Idiot's guide to Facebook for business use?

sparkermarketing

Charityworker wrote: »

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!

Clearly it depends on what business you are in, and what types of customers you are trying to attract. Every business is different and has different customer needs.

If you selling jet engines for fighter planes, having a Facebook page is less relevant than the example of the washing machine repairman.

From a customer perspective, if you are looking for a new nuclear reactor for your power station social media is probably not the place you would go to first.

Errata

Sue this might help if your OH can chuck a few £ at Amazon (ouchie!)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Facebook-Dummies-Edition-Carolyn-Abram/dp/1118633121

Charityworker

sparkermarketing wrote: »

Clearly it depends on what business you are in, and what types of customers you are trying to attract. Every business is different and has different customer needs.

If you selling jet engines for fighter planes, having a Facebook page is less relevant than the example of the washing machine repairman.

From a customer perspective, if you are looking for a new nuclear reactor for your power station social media is probably not the place you would go to first.

Really?

https://m.facebook.com/TradeAPlane

Savvy_Sue

Errata wrote: »

Sue this might help if your OH can chuck a few £ at Amazon (ouchie!)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Facebook-Dummies-Edition-Carolyn-Abram/dp/1118633121

And there is also Facebook and Twitter for Senior Dummies or something similar which you were too kind to suggest might be appropriate, but nevertheless ... :rotfl:

sorry for delay in responding, the wi-fi's been almost entirely absent this holiday. I'm currently holed up by the pool, in the last of the sunshine but nearly being blown away, in fact my mouse IS being blown around ... back tomorrow.

rayknight

I don't know if you are still looking for one, but Hubspot has a very good guide. If you look up "How to Create a Facebook Business Page in 5 Simple Steps" on Hubspot, you should be able to find it (can't post links, sorry!)

Hopefully this will help you guys set yourselves up.

howdm

Some of you might find "Six Marketing Tips from the Pros" from Social Media Examiner interesting (new member = can't post links yet). It offers FB marketing tips from professionals working in various fields. I think the first point is particularily important:

Most marketers know the real battleground on Facebook is in the news feed, not on Facebook pages. In fact, very few Facebook users actually visit Facebook pages. Instead, they interact with page updates in their news feed.

So, it's much more about creating interesting content, a trusted brand image etc... than getting cutomers to visit your FB page and expecting an immediate conversion. Of course, this depends on what type of business you have, as some of you have mentioned.

jimmy100126

Doesn't matter that you are not great at social media. neither was i, we started a business 5 years ago and it was only after we bulked up on the Facebook and Twitter side of things that we started to see a up-turn in enquiries.
My First venture 10 years ago was a catering company, actually the best catering company in the UK but their ignoring of the power of SM is what led Kudos Delivered to suffer the way it did. and now they are thriving again and wouldnt you know it. . . this co-insided with engagement with SM. the lesson is surly throw everything you have got at this resource.

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

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 ...

Chickabiddybex

I work in digital marketing and use Facebook all the time - if you have any specific questions feel free to ask!

Basic guide to creating a page: https://www.facebook.com/help/104002523024878
Once created, Facebook will give you step by step advice on how to add things to it. You can't really do a lot til you've reached 100 likes so just focus on getting friends etc to like you at first.