The Facebook phenomenon

Ever since it was created, Facebook has taken the world by storm. No one ever imagined how big this social network would become.

Just recently, Facebook exceeded 500 million users and has now become the number one activity on the internet. From children through to students and professionals through to the famous, Facebook has even attracted the attention of presidents. The Facebook social media phenomenon has changed the way in which we all communicate with our family, friends, work colleagues and customers. It has even changed the way in which we hear news.  According to the Facebook inventors: “If Facebook were a country, it would be the fifth-largest country in the world, after China, India, the U.S., and Indonesia!” www.facebook.com After the launch of YouTube and Twitter social sites, it became obvious that these social media sites were changing the way people were interacting online. It was at this point that businesses were also slowly realising that in order to stay ahead of their business competitors they had to seriously consider using these new tools and immerse themselves into this new technology and style of marketing.

Facebook marketing for business

The impact Facebook has had on business can be seen today with over 1.5 million businesses having an active business page on the social network. The power of Facebook is incredible. Businesses have realised that Facebook can be used to get customers talking about their products, services and promotions with their friends, colleagues and family. The power of Facebook for business has surpassed expectations. By ignoring this social network a business is ignoring a valuable internet marketing tool that is just as powerful, if not more, than direct mail and direct promotions. By interacting with your customers online via social networking you will find out about your products, brand what customers think of you as a business. You can gain valuable data and insights into your business that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Social media consultants will tell you that Facebook is a great platform for improving your businesses customer service.  You can encourage your customers to contact you via Facebook should they have any problems with the goods or services they have purchased. Once they have purchased from you, Facebook is the ideal place to let others know about the product and service and get customers actively promoting your business and providing feedback. Once you set up your business page on Facebook, you simply encourage your customers to ‘Like’ your page. By asking your customers to ‘Like’ your page it will be visible on their status where their circle of friends will see the ‘Like’ and decide to visit the page to see what it is about. As you gain followers you can send messages to all followers informing them of the latest news or any special promotions you are running – the more you do to get your customers talking the more you will attract new customers. If you are just getting started with Facebook marketing, it’s likely you will need the support of a Web Design and SEO company that specialises in social media marketing to help you to get the ball rolling and provide some initial training. But don’t despair; there are hundreds of specialists providing social media marketing services that you can get advice from. Don’t forget to use blogs and forums where possible as there will be lots of people who are happy to provide further support and talk about their own experiences using Facebook for business marketing. Please follow us @opaceweb on Twitter for information blog updates. Find us on Facebook, and feel free to subscribe to our feed.

Image credit – Thos Ballantyne