Facebook for Business ? A Decision to Make

If done right, a Facebook page can be as important to the success of a business as its website. If not, it can be a disaster and in the worst cases it can actually result in losing loyal customers. There’s quite a lot to consider when deciding if using Facebook for business is the right move for your particular company.

Is there a reason for you to try Facebook for business other than the old “everyone else is there, so we have to” argument? Social media isn’t about push marketing and if your master plan is to build a Facebook page to constantly tell people about your products or services, you will not succeed.

You have to provide something that people will benefit from in one way or another. Then you can hit your fans with your marketing message in interesting ways. Being creative is key and by actually doing something worthwhile, you will grow a strong base of fans that will get the word out for you.

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One of the first and most important things you should ask before getting your business on Facebook is: can you or someone within your organization spend the time required to maintain a Facebook page?

Depending on the size of your company and your goals for Facebook, this may take just a few hours a week or 20 (or much more for giant companies). That’s just the maintenance of keeping up with the page- adding new compelling content, communicating with your fans, coming up with new ideas and implementing them.

Setting up the page will take quite a bit of time as well. Thankfully, there are thousands of applications that can enhance your Facebook business page’s look and functionality without hand coding everything.

All this is not meant to scare you out of creating a presence for your business on Facebook. Just know that there’s actual work that needs to be done and a lot of it!

Another major part of your decision to get your business on Facebook should be whether your competitors are there. If most aren’t currently on Facebook, you should do some If they are using Facebook for business, does it look like they’ve been successful with their campaign? Do they have a lot of fans? Do they post a lot? Is the content they post

interesting or is it just filled with bland, boring marketing messages? To sum it up: is your industry conducive to Facebook?

At this point, you’ve probably realized one thing that keeps coming up: it takes a lot of time, effort and creativity to succeed using Facebook for business. There should be a lot of work that goes into creating your Facebook business presence before you actually start building your fan page. Don’t just jump in; spend the time now to figure out if it’s all feasible rather than after you’ve already failed!

Creating a Facebook Business Page

If you are like countless others you will be wondering how much work is involved in creating a Facebook business page. The answer to that is there is a bit of work to be done, but it is not as difficult as it sounds. These business pages are also known as fan pages or to use the latest name Facebook has given them, like pages.

First log into your account and look on the left hand side for the ads and pages link. Click this link, on the next page click on create page. You will then have a choice of creating a community page or an official page. As you are creating a Facebook business page click on brand, product or organisation. You will see a drop down box have a look and see if your type of business is there and click it. It is now now time to pick a name for your page. Take time in choosing a name as you want a good one that will describe your business and let people know what the page is about. If you are using yourself as the brand make sure you use your name in the title, for example Frank Bow – Creating a Facebook business page. After you have chosen your page name click the I am an official representative box then click the create official page button.

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You are now ready to build your business page, under the get started tab you will see a list of 6 things you can do.

Add an image
Invite your friends (leave this until you have completed your page)
Tell your fans
Post status updates
Promote this page on your website
Set up your mobile phone

Just go ahead and start adding all your info and add an image. Once you have done this that is your page ready to show to the world.

Here is an additional tip that all businesses are not using and that is adding a welcome page with an opt in form on it to capture peoples names and email addresses so you can send them your business offers. You will offer your visitors a free report, e-book or video course as a gift to entice them to fill out your form. You can also add images and even a video to make your page look more professional. You can also set it so that when you send people to your page they will land on this page. I will show you how later.

Here is how you set this page up. Click on edit page, then on apps. You are looking for the static fbml app at the bottom of the list under apps you may like. Click on add app. You will now have a new tab on your home page that says fbml 1, here is how you change it to welcome. Look at your apps list again and you will see that the fbml app has been added to your list. Under the fbml tab you will see a link that says go to app, click this and then change the box title to welcome and save changes. The big box that you see is where your code goes when you have it later. Go back to your home page and you will see you now have a welcome tab. Click on this and drag it along to the middle of the tabs to make it all look tidier. Now we will go and set your set your welcome page as the page people land on. Click edit page and then manage permissions. Change the default landing tab to welcome and click save changes. You will need help with setting up this page, adding code etc. Just get in touch and I will show you how to do it. It is free so don’t worry.

The Importance Of A Facebook Page For Business

The media revolution has changed the way firms conduct their businesses over time. The days of hand greetings, gestures, advertisement and brochures are long gone. The dawn of viral advertising is the new route nowadays e.g. Facebook page for business which has gained popularity in almost all areas in corporate scene. It is not common to find a business without a Facebook page for business. However, this comes as an astonishing fact to others since they keep wondering how a Facebook page for business could do for their business.

