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Keep March 24 open – Learn how to advertise on Facebook

 

Just a quick note to keep March 24 open for a special webinar entitled: “Facebook – Uses and Advantages for Businesses”.

 

Facebook is one of the fastest growing social networks available today. With over 350 million users worldwide, Facebook has even surpassed email as the most frequently used tool online.

 

At this webinar, WSI will teach you how you can leverage Facebook to enhance your brand, manage your reputation, drive more traffic to your website, generate more leads, acquire new customers and retain your existing customers.  Registration details are below.

 

North American Market:

Topic: Facebook - Uses and Advantages for Businesses

Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CDT

Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/957409281

 

UK/Europe Market:

Topic: Facebook - Uses and Advantages for Businesses

Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM GMT

Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/333810568

 

Note: you will need to put my name, Joe Miner, to complete the registration.

 

I’ll send you more details as I receive them. If you have any questions, please give me a call.

So who's not heard of Facebook by now? Even my mother is using it now to keep up with her grandchildren. But it's sort of skipped a generation (that's me by the way). Odd since I'm on the computer all the time. Well, that is getting to be less and less true--Facebook is no longer just for college students (it's heritage), nor even the grandmothers out there.

According to Facebook, there are over 400 million active users and more than half of them are on Facebook every singe day. More than that, over 1.5 million businesses are on Facebook. What? Did I just change subjects--not at all. These are everything from small mom and pop operations to huge international corporations. If you think about it, it was inevitable. 400 million possible customers have a way of attracting businesses.

So how do you go about 'getting on Facebook' if you're a business? First you need to understand the differences between three different kinds of entities on Facebook: the profile, the page and the group.

Profiles are for individuals only. These are the accounts that your kids and parents have. Okay, maybe you too. They are for people to stay in contact with other people that they know or meet online. You communicate with each other and share things like photo's. It is social interaction in the 21st century.

Groups are for collections of people that organize around a common interest for discussions related to that interest. They also connect individuals like profiles, but with that topical focus.

Pages are for companies and organizations. Unlike profiles, pages are publicly viewable without logging into Facebook. Instead of 'friending' someone like you would in your profile, people can choose to be your 'fans'. These pages are there for you to promote your business, brand, message, what ever you decide. You publish updates that your fans can see.

You can setup yourFacebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php and begin gathering fans. Just think, 400,000,000 possible customers!

On a note of caution, think about why someone would want to be your fan. It's probably not because they are wanting you to bury them in promotional messages. Think about what they do want and use your page for good, not evil! (Okay, I'm getting silly, but you get the point (I hope)).

LinkedIn.com is an online tool for managing and leveraging your professional network. If used properly, you can use LinkedIn to generate leads for your business.

But, as will all networking, you have to work at it actively and have a plan. Otherwise you end up expending energy and time without getting the business development you hoped for.

So, what should you be doing to use LinkedIn to generate leads?

1. Start by deciding on your goals. What are you trying to accomplish? Who do you need to connect with to make that happen? What do they need that you can provide?
2. Fill out your profile with an eye towards who will be viewing it. Keep it relevant to your lead generation goals.
3. Make connections. Should be obvious, but many people take a wait and see attitude about building connections rather than actively pursuing connections. Any updates you make to your profile will be disseminated to your connections. The more connections, the more people see that change.
4. Join groups. These are both sources of connections and participate in discussions to position yourself as a thought leader.
5. Use the search feature to find other users that fit your target market and use your connections to make contact.
6. Be careful however. Don't go into full blown sales mode or you will turn people off and they will be less likely to help you in the future.
7. Use the question and answer portion of LinkedIn to get involved in conversations about what you have to offer. People will see these conversations and what you have to offer.
8. Use the 'Network Update' feature to publicize what you are doing and items of interest to your connections. In particular, publicize your blog entries to expose your network to what you are writing.

LinkedIn can be a powerful networking tool if you set good goals and use the system to develop relationships and establish yourself as a real resource.

See my February 2010 Newsletter on LinkedIn for more information.