The Business Blogging Network

Social media isn’t going away any time soon, so platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter will have an impact on our businesses – or will they?

How do you use the social media available to market your business?  Does the information that 100,000 people in the UK have left Facebook recently worry you at all?

I guess that depends on whether the 100,000 departing members formed a part of your target audience.  Facebook has billions of people with accounts, but many use it only socially (your kids and their friends) and yet some people see it as a business tool.

Do you connect with anyone who asks to be your ‘friend’ on Facebook – or only with people you really know?  If you don’t want random strangers to see your personal information, ask them to connect with your business page (the page that used to be called a ‘fan’ page and is now just a ‘Page’.)  This way you can stay in contact with them and yet they don’t see all you personal information and social chat (not to mention those photos that some of your friends and family may have posted of you letting your hair down).

Facebook has launched some business-oriented ‘games’ like BranchOut and EmpireAvenue.  Lots of people have spent time answering questions about their contacts and buying shares in the people they know.  It’s all fun, but does it help your business to expand?

The more activity you are involved in online, the higher your visibility and your influence rating will improve.  The trade-off is the time you invest in these activities.

The big question is – is it a conscious part of your marketing?  If it is, then that’s great; schedule the time in and make it work for you.  If it it’s a more random activity – stop and think about why you’re doing it; if it’s fun and you have the time, then go for it, if it’s taking over your working hours then you might want to re-evaluate what you get from it.

If you haven’t got a marketing plan, you might want to spend some time giving that some thought too!