Facebook: ?Is it right ?for you?

The rash of publicity over Facebook’s public stock offering has even more business owners thinking about social media. Indeed, many small businesses are having great success promoting themselves on Facebook. But anyone who’s ever set up and managed a social media account knows that the time drain can be huge.
Busy local business owners don’t have that kind of time to spare, so deciding whether or not Facebook actually makes sense for your particular business is critical. In other words, is spending the time worth your while? In many cases the answer is a resounding yes. But not always, and taking a realistic look at what it takes to maintain a social presence is one of the first steps small-business owners should take.
A good lesson comes from Sarah Skerik, a vice president and social media expert at PR Newswire, who recently helped a friend with a niche business decide whether or not Facebook was worth the bother. Skerik helped her friend systematically evaluate the social media marketing opportunity in the context of her business of boarding and training horses for people who actively compete in horse shows.
Sarah believed Facebook would be a great fit for her friend’s business. It has a good regional footprint, local associations running horse shows are active on social networks, and so are riders and trainers. That quickly answered the first critical question any business owner needs to ask: “Are my customers and prospects present on this particular social network?”
If the answer is yes, proceed to the next square. But in addition to being time-strapped, many business owners are not terribly inclined toward social media generally, and Facebook in particular.
That’s a disadvantage because in order to get the most out of a social network, you must have a decent, if not proficient, understanding of how the network works and how to use it specifically for business purposes.
Here’s a realistic baseline of what you’ll need to do:
&#8226 Commit to posting content – a mix of text, pictures and video – every few days. Daily would be better.
&#8226 Keep an eye on your Facebook “wall” to ensure that content posted by others is relevant to your business and not spam, and to watch for comments or questions.
&#8226 Build social media connections with related businesses and experts on Facebook. Connecting with these people builds your network over time and increases visibility for both you and your business. &#8226


Daniel Kehrer can be reached at bizbest.com.

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