Facebook may originally have been created to help students connect with their friends and fellow students, but as it has developed it has now become arguably one of the major social media networks for both individuals and businesses.  In fact with over 600 million users worldwide and now over 30 million here in the UK, Facebook has even surpassed email as the most frequently used tool online.

Facebook can be used by businesses for:

Branding – Facebook is a great resource for generating and increasing your brand awareness.  Facebook has become popular with all age groups and can be used as an excellent contact point for you to build relationships with both your customers and prospects.

Customer Engagement – Facebook has a wealth of applications which can be used to help you to inform your followers and fans about promotions, contests, competitions and events.  Again this is another touch point that you can use to engage with consumers of your products and services and further promote your brand.

Drive Web Traffic – Facebook is an excellent social media portal for you to drive traffic to your company website or other online channels – e.g. your blog or other social media sites.

Reputation Management – Facebook is a very helpful tool to enable you to see what existing users of your products and services are saying about your company and your brand.  Your Facebook profile will also be indexed in the search engine results and because of this your Facebook profile can provide you with another favourable listing in the organic search results for your business.

New Customer Acquisition & Lead Generation – Facebook gives you an excellent opportunity to reach out to consumers that you may not have otherwise discovered.  It can also act as a lead generation tool for your business and can also be used by you to qualify any leads that you may obtain.  By reviewing the profiles of potential prospects you may be able to identify “common interests” which could help you to build a relationship with your new prospects more quickly.

Client Retention – Facebook gives you another touch point to help you to build relationships with your existing customers and engage in a two way discussion with them.

Facebook is now one of the prime social media channels for business and if you would like to know more about setting up an effective Facebook Fan Page for your business please leave a comment below or visit GB Web Marketing – Internet Marketing Services for Businesses in Surrey, Sussex, Kent and throughout the South East of England.