61 Hints and Tips You Can Use to Facebook Your Business… Now!   |  September 10, 2008  

By Ean Jackson
President, Analytics Marketing

The following is a list of hints and tips assembled for the International Internet Marketing Association (IIMA) event “Facebook Your Business… Now!” in May 2008 in Vancouver, Canada. I am the first to admit that I am more of a curious observer than an expert on the subject, so I asked the most knowledgeable Facebook experts I know to share their perspectives in a panel. Thank you Maureen McCartney, Michael Fergusson and Phillip Jeffrey!

My goal for the workshop was to make sure everyone who attended came away with a brain full of great ideas, as well as practical hints and tips. To compile this list I used the Internet, suggestions from the panelists, and Facebook itself. These hints and tips have not been validated; they have been edited only briefly and you may find duplicate suggestions. I have included sources. It's not a perfect list, but it’s a good start.

We plan to offer the "Facebook your Business" seminar again on 9 October, 2008 in Vancouver, BC. Indicate your interest by signing up in Facebook or register at http://www.iimaonline.org/. Use Facebook to tell a friend about the seminar and join the IIMA Facebook group to learn about their other educational events.

I will keep updating this list so if you have feedback, please tell me. And if you have ideas for how to leverage Facebook for business, please send them to me and I will give you credit in the next edition! Ean Jackson: ejackson@analyticsmarketing.com.  

It's all about relationships! 

1. It's a soft sell, through engagement. Point them to your company blog or contest. Similar to offline relationships, they will eventually get to know you and hopefully you are on their consideration list next time. Don't do standard banners or copy.

2. Offer them something of value, expect nothing in return ‐ it's a brand-awareness tool.

3. Ask for referrals ‐ Use a Facebook "share this link" on the pages you want to share on Facebook ‐ your blog, contest sites, helpful tools, i.e. Widgets, so it's easy for people to share with their friends. Referrals from friends are still the most trusted.

4. Provide interactivity with widgets or polls. Interacting with your brand and spending time with it can help to create a relationship and build word of mouth.

5. Try to integrate the various different types of Facebook advertising with your message or brand. Build a Facebook page with a widget and Facebook ad. Build the relationship.

Phillip Jeffrey 
fadetoplay.com

6. Use status updates to disseminate information about self/business. Sarah is "in Vancouver for a business meeting. Call me if in town" Jim is "congratulating Jane for her recent promotion."

7. Promote Facebook usage beyond Facebook e.g. business cards, conference badges, e-mail signatures ‐ add "Facebook me."

8. Maintain hierarchical relationships in Facebook. Don't friend interns or subordinates, let them friend you.

9. Think about appropriateness of company social event photos before uploading them to Facebook and customize who can see them if necessary. Let "friends" tag themselves in pictures taken of them.

10. Understand how privacy works in Facebook and check settings weekly to know which friends or networks your information is being shared with. Do I want to share social photos with all my business contacts? Do I want friends to know when my relationship status changes?

Chris Briekks, 6S Marketing
http://www.6smarketing.com/blog/top_five_tips_for_facebook_business_pages/

11. Make business personal. Facebook members primarily use Facebook to share personal information with their friends and family daily. Focus on the human element of your business and products, and your employees. When consumers can relate personally to a business or product, they are more likely to promote it and feel a stronger connection.

12. Update your business page frequently. Facebook is geared towards current events, recent changes and up‐to‐the‐second news updates of your friends lives. Post information as soon as possible and frequently to encourage customers to return more often. Having a Facebook business page allows you to send personal updates, just to members, e.g. new product launches, in‐store events, special promotions, which makes your business more personal.

13. The power of news feeds. When you view your Facebook “Home” page, you see instant up‐to‐the‐minute news on what your friends are doing, which groups they’ve joined, and even their emotional status. When users become a fan of your business, the News Feed application tells their friends and invites them to become a fan of your business as well. On average, over 100 people will see this update. The News Feed application is the key to spreading your message virally on Facebook.

14. Choose the right Facebook applications for your business. There are thousands of free applications on Facebook, but that doesn’t mean that every one has a place on your business page. Your page comes with basic pre‐installed applications and you can easily add others, for instance, a restaurant may choose to add an application for online order or reservations. The more useful and relevant the applications are to your customers, the faster your fan base will grow.

