A closer look at having Business on Facebook

The  answer to the above question will depend on your personal business objectives  and your ability to use this tool effectively. Firstly, you need to know that  the original basis for the existence of Facebook is social networking.  Therefore, it is basically a tool that enables individuals to share information  and stay updated about recent happenings within their social circle. It could  be the social circle of family & friends, a collection of contacts, people  with common interest, or network of professionals or business connections.

A  pure business networking tool is LinkedIn. Facebook is purely a social  networking instrument. Therefore, if you must promote business with Facebook,  you need to be careful how you do it so that you don't irritate the original  users.

To  ascertain whether Facebook is suitable for your business, you need to analyse  if there are interest groups and target audiences that have the potential of  generating business for you. You may aim at generating business directly by  offering your product or service to those using Facebook, or indirectly, by  creating awareness for your brand, or generating sales feedback on your  products and on yourself using the network.

Other  online social networking sites do exist. What comparison can you make between  Facebook and these other social sites? Also, is it better to focus on one site  or extend your tentacles to multiple networking websites?

Facebook  leads over other social networking sites. The age group of its users range from  early-twenties and above. In fact, social networking scene is ruled by Facebook  – only having a measure of competition from MySpace. Facebook is focused more  on sharing life events, keeping touch with friends and family and getting back  with lost contacts. But professional circles and business connections are also popular  on Facebook; however, you must understand that they are not part of the  original purpose for the creation of Facebook, and therefore can generate  issues if care is not taken when using it for other purposes. LinkedIn is completely  devoted to professional and business connections and leads in this niche.  However, the number of subscribers is low when compared to social networking  websites in general.

Couple of questions  you could ask yourself

• Can I realize my business objective by using  social networking sites? If your answer to this question is a YES, then you can  promote your business successfully using Facebook and other social network  sites.
• What is the specific network that will best  suit my specific business objective? The answer to this question is FACEBOOK. But  yes, you must be creative and socially committed in order to achieve a good  result with business marketing on Facebook.