Once upon a time social media sites used to be the Internet's "food court" where teens congregated to gossip, argue, and meet each other. However, this all changed once corporations and savvy entrepreneurs realized the power of social networking to accomplish goals that were at one point relegated to handshakes and business card swaps. MySpace was the first to receive the corporate treatment, to be replaced by the toned down, but game driven, Facebook. Suddenly, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and recruiters are "friending" each other and a whole new industry of game promotion sprung up to pull together the best of social media tactics for product promotion.
Growing at a phenomenal rate, Facebook now has over 54 million active users with a growth of 3%. It is not your teenager's Facebook, either. Facebook's latest claim to advertisers is that the 25-and-older demographic is their fastest growing demographic. Facebook also allows individuals to create business pages, and therein lies the bang for the free buck.
Facebook allows a business to reach out and engage customers. Take your local coffee shop as an example. Creating friends allows the coffee shop to communicate with its existing customers and create a community on the web. No longer an impersonal interaction, you are their friend on the web that places games with them and allows them to leave messages and comments on your "wall". When a special event like a music night or coffee special comes up, the shop can create an event on their Facebook page, which in turn will their "friends" front pages. The now friendly patrons receive more information about happenings at the shop and will respond as to whether or not they will be in attendance.
It doesn't get any better than this for small businesses. They can now create dialog with the customer and create the sort of familiarity that creates repeat business. They also have access to people who may not have even heard from them before all because they made a Facebook friend. And with Twitter and Tumblr feeding Facebook, this game is taken to a whole other level.
So if you are a small business you definitely need to consider creating a Facebook home on the web. It allows you to reach out to new and potential customers, gage reactions to new products and services and potentially cuts out the advertising middle man.
The Facebook Pay Per Click Program
Facebook like Google and Yahoo allows you to create a Facebook PPC campaign and design an ad that will be placed according to keywords you have chosen, so that when a user searches on them only those ads will show up. Facebook makes it easy enough for a beginner to set up with its easy walk through and tutorial. However, if you are uneasy about starting a campaign yourself there are companies that will help you select the appropriate keywords and demographics.
Pay per click is an effective Facebook tool to disseminate the appropriate information on your product or service. Like all social media exploits you need to ensure that as one feeds into the other, all "faces" are in synch, utilized, and engaging. So before you begin your Facebook PPC campaign, ensure that your Facebook personal and fan pages are all up to date and enjoyable.