebook for my business and so does my daughter. I also have a page for my caravan. I'd say 99% of my income from all of these small businesses is from Facebook. Any business that gets all snobby saying they don't use Facebook is missing out on a massive marketing opportunity which is free! If you get it right and you network with the right people and the right pages you will no doubt see your interest rise.

I don't think it's anything to do with being 'snobby' about Facebook, more that some businesses fit better with Facebook than others.

If it works for you, fine, but that doesn't mean it will work for every other business.

Be honest, every time you look to use a service or buy something, do you automatically think 'I know, I'll look on Facebook'? If you do, I'd say you're in the minority.

As I said, it'll work for some businesses but to imply that it will work for every business is clearly wrong.

Charityworker

I must be in the minority then because yes I do look on Facebook first. For example - 2 days ago my washing machine stopped working so I posted on my Facebook "anyone recommend a good local washing machine repair business" and within minutes 3 recommendations with links to their pages. On visiting their pages I read reviews and looked at pictures and went for the one with the best reviews. Repair went well so I shared their page on my business page as a recommendation which resulted in a share back on their page which then lead to 2 bookings for my events. That's the way to do it!

Any business that isn't using social media now just says to me they are not moving with the times!