Top 10 tips for businesses using Facebook

2011 has seen the highest number of Australian businesses set up a presence on Facebook compared to previous years. Many businesses are now seeing Facebook as yet another community they can market their products and services too.

However many businesses used to traditional 'push' marketing (such as TV, print media, etc.) are struggling to understand how Facebook can be used successfully for their business. Just as the 1990's saw businesses buy up computers because 'they knew they had to', businesses are now trying to set up Facebook pages because 'they know they have to'.

In this article we outline the top 10 things you as a business can do with their Facebook presence to engage their customers and build their social media profile (please note, if you want to know how to set up a Facebook business page, read our previous article How to set up a Facebook business page)

Post latest news to your wall - anything related to new products or services launched or even better.. news related to your industry that would be interesting to your target market.
Post photos of your products or services to your website and use keyword friendly descriptions. If posting up photos of products, ensure you also put links to the products on your website so people can easily find them.
Shout outs - say hello to other businesses and mention them in your posts to build your online network
Set up a welcome page with your logo and explaining what you offer.
Create a sign up to newsletter page and use MantisMail to connect in and send email campaigns.
Run a competition
Set up your information page properly with details about who you are, what you offer, your contact details, etc.
Start a poll and get people talking about issues related to your industry
Link from your website to your Facebook page to build Facebook 'likers'
Set up a Facebook 'place' page so that people in your area who are checking in to places around you will stumble across you

If you need any help with setting up and managing your Facebook profile, please contact us.

On the subject of Facebook, check out this great video on the future of Facebook and the emergence of Google +