Facebook is garnering a lot of attention with the early summer release of its initial public offering (IPO). Facebook’s stock has moved in all directions as investors try to decide whether or not it’s a sound addition to their portfolios.
Our question is: How sound of an investment is Facebook as a means of attracting and communicating with clients? Facebook has more than 845 million active users (those are people who view Facebook daily), and 50 percent of those are North Americans. Facebook now counts for 1 in 5 Internet page views. These are pretty compelling stats.
Approximately 150 million Americans use Facebook for business. Studies show 50 percent of Facebook users will follow a brand. Fortune 500 companies such as Nike use Facebook regularly to test new product concepts. Eighty-nine percent of all advertising agencies say they will use Facebook to advertise for their clients this year. If you want to drive growth in your small business, you must be on Facebook.
Targeted marketing is the key: Too many “fans” can be just as bad as too few when creating Facebook pages. Facebook statistics show that a business page with 10,000 fans will reach 30 to 40 percent of its audience, whereas a page with 1 million fans will only reach 10 percent. Unless you’re Wal-Mart, reaching a higher concentration of a smaller audience is always preferable.
Establishing a Facebook group is one good way to permit your fans to share information. Maybe it’s something as simple as posting details regarding an effective new ant management technology or technique. Encourage your customers to communicate via Facebook with each other and your company. This type of advertising requires very little maintenance.
As your customers tout your accolades, you reap top-of-mind awareness and group referrals.
You can reach Stanbridge, a PMP and longtime tech columnist, at dean@directlinesales.com.
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