15. Promote through Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads allow you to target your audience based on age, gender, geography, educational status, relationship status, and precise interests or keywords. Ads can be socialized so that users’ interactions are reflected in the ads their friends see; thereby increasing the virality of your page.

Inside CRM. The Facebook Marketing Toolbox: 100 Tools and Tips to Tap the Facebook Customer Base 
www.insidecrm.com/features/facebook‐marketing‐toolbox‐012308/ 

16. Meet your peers. Facebook is not just for college kids anymore. Members are typically older and more mature than on other sites and there are more white collar users. 

17. Find business contacts. With more than 65 million active users, and predicted to be 200 million by the end of 2008, not only are your friends on Facebook, so are your prospects, your customers, your JV partners… and, of course, your competitors. You need to be on too.

18. Instant gate opener. Facebook members are open to connecting. You can easily begin a dialog with highly successful - even famous -people who were previously otherwise unreachable. 

19. Build relationships. By engaging in conversations with your prospects and customers, you can better adapt your marketing and business services to meet their needs. 

20. Raise visibility. By consistently showing up, posting relevant information, and being a thought leader; you can increase visibility and credibility as an expert in your area.

21. Develop your personal brand. The lines between business and personal have become blurred. You can reveal as much or as little about yourself as you wish, allowing you to personalize your brand. 

22. Target your niche. Users volunteer vast amounts of information about themselves that you can readily access. These kinds of demographics, psychographics, and technographics would previously have cost fortunes to access. Author John Battelle calls Facebook a "database of intentions." 

23. Get rapid top Google placement. Create a Page for your business and ''push" information to your fans. Pages (for business) and Profiles (for personal) are indexed for optimal search engine positioning. Facebook has a page rank of #7 according to Alexa. 

24. Place targeted ads. With Facebook Social Ads, you can test out extremely targeted advertising. 

25. No cost marketing. Aside from paid ads, Facebook is totally free to use and with regular activity you'll end up with more traffic, more subscribers, and more paying clients. 

26. You can syndicate your blog. Through Facebook Notes, you can import one RSSsyndicated site, and items fed via RSS will appear on Facebook, to all your friends, via the News Feed.

27. You can post “Polls,” or “Surveys” to different demographics. Click on the Business link in the footer of your Facebook account, then click on Facebook Polls, and you’ll soon have access to create your own polls, which you can target towards certain age groups, interests, and other demographics, and track the results. Polls are $.25 a response or as budgeted. 

28. You can track available demographics directly in Facebook. Similar to Polls, you can use Facebook Insights to find out how many people are within a certain demographic on Facebook. To get there, click on Business in the footer, then Facebook Insights. 

29. You can post Flash and HTML directly in your brand’s Facebook Page. Facebook Pages (that’s with a capital “P”) are a way you can create a “Profile” for your business. 

30. The largest demographic on Facebook is the 25 and older group. Believe it or not, per Facebook’s own statistics, the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is those aged twenty‐five and older. 

31. Through a Facebook Page, you can track the traffic of a brand’s Profile. Once you create a Facebook Page, be sure to visit your Page Manager on the left after logging into Facebook. There, you can track valuable statistics about your Page: number of visits, Male‐to‐Female ratio, Page Views, and more. 

32. Give others an easy-to-remember link to your Facebook Profile. Through SocialToo.com! - by registering at SocialToo.com and following the instructions to link it to Facebook, you can have yourusername.socialtoo.com automatically redirect to your Facebook Profile. This can be an excellent way to tell your friends how to find you on Facebook.

Web Worker daily 
http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/07/24/12‐ways‐to‐use‐facebook‐professionally/
Note: you may need to have an existing Facebook profile to follow some of these links.

33. Think of it like personalizing your desk. When you walk by someone’s desk, your eye is drawn to their pictures and the way they have personalized and organized their space. You pick up on clues to their lives without realizing it. Mary is a Mom whose desk is filled with pictures of two young children, and there are “To Mommy” pictures pinned to the side of her cubicle. Only display on your profile what you’d put on your desk and don’t add anything that you wouldn’t display for your supervisors, co-workers and clients.