The average American sees 500 ads a day. The visual appeal to brand recognition plays a major part in competition between professionals. The Facebook page for business takes this philosophy a step further by utilizing recognition and cooperation. People who are familiar with Coca Cola can see how a large corporation employs these tactics on a large scale instead of with the Facebook page for business, to gain customer loyalty.

Spotting a case of Coca Cola on a shelf in the starting point for brand recognition, not a Facebook page for business. The beginning of brand loyalty starts with promotional commercials such as the adorable Coke a Cola polar bears that ones the hearts of many potential customers. Yet more important than gaining customers by cute characters is the opportunity to be a part of something bigger, something that makes a difference in the world. Coke has traditionally given back by supporting community’s school sports, arts and education. Customers are more likely to support a company that they see will support them as well.

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Facebook works in a similar way for a business. People feel they become a friend of the company and promote it as a friend would do a good deed for another friend. The marvelous thing is that it works. It is a much less expensive way of gathering loyal fans than Coca -Cola has done in the past with their community relationship. People that connect with a business page on Facebook can learn details about the business, and feel they know the general character of the business model. No longer does the business feel abstract. After all, in Facebook it becomes a friend!

While Coca Cola may be big and have money to invest heavily in the economy, most companies do not have capital to invest in more than one effort in their local community. A Facebook page for business is advantageous for small companies that cannot afford making commercials and mass ad campaigns. These smaller companies build a following with a Facebook page for business operations. Many studies in the modern corporate environment indicate that the intimate “friending” of individuals with local businesses has a lasting impact on the sales and longevity of that business and the Facebook page for business is the best way to build friends.

People feel obligated to step in and help a company that struggles if they identify that company as part of their personal life because of a Facebook page for business. That is how the Facebook page for business works best. When clients have a personal investment in a company because of their Facebook page for business, the company will succeed at branding. As those first fans of the page begin to connect with new friends, they carry with them the Facebook page for business that they enjoy. This is known as viral advertisement. It is friends sharing with friends about the Facebook page for business that they enjoy. It is so effective that many companies need little if any extra ad campaigns.

How to Make Your Facebook Business Page More Appealing

Facebook is the most popular social media site on the Internet, which makes having a page for your business a necessity. This is an ideal way to promote brand awareness and reach millions of potential consumers.

People tend to confuse Facebook groups and pages, so let’s talk for a minute about the difference between Facebook Pages and Groups.

A Facebook Group is like a club. Groups provide a way for people to communicate on common interests and can be created for just about any purpose from gaming strategy to an altruistic cause.

A Facebook Page is similar to a profile, but designed for a business, brand, celebrity, or other public entity. Anyone can become a fan of a page simply by clicking the “like” button. Pages are ideal for businesses because they allow for “updates” to be posted directly to fans, increasing visibility. Pages are also indexed by external search engines, allowing for greater accessibility and higher rankings for your business.

It is not enough to create a page for your business and then hope for fans to click the “like” button. Your page needs to stand out and be appealing. Once the “like” button has been clicked your page must stay relevant. Making your page engaging through applications is a sure fire way to generate and keep the interest of “fans”.

The number of applications to make your Facebook Page more engaging grows daily, and some are better than others.

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Here are some applications that can enhance the appeal of your business page on Facebook:

• Static FBML (Facebook Markup Language) which allows you to customize tabs and content on your page, is one of the best applications for a business page. Customization is what will set your page apart and make it distinctive. Using this application, you can set the default tab for visitors to “land on” instead of the wall, which is the default tab. This is a great way to highlight a particular product, service, event, etc.

• Installing a Twitter application is a good way to allow people to keep up with your tweets via Facebook, and is another way to keep content fresh on your page.

• A Blog RSS Feed Reader is another way to beef-up the stream of your page feed by pulling from your blog. Again, this keeps content fresh and keeps your fans informed.

• Including Fan Appz is a good choice for social media marketing as it has features like polls, sweepstakes, promotions, coupons, and others that utilize viral engagement.

• Publicize events with apps like Eventbrite is a great way to generate awareness. This app also can handle ticket sales for your event.

Other features to consider are the use of creative and distinctive images. It is also increasingly more important to interact with fans. People like it when their comments are recognized. Engaging in the conversations that take place on the wall or in the discussions section of your page is a good way to keep interest.

A few business pages that have appeal utilizing applications are Victoria’s Secret and Mont Blanc, both of which not only have nice images and customized tabs, but they both have visitors land on an interesting tab.

One not so great example is Walm

 

On the next page you will take a sneak peak at the upcoming secret system release for driving herds of targeted traffic to any site, affiliate or product and dump wads of cash into your bank account using this hidden facebook secret

So if you want to take a behind the curtain pre-release look at the facebook secret that is about to shake the internet to its core then I strongly recommend you read everything on the next page before it’s too late!

