SMR Information Solutions

“You say I should use Facebook to market my business?” I hear many of you saying. “You can’t be serious.”

Yes, I am serious.

I can understand your reaction if you think only 17-year-olds use Facebook. But listen to this: “The fastest growing demographic is the 35-54 year olds … the next fastest growing demographic is the over-55 crowd.”

That’s Paul Dunay and Richard Krueger, authors of Facebook Marketing For Dummies, speaking.

Yes, the Dummies series finally contains a book that explains why a business executive might want to use Facebook. Because one of the principles of marketing is to hang out where your customers hang out.

And these days, many of your customers are hanging out on Facebook. Yes, they are primarily trying to stay in touch with their friends, children and grandchildren.

But suppose one of their friends reports an unpleasant experience at a restaurant, and they confirm that negative feedback with their own disastrous experience. Right there on Facebook for all the world to see.

If you owned or managed that restaurant, wouldn’t you like to know about these comments? They’re happening right now in social media whether you know about it or not. Wouldn’t it be better to know?

And if you have a Facebook Page — the business equivalent of a Profile — your customers can become “fans” of your Page. They can post information about your business and recommend your Page to their friends. Every interaction with your Page will generate a News Feed that all of their friends will see.

And did you know that you can advertise on Facebook?

Facebook indexes every member’s profile in detail. So when you create your ad, you can include keywords to describe your target audience.

“By adding keywords to your targeting, you can reach consumers based on the interests listed on their profile page. Never before has there been a mass medium that allows for this kind of precise targeting. Identifying and then reaching a specific audience has never been this exact and cost-effective until now,” say Dunay and Krueger.

And did I mention that Facebook Pages are indexed by Google and other search engines?

Are you starting to see the business case for participating in social media?

If so, please read my review of Dunay and Krueger’s book.

And for more articles about Facebook, please visit Social Media Examiner, a new ezine about all kinds of social media.

Copyright 2010, Ruth M. Shipley

SMR Information Solutions

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