Well, last week Social Media raced ahead with 500 million Facebook users. And this week, Chris Brogan announced that families run on Facebook.
Every demographic, every interest group, every religious & political group, every income level is represented on Facebook.
If you’re not using Facebook to market your business, you’re missing out.
Your customers are on Facebook.
When I worked for one of the big box bookstores with a capital B (there’s at least 3…), part of the mission of the company was to be the “third place.” We wanted to be that place you wanted to be when you weren’t home or at work. We were pretty good at that part… not so good at turning that affinity into sales though. But that’s a post for another day…
Point being, if you could provide an environment that offered comfort, style, entertainment, COFFEE, and a wee bit of education, you had great potential for being able to influence customers.
Well, forget “third place,” Facebook is the internet’s “second place.” As a society, we wake up, check our email, and then head to Facebook.
Using Facebook strategically & authentically, your business has the ability to insert itself into your customers’ second place. It’s an environment of comfort, style, entertainment, and education. All it’s missing is the coffee. Why, why can’t there be coffee?!
The good news is that building a brand on Facebook is easier than ever.
The bad news is that you’re probably doing a half-assed job. And, you forgot the coffee.
Consider these questions when building content for your Facebook page. Am I …
- speaking directly to my customer in a way that is meaningful to them?
- engaging my customer rather than broadcasting a message?
- sharing my entire brand message and not just promoting a product or service?
- building a community that is empowered to spread my message organically?
Providing content that considers those questions means that you’re not selling to your customers, you’re influencing them. You’ll have opportunities to sell down the line. Draw them in, build a community, get customers talking to each other. Selling – while oh so important – comes a little later. But it will come.