Visit this page

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Facebook Business Pages Demystified for Business Owners

Facebook is so popular that business owners can simply no longer consider it a site only appropriate for socializing and game playing.  In fact, in September 2010, Facebook surpassed Google in regards to the amount of time users spent on their site.  Facebook states that users spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook!

With 500 million active users, Facebook is the new behemoth on the Web. With its popularity across diverse age groups, integrated email application, and new Bing search integration, a Facebook user may simply no longer need to visit Google for Web searches or log off to use an email application. They may be able to experience the Web fully all from inside Facebook. With more than 50% of the active users logging into Facebook every day, according to Facebook, Facebook is now so important to your potential customers’ lives that it make sense for you as a business owner to have a presence where your prospects are hanging out on a daily basis.

Let’s clear up a few things that have confused business owners about Facebook. First, a Business Page is not to be confused with a personal profile. They are two separate entities and offer different options and ways to interact with friends and colleagues.

Are Business Pages also called Fan Pages?

Many of you that have been using Facebook for a while will remember that Facebook used to call Business Pages – Fan Pages. Additionally, it used to be that someone “fanned you”. Now they “like you”. Don’t get confused in thinking that a Fan Page is a different product than a Business Page they are one in the same.

All Facebook Business Pages start with the set up of a personal Facebook profile. That’s right, a personal profile! You can’t just jump to Business Page set up. The email address and name you use for your personal profile must be one tied to a person and not a catchall email like info@mydomain.com. Remember, that if you have an employee set up the personal profile portion for your Business Page, that you don’t want them to tie the new account to an email that you will not have access to if they leave the company.  If they do so and leave your employ, you could lose access to your Facebook Business Page, all of your accumulated fans, and information without recourse.

For set up I typically recommend that one of business owners create a new email address specifically for Facebook set up. Once you have set up the personal Facebook profile, you are ready to get started. But, don’t take time to add information like education other details in this special account unless you plan on using it for your own personal use. You are just setting up this account to have a platform to launch and access your new Facebook Business Page.
While logged in to your new personal account, visit this link http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?campaign_id=368885149649&placement=pgall&extra_1=1. It will take you to the Facebook Business Page creation tool to actually create your new page.

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On the right side of the creation page select under the heading the “Official Page” and mark “Create a Page for a:” and then finally select “local business”. Enter your page name and then tick the box next to the statement that says you are a legal business representative and allowed to own the page.  It is important to understand that the name you choose for the title of your Facebook Business Page will appear at the top of your finished page.

I recommend using proper spelling and no use of hyphens or underscores in your selected name. It used to be we had to enter hyphens or the spaces would show as non-HTML characters in the page name and URL, but Facebook has grown beyond that need now. For example, enter in “My Business Name” (note the proper use of spacing and capitalization), not “My-Business-Name”. This name will appear in your new Business Page URL as well.
Once you click create, the next page you see will be your brand new Facebook Business Page. It is that simple. Later after you’ve had 25 people “Like” your page you will be able to select a vanity URL, but we’ll talk about that later.

Do my personal updates show on my Business Page?

After you have set up your Facebook Business Page, you can “lock down” your personal profile that was used to launch your Business Page. To do so, just you alter the privacy settings in the personal account to not show your personal information to others who are not “approved” friends.

When Facebook was first created many business owners including myself, started with a Facebook personal profile for their business. Now that Facebook has created Business Pages, you can easily change the privacy settings on your old personal profile to funnel your business traffic to your new Facebook Business Page keeping your old personal profile now just for family and close friends.

When you change the privacy settings on the personal profile attached to your Business Page, it does not impact who can view information about your Business Page. Just as equally, if you post pictures of your kids on your Facebook personal profile that is the launch pad for your Business Page, and you have your personal profile limited to “friends only”, your kids’ photos will not appear on the wall of your Business Page.

Why exactly would a business owner want a Business Page and not just use a personal profile?

Several reasons to have a Facebook Business Page are: the ability to contact all people who “Like” or who “Fan” you with newsletter type notes with one click, interact with discussion questions like a forum, set up events and invite fans to attend, and even create specialized welcome and shopping pages. Your Business Page can almost be a mini website!

For more information on how to use some of these cool Business Page specific features we recommend downloading our Facebook Business Page How to Guide available on our website at www.McCordWeb.com.

Creating your Business Page vanity URL

Once you have 25 people that have clicked that they “Like” your Business Page, you can select a short easy to remember name to use to promote it on your website and business card. Your Business Page goes from something like http://www.facebook.com/pages/Waldorf-MD/mccord-web/129943573719686?ref=sgm to something like this http://www.facebook.com/mccordweb. Just visit this link http://www.facebook.com/username/. You can have vanity URLs for both your personal account and Business Page.

It is very important to understand that once you have selected your vanity URL you will not be able to change the name, so select carefully.
Best practice tips for keeping your new Facebook Business Page updated.