34. Look for old co-workers and current connections. I found more contacts on Facebook this way than I did on LinkedIn. Former colleagues have “Googled” me, and after a few e-mails to catch up, we don’t communicate again. By adding these people to Facebook, I feel more connected to them without having to actively maintain a conversation via e-mail. Look for business opportunities out of shared interests.

35. Add friends selectively. Contrary to popular belief, Facebook isn’t about “collecting” friends. There’s no reward for quantity, and you can have a rich experience on the platform with only a handful of connections. The quality of your Facebook experience will be based on the quality of the people in your network. Create a limited profile for those people that you are on the fence about. By default your limited profile contains everything in your full profile, so take the time to edit it down.

36. Add apps selectively. There are over 2000 apps you can add to your Facebook profile. Don't be tempted to try them all if you want Facebook to be a professional tool for you. Pick apps that won’t waste your time when you visit your Facebook home page - avoid games. Read/Write Web offers a selection of top apps for work. Read the app description carefully so you know what you’re getting and what the privacy settings are. It also helps to see how your contacts are using the app. And never fear, you can remove an app as easily as you added it. Think of your apps in two ways: What do you want to see (that will appear on your Facebook home page)? And what do you want the world to see (that will appear on your profile)? You might consider adding an app that you don’t display on your profile at all, but that uses the collective wisdom and usage patterns of your network to provide you with valuable information. Or, if you visit your Facebook home page often, it can help keep you organized, having nothing to do with your friends’ actions.

37. Edit your News Feed preferences. You don’t necessarily have to know the moment someone adds a new picture, but you may want to know when they’ve made a new connection you may have in common. Click the Preferences button on your Facebook home page and use the sliders to give preference to the type of information you want. The more you fine‐tune this information, the less time you’ll waste sifting through useless updates.

38. Edit your profile and security settings. Give careful consideration to who sees your profile and when. Go through each link in the Privacy area and make necessary adjustments. Maybe you don’t want people who are casually searching to know who your friends are or “poke” you and maybe you don’t want a public profile, which is accessible to people who are not on Facebook. It’s one thing to share your full profile with everyone who went to the same college or high school you did, it’s another to share it with everyone in the New York City metropolitan area.

39. Incorporate the tools you’re already using into your profile. Web workers like playing with all the latest toys. Do you blog, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, or read feeds? There are Facebook apps available for all these services. If you already use these tools professionally, why not add them to your Facebook profile? After you add an app, you simply use it as you normally would and let the app do the work. You can see Twitter updates from your Facebook contacts without following them in Twitter. Do you think your contacts would like to read that interesting post? Click the Share button in Google Reader and it’s there on your Facebook profile. The Top Shared panel takes a del.icio.us/popular approach to showing the most shared posts across everyone who has installed the app.

40. Join groups related to your business interests. Quite a few groups on Facebook can provide useful information and professional connections. Each group can feature a Wall (like a guestbook, or a continuous scroll of messages) and threaded discussion lists. Watch the groups your friends are joining, as they will often interest you too. You might even think about using Facebook to virally address a business cause.

41. Limit time wasted on Facebook. Facebook is a black hole. If you find you’re spending too much time reading Facebook message boards or about your friends’ favorite book selections, then set limits for yourself. In order to get the most from Facebook, you have to be on the platform, though, so consider the Facebook toolbar for Firefox which will notify you when you have a reason to check the home page. You can also work with Facebook from your mobile phone while you’re waiting in line and not being productive anyway.

42. Be philanthropic and look good to your friends while doing it. You can add the Causes app to specifically benefit nonprofit organizations or join groups that stand for actions you believe in. 

43. Ask Questions. Tap into collective intelligence with the My Questions app - ask your network. Many of us have used our blogs for this but asking your question on Facebook instead will filter out the general public, and it doesn’t leave a trail for Google to follow.

44. Look for events. There’s some opportunity for good, face-to-face business networking. If you already use the Upcoming.org site to find and track conferences and other events, you can add that information to your profile. Or you can use Facebook’s built-in events application to see what conferences and events your connections may be attending.

Karen Skidmore
http://www.candocanbe.com/blog.php
6 Points you need to consider before launching yourself in to Facebook

45. Think quality not quantity.  Facebook is only one of many social networking sites out there, and online networking is only one of many promotional tools. Having a presence on Facebook is desirable but not critical to your business success.

