How to Network on Facebook – 4 Ways to Establish a Direct Market
March 13th, 2009. Published under Marketing. No Comments.
If you want to promote your business or affiliate in a way that is really outside the box, definitely take a look into Facebook. You’ve certainly heard by now that Facebook is the leading social networking website today. With Facebook, you have a huge potential to connect with customers and develop a strong sales relationship. How do you do that? Please read on.
If you are savvy enough to attract people to interact with you on Facebook, your network will start to fill with people who have genuine interest in you and your business. The benefits of this include building a strong customer database and contact list. Remember, even if someone does not do business with you today, that does not mean they will not do business with you tomorrow. It is essential that you get them (and keep them) in your sales pipeline.
To do this, keep the following in mind:
1. Be patient. Building your presence on Facebook is going to take some time and energy. As with all business and marketing avenues, success doesn’t happen overnight. Although you could outsource some of your Facebook presence-building, you must be careful that you also adhere to my next point.
2. Be unique. Every Facebook business should be as unique as the business owner. In fact, this is the primary reason people are on Facebook: to express their unique identities. If you come across as just another run-of-the-mill business, why would anyone on Facebook want anything to do with you? If you want traditional, go back to the newspapers. This is Facebook, and if you want to build a network of people who would be interested in your products, you need to concentrate on resonating with peoples unique identities.
3. Create discussion. Remember, you want to be focused on identity. Getting discussion going is a great way to show personality, inspire and get attention. For example, if you were in the business of selling T-shirts, you might want to create a group on Facebook that discusses what makes designs appealing to some and not to others. While less informational, this attracts people who are interested in providing their opinions in your target market.
4. Read the terms of service agreement. For most people, Facebook is a fun, virtual social circle where anything and everything goes. This is not quite the case though. The Facebook website is constantly monitored by their staff to make sure people are not breaking the terms of service agreement. Breaking the terms of service agreement can get your account suspended or even banned. Remember to read the terms of the service agreement carefully before beginning.