No one wants to be spammed, but sometimes new Business Page owners get excited and post what seems like a constant flow of information on their wall. It is important to understand that what you post on your wall is posted on the wall of the people who have clicked “Like” on your page. We encourage our clients, when they are doing status updates themselves, to be courteous and post about twice a day. Facebook is not Twitter and so 5 to 10 status updates a day could get you blocked or hidden by fans when they feel you have inundated their wall with your daily or hourly updates.
 
Conclusion

I hope that this white paper has helped to introduce you to Facebook Business Pages in a way that helps you to feel that you can easily set on up and have fun doing it. If you haven’t set up your own Facebook Business Page, now’s the time to consider setting one up. Facebook is only getting more popular and is actively seeking to woo the business community into their portal with demographic based pay per click advertising and the new integrating search with Bing.com.

If you feel that you need professional help in setting up your page or maintaining your updates and to interact with Fans, we ask you to consider our Facebook service offerings. I know that you will find us responsive and affordably priced.

www.onlinemarketingsuccesssite.com How to Get Your Business In front of 33 million People a Month. How to Make a Facebook Business Page & Learn . Tips on What To Add in Your Facebook Business Page Profile and Ideas on the Type of Content to Add. Social Media Can Put Your Business In Front Of 1.5 BILLION Hungry Customers, It’s Fast Becoming an amazing Way to Market Anything On the Internet. Learn How You Can do This TODAY! Is Social media a FAD… I dont Think so…. It’s Fast Becoming an amazing way to Market Anything On the Internet…. Learn What Will Become A Very Valuable Skill Set…… Register For Your FREE Training….. bit.ly You Can Also Follow Me On: Facebook: bit.ly Twitter: twitter.com Blogger: www.saboohikhan.net Saboohi Khan Internet Marketing Entrepreneur & Educator “Teaching People How The Internet Can Empower You and Your Business” http edition.cnn.com www.sheikhmohammed.co.ae ezinearticles.com With-Facebook?&id=4623602 ezinearticles.com www.betternetworker.com
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Creating An Online Business 101 – Pt 3, Free Products To Sell Online

When creating an online business, or any business, for the first time many people are faced with the problem of find a product they want to sell. Even if a person already has a product to sell they may want to expand or start selling a completely different product. Well, if you already have a product your ahead of the game, but don’t worry if you don’t. There are plenty of choices for you and the best part, there are tons of free products to sell online. Lets look into it.

 

 

It is really important to have a good product that you really believe in or you won’t enjoy selling it and will soon lose interest in selling your product. Another reason to love and believe in your product is because you will be able to convince your customers its a great buy since you TRULY believe in it. So be picky about the product you choose to sell and make sure you really want to sell it.

 

If you are already a business owner you probably have a product you believe in and love to sell. But don’t worry if you don’t because it is no problem getting one. There are sites like cj.com and clickbank.com that offer free products to sell online. These sites are known as affiliate sites. They offer tons of products like weight loss courses, language courses, ebooks and games and everything in between. Just go through the site and find a product you like and start marketing it online.

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There are plenty of advantages to selling an affiliate product. 

1) The first and most beneficial reason for most new online business owners is that it cost nothing. So, there is no need for buying stock, storing the product or shipping it. 

2) Also, the work of doing research on the product to make sure it sells is done already. There are sales logs that show how popular a product is and how well it is selling so you can pick a product to sell online that you know already has a buying market.

3) The website design is already done for you. This is great since most people aren’t familiar with how to design a website and probably don’t have the money needed to have one made. An affiliate site usually has a great site already built that is stream lined to close the customer and make sales.

So, the site is done for you already and the product is ready to sell, so what do you do. Well, using marketing methods (explained in later articles in this series) the product is marketed to customers online. When the customer finds one of your ads, articles, videos, blogs, or facebook status and clicks on a link to look at your product, they are taken to your affiliate site. This site is the exact same site as the original one used by the company that sells the product. The only difference is that the link the customer clicked on from your ad has an exclusive number assigned to it that lets the company know the customer was sent by you. If and when that customer buys the product, you are given a commission for the sale. 

The best part is that an automated sales campaign can be set up online that continues to bring in customers and the website helps make the sale. This means that after your online campaign has been set up, sales can happen regularly without you doing anything. 

So, take the time to find a product you really want to sell. An affiliate site is a great way to start learning how to market and sell online because a lot of the work is already done for you. If you are going to sell your own product take the time to research how other similar online businesses are selling their product and what their sites look like. Check out the next article in ‘Creating An Online Business 101′ about how to generate leads that want to buy what you have.