46. Keep focused.  It is too easy to waste hours on Facebook. Know what it is you want to do and get out!

47. Contribute, don’t spam. There is nothing worse that having someone at a networking event thrusting business cards into everyone’s hands and talking about nothing but themselves. It is boring and downright rude, so there is no need to do it online either.

48. Have a Web site with a purpose. Many people use Facebook to drive traffic to their Web site, which is a good objective. But first make sure your Web site is offering something worthwhile to your visitors. Is your headline compelling enough so that visitors stick around? And is your call to action strong enough so that visitors take the first step towards becoming customers? 

49. Balance your personal life with your business persona. Remember that Facebook was originally designed for college students and that many members are there to have a bit of fun. Will the photos that you posted from that night out be seen by your customers?

50. Introduce yourself when inviting a friend. You wouldn’t go round at a networking event poking people in the back, leaving your business card in their back pocket. You would introduce yourself and explain how you came to learn of the person you're meeting. You will build a far stronger online network by taking a little time out and consider relationship building rather than “collecting” friends.

Facebook ‐ How it can benefit your small business
Small Business BC, Chilliwack Times Published: Monday, February 11, 2008

51. Your personal profile can include as much or as little about you and your business as you like. You could list your business under "employment," include a description of what you do and a link to your Web site.

52. Ask for what you want.

53. Find suppliers and contacts for your business by using the Facebook "status" feature.  For example, if you're an event planner whose caterers are all too busy to help with a last-minute party gig, then change your status in Facebook to "I need to find a party caterer today!" When you do this, all your friends in Facebook will see this change and they may have someone to recommend. If the caterer you find is good and is on Facebook, you could add them as a friend ‐ that way, their business contacts in Facebook may come across your page at some point and see and use your event planning services. Ask for what you want and you may get it.

54. Create a page for your business

55. Facebook allows you to create a free page for your business or product (www.facebook.com/pages/create.php), including displaying your Web site, e-mail, images, videos, event notifications, and more. Your business or product can have fans (and friends of people who are your fans will see your product page if they're surfing through their friends' activities). You must be logged into Facebook to create a page like this.

56. Create a group for your niche. You can create a group for your business or market niche. For example, you could have a business creating reusable shopping bags, and create a group to "Encourage Reusable Bag Use." Groups can be private or public (anyone can join). Group pages have similar features to business pages.

57. Buy well‐targeted ads. Using Facebook Ads, you can create incredibly targeted ads for your company's product or service. First, you choose the site the ad will link to, for instance, yourjewellerysite.com. Then, you choose whom to show the ad to, for example, women in B.C. over 25 with a college education. As a bonus, Facebook shows you how many people that would be. You can further target your ad to people who have certain interests (rings), have a certain relationship status (engaged), and more. Be careful, though, many people don't specify their exact interests or age. Weigh the benefits of having a very targeted ad (less wasted advertising dollars) against missing being seen by those who haven't put all their personal information in Facebook. Facebook allows you to pay for ads by impression (when your ad is seen) at about $0.10 per view, or pay per click (when someone clicks on it) at about $0.30 per click. You set a daily budget and when your budget limit is reached, your ad is no longer displayed.

4 steps to effectively marketing your business on Facebook 
www.facebooking101.com/modules/business‐on‐facebook

58. Register a new Facebook profile that will only be used for your business activities. Although people say Facebook is changing the face of modern business by mixing business and personal relations , this is NOT something you want to do. Your personal and business profiles should be kept completely separate. If you don't separate them, your business message will be diluted, and people will be distracted from your marketing efforts. Customers won't want to subscribe to your news feed if your business updates include "getting TP at the store". 

Get a "yourname@yourowndomain.com" e-mail address. An acceptable alternative would be a GMail account (SmithConstruction@gmail.com, for example) because many people use Gmail addresses for work these days. Facebook does not allow fake names to be used when creating a user profile. Don't be tempted to do so, because Facebook may delete it if it finds you out.

If you already have a personal Facebook account, make a variation of it for a secondary business profile ("JohnSmith Work", for example.) The first part of your user name is what will be visible in news feed and status updates. A caveat: You can use your existing personal Facebook profile for business marketing but you will have to change your personal profile privacy settings so that business contacts cannot see all the personal information. If you are never going to add a silly profile application or display a questionable "friend" you might get away with it.

