Article printed from SiteProNews: http://www.sitepronews.com
  HTML version available at: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives.html

How to Tell If Facebook Is Worthwhile For Your Business or a Waste of Time
By Tinu AbayomiPaul (c) 2009

Social media is here to stay. There. I said it. It will be
around in some form for years to come. Do you really see
Facebook, Twitter and Web videos going somewhere?

Or do you just see them evolving and becoming part of a
larger system the same way business blogs did? Great. Then
we can start figuring out how to use social media to our
benefit.

Now that we're past this issue of whether we are in love
with MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning, etc., and we
realize that we're focusing on whether these tools are
useful or not, (not on whether or not they give us the warm
fuzzies), there's still a fundamental question. This goes
for whether you're using Facebook pages, Facebook ads, or a
regular Facebook profile.

How do you know if sites like Facebook are for YOU? How can
you tell if a social networking site can help YOUR company?

It boils down to three things.

1- Are There Enough People on the Site in Your Interest
Area for it to Be Worth Your While?

You have to think about business connections too, not just
clients.

You can connect with people who send you business. Think
about what the value of a new client is too, whether you
think you can get one out of 100, and how long it takes.
When people come to your profile, are they visiting your
site? If not, is your profile set up correctly?

Experiment. There are several very subtle things you can do
that maximize your exposure, not just daily clicks through
to your site.

To find out if there are enough people on Facebook who need
your plumbing services, search for home improvement groups.
Check your regional network and look on the Marketplace
page. See if you can find people in your local area to
befriend who would need your services - but for heaven's
sake, don't be aggressive in your promotion.

Instead, create a Facebook page, run an ad, or have the
type of networking conversations where "so, what do you
do?" will naturally come up. And you can take it from there.

Networking at Facebook can be like hanging out at a
neighborhood mixer. Yeah, you might want to mention that
you're a handyman, or that you work at the bank, and give
someone your card, but you don't want to turn those first
few getting-to-know-you conversations into a sales pitch.

Let them know who you are, what you do, and after a few
conversations, send them a no-strings coupon for them or a
friend "just in case you ever need it buddy" and go on
being friends.

They'll remember you if you keep in touch, and are a nice
enough guy.

2- Does your company have an RSS-capable site that updates
frequently?

If it does, a profile on Facebook gives you another place
to share your RSS link. You can import your blog posts
going forward, or summaries. There are also applications
like NetworkedBlogs (http://www.networkedblogs.com/) that
will help your blog posts get exposure from interested
readers.

3- Do you already have clients, friends, associates, whose
signal you can isolate, or whose noise you can penetrate,
using Facebook?

This has to be the most underestimated use of Facebook. My
first month at Facebook I had direct interactions with ten
influential people I admire. Some of them I look up to for
personal reasons, others are greats in some aspect of
search, the internet or technology. One actually sent me a
client.

Instead of installing hundreds of applications and
super-poking someone or posting spam to their Super Wall,
you can be the smart person who sends a letter and gets a
response, the one who sends a private message and is sent a
gift in return, or just get the wonderful feeling of having
a world famous personality you admire not only acknowledge
you, but contact you directly.

One of the greatest things about Facebook is how it can
help cement relationships between you and people you know
but didn't think you had much in common with. You know how
sometimes, you want to write to say hello to someone, but
at the same time, you don't want to waste their time?

Or when you think about some great author or celebrity you
admire, and what you'd say to them if you could meet them?
Maybe you just want to compliment a more famous colleague
and not sound like a dork.

Facebook can help with this when it functions as an
automatic ice-breaker, facilitating an intial contact
between you and someone you wish you had more reason to
interact with, then another, and another, until you become
friends who call each other on the phone and plan to visit
or meet at conferences.

Those are the reasons. It's not a matter of time because
you can block all the nuisance requests and there are ways
around the irritating app requests.

It's not a matter of just traffic because first, you can
set up a profile in 15 minutes to automatically send you
traffic and never mess with it again if you like. Or you
can go in and meet people every day and it can be a major
traffic source.

And it's not a matter of whether you can get anything out
of it - it's more a matter of whether you're willing and
whether the available traffic is targeted to your topic.
It's not for everyone, because let's face it, not everyone
wants to do the work, or even use Facebook that way.

And that's okay! For some people, it's a nice little
escape, like a mental, online Starbucks. For some it's a
bother, and the pain of learning a new way to do things
isn't worth the time. I don't mean that sarcastically - if
you're functioning as a CEO, you may not want to focus on
Facebook.

With a little research, you can find out what kind of role
it will play in your life.
===========================================================
Confused about how to get clients, joint venture partners
or more blog traffic from Facebook without violating their
terms with traditional online marketing techniques? Go to
http://freetraffictip.com/1-facebook to learn the advanced
secrets of Facebook Marketing.
=========================================================== 

Copyright © 2009 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.