How To Get Maximum Benefits of Facebook Business Pages

The mission of Facebook is, “Give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected”. Facebook business pages are among one of the tools developed by Facebook to achieve this mission.

are a great way to promote any business online. People and organizations are using it for marketing and promotion of their products, services or other businesses. The results of facebook marketing are really impressive for some of them. However, a majority of business owners and organizations are not able to drive their campaigns to success. The reason lies in their inability to adopt the best practices of facebook marketing through .

This article describes some of the best tips for promotion of businesses through facebook business page:

Facebook pages are similar to profiles. Some of the basic differences are they are specially meant for businesses, organizations and public figures. In addition, they also offer some special advantages. For example, the number of people, liking a Facebook page is not limited as it is limited to 5000 friends for normal profiles. For inviting people to like your page, you do not need to know them personally or through mutual relationship. If your page matches their interest, you can invite them.

Facebook understands the basic promotional needs of modern businesses. The promotional requirements may vary depending upon the type of a business. Therefore, facebook offers different options for creating a page, each one with its own set of advantages. While creating a business page, it is very important to select the right type of page to get maximum advantage. If the page is intended for a local business, it is strictly advised to select the option “Local Business or Place”. Selecting any other option may not deliver expected results.

are very much flexible and easy to setup. To get the maximum potential benefits, people need to make it true representative of their businesses. For that, they need to provide sufficient information about their businesses. Provide basic details of your business in info tab. It is exactly like “About Us” page of a website, where people look for the basic details about the company, person, or product.

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To make it more beneficial and engaging for targeted audience, it is better to keep the language informal. Therefore, it is always better to write fresh contents in casual tone for your facebook audience.

Facebook also offers the facility to add custom tabs using FBML (Facebook Markup Language, which is Facebook’s own, special version of HTML). Using custom tabs, people can add any additional content for their fans (targeted audience). One of the most important uses of Facebook custom tabs is for creating landing pages. It can be a wonderful way to provoke your targeted audience towards your products or services. Creating a landing page for different types of users, result in greater benefits of marketing through .

One your page is ready with enough informative contents about your business, you are ready to create and enhance your fan base on facebook. Remember, you have more than 700 millions of people to spread your words among them. To start with, invite your friends to be a fan of your . It will help you create initial fan base. Join some groups matching the interests of your business or products. Engage yourself in activities and discussions within the group. It will help you develop an identity among fellow group members. Then you can invite people from the group to become your fan. Later on, once you develop credibility, you will get referral fans too.

 

The most important factor for the success of is “your engagement with the audience”. Only creating a fan base is not enough. You need to engage your fans with your page on facebook. For that, post status updates which can attract attention of your fans. Provide relevant contents in form of status updates, which should be informative enough to drag your fan’s attention. Be prompt in responding to their comments over your status updates or wall posts. Some great ideas for status updates can be:

Announcements regarding your products and services
Links to interesting and useful online resources
Discount coupon codes to save on your products or services
Links to information related to your company, its products or services, or people

Another beneficial way of enhancing interactivity of your page is to ask interesting questions from your fans. It will develop interaction between you and your fans as well as interaction of fans with other fans on your page. Keep them informed about the promotional offers and events of their interest. It is also beneficial to offer a reward program especially for your facebook fans.

can be a great tool for . You can create a custom application for customer’s complaint or queries and devote some time to response to them regularly. People nowadays have become addicted to facebook and if you offer customer support through facebook, it will help you develop credibility among such customers. They will spread the word about you among their friends and acquaintances.

Your status updates and wall posts on facebook page are very important for the identity of your business. Posting irrelevant statuses may result in a negative reputation. You updates are visible on the news feed of your fans. Continuous updates can fill their news feed and if it is uninformative and of no use to them, it will be spam, resulting in their lost interest in your brand and business.

Facebook offers great ways to analyze the impacts of . Using “Page Insights” features, you can analyze the performance of your facebook page. It offers great statistics of your page, fans, page activities, interactions, and demographic details. Tracking these details will help you understand the positives and negatives and you can modify your accordingly.

Aforementioned tips are among the most basic things that you need to implement with your facebook business pages. If you own an online or offline business that needs promotion, and which is still not on facebook; you are missing great business potential. Come, and start exploring your options today itself. However, do not forget to focus aforementioned tips while you start your facebook promotion.

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Facebook Marketing Strategy ? 3 Quick Tips To Start Generating Leads On Facebook

Over the past few years, the world has literally been rocked by the social phenomenon and social networking site called “Facebook”. Now home to over 500 million users over the globe, Facebook is in a key position to become one of the largest businesses ever to exist in the history of our world. Having such a large database of people, this provides ample opportunity for people to build large home based businesses by leveraging the power of Facebook.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people are wondering around today totally clueless how to leverage and use Facebook Marketing in order to build a highly targeted database of prospects. So the question now becomes, “How do I use Facebook in order to generate leads for my business?” There are many strategies available today however, these 4 quick tips will get you on the right track to start generating leads as early as today:

1)<b>Add 50 New Friends Per Day:</b> In order to start generating leads you’ll need to start building your friends database first before you can move forward. The most important points of this strategy are that you are adding targeted people that are in your chosen niche. To do this, search in Facebook groups for whatever your niche is then simply join a few groups and start adding people.