59. Add relevant business information to your Profile, and guide people back to your Web site. Don't put any information on your Profile that you wouldn't put on your corporate Web site. A Facebook business profile should be bare‐bones. You'll want to put down your name, contact information and place of employment. In the "about me" section, put a short paragraph to describe your business, what you can do for customers, what kind of customers you are looking for, and the best way for them to reach you.

Don't forget to add a link to your business Web site. If you write the link URL as "http://yourdomain.com" it will help you with SEO. For your Profile picture, you may want to have something like this:

Notice the large reference to your business Web site URL. It can be clearly read at a glance, plus the background image depicts your business activities.

There are two reasons why you might want to create a custom graphic such as this:
1. It's the first thing that people will see on your business profile page, and
2. It will spur them to visit your business Web site outside of Facebook (they can click on the direct link you provided in the "about me" section). 

Your Profile graphic is visible in Facebook search results. If you've used keywords for your business in your Profile, you should be able to test this. If your profile didn't come up in the search results, go to your Profile description, and enter keywords. If your title and Web site URL are large, people will see what you are about in the search results before they even click on your Profile. This increases the odds that they will click on your Profile image plus it's an opportunity to put your URL in front of them.

Another addition to your Facebook business profile is to fill your personal image gallery with images relevant to your business. Add value by commenting on each image, in the image itself if possible. Make all images the same size, and order them in a sequence, for example, "these are the 6 steps that we follow when cleaning your rug."

Add "visit www.yourdomain.com for info" to the corner of each image. Use every chance to funnel people away from your Facebook profile, to your own Web site, where you have control over everything. Give your images the best chance of being found by giving them file like "keyword.jpg". Google Image Search is an important traffic stream that will bring more visitors to your Profile, that you should not overlook. Add a caption (short descriptive sentence that includes your relevant keywords) below each image, which helps with SEO.

Additional small Profile tweaks: Add your country network - it's another way for people to find you (when you created your account, you were automatically signed up to a local city network.)  Under Privacy settings, change the search criteria so anyone can find your Profile. Facebook business apps don't seem to be worthy of installing but new ones are created all the time so this may change.

60. Create and join relevant Facebook groups with traffic funneling in mind. To market your business, create a new Facebook group called "YourCity YourIndustry", for example, "Ottawa Web Site Design". Don't worry if there is already a similarly named Facebook Group, as yours is going to be better. Your city location is important for search purposes because local search is Hot! Lots of people use local terms in their search queries. The description box for your group could read: "Ottawa Web Site Design. A group for local Ottawa Web site designers and developers to advertise their services. If you live in Ottawa, and work in the Web development field, please drop in to say hello and to let us know in what area you have specific expertise! Visitors looking for Web design help in Ottawa are welcome as well... you can browse the group members, or visit the web site below for more info."

Why would you invite the competition to join your group? It creates a venue for people who work in the industry, and a simple local business directory where customers can find someone local - it's another doorway through which customers can find you. As the creator of the group, you will have administrative control over the direction of the group. Discussions will arise on the group wall, but you don't have to manage them as they will not generate new business for you. 

Don't over emphasize your own company in the profile graphic or group description. If you do, people won't see the incentive to join. Just being the group administrator is good enough, as it allows you to place a discreet link to your business profile in a very visible location at the top of the page.

61. Using News Feeds and Status Updates to subtly advertise your business news. The key word is "subtly". Your news feed updates will appear on your friends' profile pages, along with other updates, most of which will be personal in nature. A status update like "SALE $99 SPECIAL SALE!!!" will not win you admirers, but you can get away with one‐liners such as "developing new tool to..." and "sold another house in..." The people who look at your friends' profiles are seeing you for the first time, which is why you want to make a good impression.

Facebook is a great source of Web traffic that should not be overlooked. If you set up your business profile and create groups as described above, you should be able to direct some who join your group back to your main Web site. Now that Facebook has opened up its content to be crawled by Google, Facebook Profile pages and Facebook group pages may become pages with a high to moderate Google PageRank, which you can take advantage of when you link back to your own site.