“Should My Business Be on Facebook?”
Maybe and maybe not. Let’s ask some different questions. Feel free to use this same logic for LinkedIn, Twitter, FourSquare, or pretty much anything else.
I’ve noticed that the “herd” mentality starts to come into play more with social media than with other things. The reason seems simple. Most people don’t really understand it, but everybody seems to be doing it. Plus, it’s free. The innate human tendency: when in doubt, follow the crowd.
Not every business is on the internet. In fact, there is still a huge segment of the population that doesn’t particularly like computers and prefers to use them as little as possible. I hear generalized statements like “everybody’s going to the internet these days – that’s where you have to be!” I think to myself, “not necessarily.” Not everyone thinks the same way.
If you’re considering putting up a Facebook page for your business, you’d do best to keep this in mind. While you don’t have to pay for a Facebook page (at least not yet), time is money. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Why (specifically) do you think your business would benefit from being on Facebook?
- What specific measurable goal do you believe that you can achieve on Facebook that you can’t achieve anywhere else?
- 90 days now, how will you determine whether your idea proved to be correct or not?
- How much time per week are you willing to commit to spend learning how to use Facebook for your business?
- Do you know of any businesses like yours that are currently making more money because they use Facebook?
You might think that just because it doesn’t cost any money, you have nothing to lose. The risk, when it comes to free things like Facebook, is spreading your time too thin. When you see a way for Facebook to produce measurable results (preferably direct revenue), you’re ready to pull the trigger.
If you’re not clear about how Facebook will make you money, but you still want to start playing around with it anyhow, that’s fine. Just do it on your personal time and don’t think of it as a business activity.
Tags: Facebook
Internet Marketing, Marketing, business | Comments RSS | Trackback URI |
While Facebook and other social media sites can be great marketing tools, it’s important to go in with a strategy. You won’t get anything out of it by blindly jumping in. It may be “free” but without a strategy, it’s a waste of time. In order to find any success through social media be prepared to work at it. It doesn’t happen magically.
I made the decision to disconnect from Facebook completely. After 2 years with a strategy, I realized it only made me “watch” more. I am very happy with my choice at this point. I picked up a key message from George Kao about posting my IP for free. I still blog, but only as a way to reflect what I am experiencing.
Social media help in marketing, it really helps to reach the potential clients.
[...] “Should My Business Be on Facebook?” Contrary to popular belief, not every business is on Facebook. This post provides 5 questions that you should ask yourself before setting up a page on the site. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE [...]
[...] “Should My Business Be on Facebook?” Contrary to popular belief, not every business is on Facebook. This post provides 5 questions that you should ask yourself before setting up a page on the site. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE [...]
I should be on Facebook. It’s a 2011 goal. Good article.
I have been pondering about Facebook for Tolvumidlun (www.tolvumidlun.is) for a year now. Til now, I think that Facebook can be both a great weapon in your marketing mix but it can also turn against you as customers might spread bad publicity. So, before you decide to go on Facebook you must do your homework and have a strategy. Who will follow conversations? Who will update and monitor? What to do in the case of bad/good publicity? How to control?