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However, you don’t just simply want to add people. What you’ll want to do is to add a simple welcome message to each friend request to show people that you took the time to check them out. This will put you farther ahead than virtually 95% of people because virtually no one is doing this.

2)<b>Send People A Welcome Video:</b> Once people approve your friend request, make a twenty second video that welcomes them as you friend and tell them exactly what your intentions are by being their friend. The main thing to keep in mind is that you are NOT going to be pitching your business opportunity to people on Facebook. Your sole intention is to merely provide value to people and to build relationships with others.

To really make this strategy shine, tell people in your video that you have a free gift for them to claim and refer them back to your blog in order to receive your free gift. Again, you are not going to be pitching them on your business opportunity, you are merely just trying to get them on your email list.

3)<B>Add An Opt In Box In The HTML Profile Box:</b> Another strategy for generating leads on Facebook is that you can add an opt in box on your Facebook profile. To do this, you’ll simply install the application onto your Facebook profile page, next you’ll go to your auto-responder and create a new campaign. Once you do this, create a web form in your auto-responder and once you are done customizing it to the way you want it to look, grab the code and simply paste it into the HTML profile box.

This strategy is very passive and as long as you are continually providing people with valuable content, you will start to attract people to this profile box and start collecting opt ins.
Although there are many other strategies that you can start to employ in your <b>Facebook Marketing Strategy</b>, these following three tips will definitely give you a good head start.

If you are interested in learning more advanced Facebook Marketing Strategies, make sure you read the resource box below and click on the link for more information.

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Business Directory: A Great Help for Your Online Business

Most of the businesses know the advantages of listing their business to online business directories. Online business directories allow the owners to list their business name, website, contact information and often a brief description about their services and products. Creating their online has become a popular way to produce income and improve their search engine rankings. Starting a business directory is quite simple and need not any special knowledge. You do not need any extra knowledge of script to set up an online business directory. There are easy to use scripts from online companies that come fully featured to allow one to make their own online business directory.

They are created to support a wide range of online businesses and one can access to various website design templates that can be customized for using logos, banners and lots more. You can also create your own specific directory categories and sub categories. A user has the capability to set up his directory for any business and can host many links. It is very easy and quick to implement the script in order to set up and publish the online business directory. It is very important that your directory allows the businesses to create a link back to your website so your search engine ranking will increase.

Online directories are available to host different kinds of online business information. A business can also add a description of their products and services by including pictures, location maps, logos, banners, title and link to their website. Businesses will create their own account that will have a password where they can go and make updates and changes. When visitors come to their directory, they will be able to search the website for the particular business that they are looking for. You can also offer the directory for free or a paid membership where businesses will have a safe payment method.

In order to attract the online businesses to your business directory and get them to post their listing, you should first start the online directory as a free service. You can promote your directory to various business discussion forums, blogs and social media websites like Facebook, twitter and many more. As your grow, your search engine ranking will also grow. Business directories make sure that the individual’s websites get faster indexation and higher ranking.

How to Use Facebook for Business

There are a growing number of social media sites being used by businesses in their company marketing efforts. The secret to using social media effectively is not to be everywhere, but instead to have an online presence where your current and prospective customers are online. Contrary to what many believe- Facebook is not just for college students or for personal use. Facebook is increasingly being used by companies in many creative ways such as to build their brand image, to drive traffic to their website and blogs, to announce or get feedback on new products, manage their online reputation, attract employees, communicate company information, and as a means to intercept potential prospects. For many companies, this increased company communication is leading to enhanced relationships with current and prospective customers. In this article, I will outline how a planned internet marketing approach can lead to positive results for your business. I will begin the article by addressing a few common misperceptions about Facebook that I hear most frequently from my clients. Next, I will detail how to use and set up the various sections of a Facebook account.  I will conclude with several recommended applications that will add functionality to your company Facebook page.

Common misperception #1: Facebook is only for personal use
Each time I give presentations on using social networking sites for business there is the perception in the audience that Facebook is only useful for communicating with friends and family. Facebook started as a closed community for college students, and has not been as effective as Linkedin at highlighting the business page and advertising features. However, Facebook continues to grow in use by companies looking to reach the more than 200 million active users, and has very powerful and targeted demographic tools that help companies to hone in on their target market.

