Facebook Business Page

Why should your company join Facebook and create a company page?

- I don’t have time to hang out on Facebook!
- No, Facebook is not for us, we are a for-profit business
- We don’t have staff enough to hang out on Facebook all day long
- It’s just a matter of time before Facebook goes in the grave, then there will something else

The arguments about why one shouldn’t join Facebook are many, one sillier than the other.

To have a business page on Facebook is positive and in most cases very successfully. Just how successful is up to you.

Facebook is a network, a news site, an address book. Facebook is business. Your customers and your friends are on Facebook and as long as they are around, so will their Facebook account. It is no fantasy world but a link between you, your friends, your partners and your customers. It is a platform, a place where you can see everything happening around you in the real world. Facebook is not a place where you necessarily have to spend several hours a day, but a reality that reflects all that is happening around you, your friends and your colleagues. Refusing Facebook is about as smart as saying that the Internet is a fad.

So what can you do on Facebook, then? What is the purpose?

If you have a private account, it is simply a network where you gather friends and acquaintances. 500 million people, or every second person in the world, has an account on Facebook. It says a lot.

Some good reasons to create a company Facebook page

• It takes you one step closer to customers. Do not tell us your customers are not online, they are! Even Grandparents are on the net and they are also the fastest growing internet user group!

• It’s a very simple way to have a two-way communication with customers.

• Show the human side of business and thus create a loyalty that you can’t create anywhere else, regardless how much resources you put in for example banner advertising.

• Feel the pulse of your customers. Who are they? What do they think about you? Do not be afraid of criticism, it is out there anyway. Better to accept it yourself in order to respond constructively, or have customers letting off steam on other forums where you don’t have a chance to respond.

• Allowing customers to interact.

And through all this, you should obviously find clever ways to increase sales.

To find out more - contact Decho today on 020 7127 5121

How do you create and maintain a Facebook business page?

• Once you have set up your Facebook page, ask all of your company, your friends and family and any friend and sister company, to go in and like the page. You should really be looking at about 200 "like" before telling customers that you are on Facebook

• Put up posters in your physical store (if you have one) to tell your customers to join your Facebook group to receive offers, news and receive invitations to VIP evenings or the like

• Start a competition (but not on Facebook, is prohibited and may cause your account closed down) with the aim that more people will like your page. Tell us about the competition in your store, on the website and in any newsletter mailing

• Ask questions, let people interact and participate in discussions

• Update the page about 2-3 times a week

• Write about things that customers want to read and enjoy. Remember that you write for their sake, they should be the ones who should benefit from what you write, not you. In other words: Do not sell through your status update on Facebook! It feels very invasive and virtually spamming to get sales messages on their Facebook log. If you want to sell - make a separate tab for it where people have a look if they are interested.

• Decho can help you make applications where people can interact and, for example, receive a discount as thanks to the spread information to their friends on Facebook. This usually gives has very good effect so expect many more "likes"

There are many activities you can do to make your Facebook-likers to feel comfortable with you and to constantly bring in new 'likers'. Be curious, creative and daring to try different ways. There are no limits as long as you stay within Facebook's rules. After a while you will also find good ways to sell your products via Facebook, directly or indirectly

And no, it does't take much time to maintain a Facebook page. Many people are constantly logged on to their Facebook page and to respond to the questions that come up is fast and easy.