Business Use of Facebook is Exploding

The real estate agent I read about signed up for a Facebook account and filled out a profile, the same as business owners in all kinds of industries. To my knowledge this real estate professional did not get so far as to create a business page.You see, Facebook is 'social' for both personal AND business. You can keep them separate, or you can use both. This agent was contacted by a former high school classmate and proceeded to exchange messages.The spouse of that classmate did not take it so well, and it turned out to be a bad experience for the real estate agent. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but this agent sure took it hard.Then came the question: What is Facebook good for anyway? I don't have time to spend in Facebook with all of the other parts of my job. I don't want to sit around chatting to people or looking at pictures all day.This real estate agent was missing the opportunity of Facebook for business. The same way we build relationships and engage in conversation offline, for both present business and to promote future business, is now being done online as well.Conversations, new prospects, building relationships, sharing valuable information, answering questions, attracting people to a business – this is all being successfully accomplished within Facebook. Sometimes it is by re-connecting with people that already know, like, and trust us. And a large part of it is showing those same qualities with new people that are on Facebook, who are looking for what we have to offer.Let's face it. Crazy situations like the real estate agent experienced can happen offline as easily as online. The difference in doing business today is that people are now ‘online' looking for information. They are talking about what they need, what they are going to buy, their problems, asking questions, asking for referrals. They are doing this in social sites online, like Facebook, and searching on the search engines as well.The reality is that businesses need to be where the people are. The problem is that most businesses do not know where to start. If you search for information online, you can get completely overwhelmed. There is TOO MUCH information.What is lacking right now, for small and medium size business owners who like to keep their social media efforts in-house, is a guide or a daily plan to participate in the social media world.Recently Facebook Pages changed their ‘Become a Fan' button to ‘Like'. There were mixed reactions although many people like the idea of choosing ‘Like' since they feel it is more casual than officially becoming a ‘fan' of different pages.The changes were quite a bit more far reaching than that. These ‘Like' buttons have started to appear on third party websites. They are not the same as ‘liking' something on one of your friend's page, which stays on that page – within Facebook.The new ‘Like' button that you see on non-Facebook pages all over the internet is a very viral action that you take when you click. It is being carried back to Facebook for all of your followers to see – posted on your page and in your news feed for anyone you are connected with to see.An also, now your profile picture shows up on that third party website for any of your Facebook friends – who happen to be on that site – to see. And the information is carried back to your Facebook page for your friends to see. Think about this for business use – the creative ways to use it are going to be endless.Let me leave you with a few Facebook suggestions for business use.1- A Facebook page for your business is an opportunity to build a community of prospects, customers, and advocates for your business. Take full advantage of your page by directing new people to a ‘Welcome' link on your page (use Facebook FBML to create it) where you can post your message, add an opt-in form as part of your list building process, and personally show them the value you are going to give them when they ‘Like' your page. There are many strategies available for building business pages.2- Import your blog so that each time you post, all of your Facebook friends and connections will see your valuable content.3- The same rules that apply to social media in general apply to using Facebook for business: LISTEN, Interact, React, Sell – in that order. The 'sell' will take care of itself if you (the business) does the first three. The interact and react steps are focused on helping people that you identify in the ‘Listen' step by sharing information, answering questions, offering solutions – not direct selling.4- Last, why do you need to start using Facebook NOW? The future of social media is that it will take on a life of its own – trends will be merged with social media and we will be able to see what everyone is doing, what they are purchasing, etc. Searches won't be as much about what the search engines think as they will be about what your peers, prospects, and customers think.Thanks for your time today. As always, we welcome your feedback, questions, and invite you to connect.

asking for referrals, Building, business, crazy situations, FaceBook, high school classmate, information