Common misperception #2: Facebook is only for college students
According to the Facebook Press Room page, there are more than 200 million active users on Facebook and a million new members are joining each week in the U.S. alone. Contrary to what many of my audiences believe- more than two-thirds of Facebook users are not in college. According to comscore.com, more than 50% of Facebook’s users in the U.S. are over 35; the single biggest age demographic in the U.S. on Facebook is now between 35 and 44, and Facebook’s fastest growing age group is 55 and older. They also reported that Facebook ranks as the top social networking site in the majority of European countries.

Common misperception #3: I am too busy for this, and besides-it is not worth my time
Some of the reasons why social networking sites like Facebook are increasingly being used by companies is because they provide businesses the opportunity to easily and efficiently communicate regularly with the people in their network. Networks can include people with whom they are currently doing business, people whom they would like to do business, vendors, and potential business partners.
Social networking sites like Facebook are serving as an adjunct to, and in some cases, replacement for, traditional means of communication such as newsletters and direct mail. Facebook can be used to regularly announce or get feedback on new products, spotlight new employees or existing employees accomplishments or talents, reward customer loyalty, promote special events and special offers, as well as to create partnerships. According to a Forrester Research interactive marketing online research survey (March 2009): “40% of companies surveyed expect to cut direct mail budgets, while 35% will decrease newspaper spend, and 28% will slash magazine money in order to spend more in interactive media.” Some companies have reported that by using these online means of communication they have reduced their marketing budget while at the same time increasing sales.

What companies that use social networking sites are finding is that these sites allow them to more regularly communicate with people, vendors, clients, colleagues, and prospects, which, in turn, helps business understand their customers needs better, increase trust, and therefore build better business relationships. Most people know that Facebook has been helpful as a tool for connecting or re-connecting with friends, family and co-workers. And most understand that even the personal connections have the potential to become new business opportunities-so it makes sense that Facebook can be used to communicate with those in the business milieu.

To make use of Facebook you need to set up an account.  After registering you need to do the following in order of importance:

1. Create a Profile
In order to begin to use Facebook you must create a profile detailing information about yourself. Based on site policies, you can create only 1 profile, and it must be tied to a human name, preferably your real name, not a business name. We will review setting up your business page later in this article, but first you must set up your personal profile. If you are a married female, use your maiden and married names so more people can find you. Facebook has a “Friend Finder” feature that allows users to search for people by school, company, or organization. In order for people to find you –you must so be sure to list all of your previous schools, organizations, employers, in your profile. Thoroughly complete the “About Me” section to describe your business and what services or products you offer. In the “Information” box on your profile page, you need to include links to your website address, newsletter, blog and other business information such as your company contact information, logo and a photo of yourself. Your profile page should be considered your “branding” page or your marketing campaign. If you are working for a company-you don’t have to list all your personal interests-just limit your entry to listing your professional interests. You can syndicate your blog on your profile page. By doing this you are enabling any post that you make to automatically appear on your profile page and all of those people who are connected to you will see it.

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2. Build Your Contact List
Facebook was created based on the concept of connecting with friends. You can send and receive “friend requests” and once accepted, your friend can view your profile and you can view theirs. To begin connecting with people that you know, you can either import your address book/ contact database, or you can also search Facebook for individual people.
You can also view the friends list of each person with whom you are connected. If you know any of your new friend’s connections, or you would like to know them-you can send a connection request.
You can grow your friend list by inviting all your clients, business associates, customers, family, friends, co-workers, school alumni, neighbors, and anyone else you think would be interested in connecting. I would suggest also using the search feature on Facebook to look up people with whom you have lost contact. After friending-your profile will show up on all your friends’ pages.  Therefore, the more friends you have- the more pages your profile will appear-leading to more people who will see your page and possibly get in touch with you.

3. Communicate by using Wall Posts
Each Facebook member has a “wall” where friends can post messages. In the business networking world, this is the online equivalent of calling them on the phone. You can send a complement to a colleague on their work by writing this on their wall, comment on their new service or product offering, or communicate an upcoming training or networking opportunity.

4. Update Your Status
At the top of your Facebook page is a status box. When you post a status update, everyone in your friends list can see your update on their home page.  For business owners, this is the place to share tips, promote events, post blog updates, announce new products, links to your affiliate programs, links to interesting video or audio presentations, websites, articles, and newsletters.You can add updates as often as you are able in the ” What’s on you mind?” box. These will appear on all of your friends’ pages so ensure that they are meant for everyone on your friend list, and are professional in nature. Otherwise, you risk people removing you from their list.

5. Participate in Groups
Online groups allow you to network virtually with potential clients and peers.
You can also join Groups on Facebook that are related to your work. There are groups for therapist, teachers, coaches, and every conceivable profession. You can network, and learn from experts in the field.
Another way to maximize the potential and relevance of these groups is to start one of your own. There is no cost to do this and this is a great way to improve your company’s visibility. For example, I started a group for mental health facility administrators in Boston. This group is now a resource for sharing best practices and may over time lead to mutual referral relationships.
To access groups, start from your Facebook home page, view the list of applications and click on “Groups.” You can browse through thousands of groups by area of interest, by industry and geography. There are an incredibly varied selection of topics and professions all over the map.

