Getting your Business Started with a Facebook 'Like' Page

While teaching my Social Media for Small Business Course, my students have been asking alot about Facebook. They know the potential to increase awareness about their business is there, but aren't sure how to get started. I thought I'd shed some light on the keys ways to maximize your Facebook business page and what you need to focus on when starting out...

So, you've created your 'Like' page...now what?

Engage - Entertain - Educate

People judge books by their cover and people will judge your business if you don't have the proper information laid out for them. Your Facebook profile picture is the first impression people may have about you and your business. Make sure it's something related, eye-catching and flattering if it is a picture of you. Most of all make sure you have one.

The whole purpose of Facebook is for friends to connect, share information, photos and updates about what's going on in their lives. If you don't do the same with your business page, you're missing out and the REAL Facebook users will notice this. Add friends as soon as you can and you'll notice the word quickly spread that you're now on Facebook!

Your wall is your main platform to interact with Facebook users and your friends. Be interactive, make posts, comments and share your status updates. Make comments on behalf of your business but make sure you only do when it's relevant. ie. Jane says: I want a sandwich sooo bad!' Joe's Deli says: Come on down to Joe's! Italian meatball subs are on sale today!

YouTube is the second largest search engine next to Google. People love videos and pictures and the more you can share when them , the more they're likely to share with others. Create some DIY videos or a tour of your shop, introduce your employees or give a history of how your business came to be. Pictures are also great and also show you're properly engaging yourself online.

Hope this helps! Happy FBing! :)

Social Media for Small Business Course

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Social Media Marketing- Best practices for new users

I consider myself to be a pretty tech-savvy person who picks up new software, programs and applications with ease.

These past two weeks I've been diving (head first) into the realm of social media from a business-use perspective and WOW! Not only are there a zillion different programs like Facebook, Twitter, Digg and LinkedIn but there is a wide range of tools, like Hootsuite, to help you manage your different social media accounts.

B2C and B2B marketing has never been more interesting then in this technological age. The ease and precision of finding what you want, following who you want and sharing that with everyone you've ever met is all possible at the click of a button.

With all this technology and multiple social accounts, how can businesses possibly know what to do? For small businesses this is a huge learning curve all the way from using a computer to building an online profile and presence. Below I've listed some information about social media best practices so you can reach your target market, engage them and grow together:

Research and build a 'social media road map' including your audience, objectives, strategy, tactics, tools/technology and metrics.

Successful online social media practices involve listening, engaging and participation. The old 'you listen, we'll talk' is dead.

Commit resources and time to be successful - You cannot build your profile over night. Developing a strong and trustworthy online presence takes time and commitment.

Be transparent and relevant - No one wants to hear about your 'dog walk' last night or what you ate for breakfast. Give people useful, relevant and trustworthy information they can use and will want to pass on to friends and fellow businesses.

Encourage participation and co-creation- Social media is an online conversation so get in there! Participate! Answer forum questions and ask question back. Let people know you're important in your industry and give them a reason to share.