6. Build Your Friends List
For business purposes, it makes sense to have as many friends as possible. One way to do this is to join a group and send connection requests to fellow members with a note letting them know of your interest in connecting with them on Facebook. Just as you would with an in-person business introduction, be sure to check out their profile and learn about what they are currently doing. Networking always works best when there is a two-way exchange. Find ways you can be helpful to them such as introducing them to a colleague or potential business partner and they may likely reciprocate and return the favor. Also, create your own events page, or post on the Facebook “Events page.” You can even see how many RSVP and get feedback from attendees.

7. Create Fan Pages
Because Facebook requires that a profile be designated to a person, not a business, they have instead provided the ability to create fan pages. You can create a fan page for a business, book, product, author, speaker, celebrity or just about anything else you want.
To create a fan page, scroll all the way down to the bottom of Facebook and click on “Advertising” (don’t worry, this is free to set-up). Next, click on “Pages” at the top of the screen. You will find some helpful explanations about how pages work, along with the link that will allow you to create your own fan page. Once your page is created you can add links, events, discussion boards and other features that make them interactive. Your updates from your fan pages will appear on your profile so your friends will know about them. You can invite people to become a “fan” of your page as an alternative to sending friend requests which will help you to further cultivate an online community

8. Use the Marketplace
Facebook has an online marketplace that allows you to list your services and products at no cost. This is a great way for you or your company to get exposure. You can also use the marketplace to find items or services that you need.

Setting up a business page is easy. Just log in to your profile page and scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Then click on “Advertising” or by following this link: http://www.facebook.com/business/. That will bring up a page with the blue links one of which is called “Pages.” Click on Pages, and then click on the green “Create a Page” box on the right of the screen. You can now start filling this information in to create and customize your business page.
After you create your business page, Facebook will automatically add an application called the “Page Manager” which should be located on the top and left side of your log. Again choose Facebook Pages, then choose the best category for your business. Click this link to load your business page where you can then edit and add to the existing content.
It is important that you choose the name of your Facebook page carefully because the page name will become your key word search terms, and is the only text that is used in a search on a Facebook page.
Once your page is in place, you can add applications that help to enhance how you represent your company in your own unique way. To find applications for Facebook, click on “Applications” in the upper left corner of your page, or search for them at this link: http://www.facebook.com/apps/. Applications are fairly easy to install and to set up. If you have difficulty with any one application-please note that there is often more than one application available to accomplish the same task.

Simply RSS : This allows you to display up to eight RSS feeds on your Facebook page and display the feeds from your business’s main site and newsrooms.
Upcoming: Add all of your events to upcoming.org, and you can easily display them on your Facebook page with Upcoming’s Facebook application.
My Flickr: Display photos from your Flickr account using this application. These photos can include logos, product photos, photos from events, etc.
Posted Items Pro: Allows you to embed multiple YouTube, Yahoo, and Google Videos, music mp3s, sites, files, and more onto your profile and Facebook pages. You can add any variety of these elements, making it great for a media center or press section.
Twitter APP: If you have a Twitter account this application will automatically pull your tweets into your Facebook status, and it automatically installs a Twitter-themed icon letting all you friends on Facebook know that you are on Twitter. It also saves you time in updating and ensures that you have some profile activity to keep you relevant. If you are not on Twitter yet-you can add this at any time.
By implementing these applications you will be creating an interactive page that gives visitors a more complete understanding of your business.

In order to stay relevant on Facebook, you need to continually update your Page and use the site. If you do not have the time needed to do this consistently- then I would suggest you hire a copywriter or social media consultant to help. The more actions you take, the more you appear in a fan’s News Feed. This keeps you in their mind, and in their friend’s feeds when they interact with you. But updating content will do more than keep you on the News Feed; it will also help make your Facebook Page one that people will return to by offering fans an incentive to continue to read your content and return to your page. There are many ways to do this such as providing exclusive content, special promotional pricing, exclusive contests, product previews, or privileged access to company events.
I hope this information has been helpful to you in getting started in using Facebook. Make no mistake about it-social networking is not a passing fad. Facebook, and other social media sites are here to stay. So regardless of whether you make use of all the social networking sites- you cannot discount the recent research indicating that customers are increasingly going online to gather company and product information, compare prices, and place orders. As with any new technology social networking will take time and effort for businesses to fully benefit from it; however, it is my belief that this time and effort, if done consistently and in a planned, thoughtful manner, will be time well spent.

A step-by-step guide on creating and managing business pages on Facebook, brought to you by the HubSpot team.

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