The Internet Show About Small Business Marketing

Podcast Episode #69 Facebook Tools for Business

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Facebook might be the most powerful online marketing tool you have at your disposal…for the short-term. A website should still be your home base and a company blog will have stronger long term returns, but you should definitely consider getting your business active online with a Facebook page.

In this episode of Power to the Small Business, Mike Whaling of 30 Lines joins host Jay Ehret as they go through a complete rundown of Facebook tools for business. Mike and Jay will cover Facebook Pages, Facebook Places, Facebook deals, and Facebook’s relationship to your website. They will wrap up a discussion with some advice on your Facebook posting strategy.

Guest: Mike Whaling – CEO at 30 Lines, Columbus, Ohio
Host: Jay Ehret – The Marketing Spot, Waco, Texas

Length: 25 minutes

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SHOW NOTES

The first step is to create a Facebook Page. Some common-sense tips in creating that page

1. Set up your personal profile for business, but separating your personal friends in a separate friend category.
2. Find the business pages you want to interact with, and like those pages so that you can tag them later.
3. Do a quick search to see if your brand already has a presence through third parties.
4. Obey the rules, don’t conduct business through your personal profile, create a business page.
5. Don’t create your business page through a business account, do it through your personal profile.
6. When you get to 25 likes on your page, claim your username (unique URL) by going to Facebook.com/username while logged in to Facebook.
7. Add custom tabs to your page using FBML (Facebook’s HTML tool).

Facebook Places Page

Claim your business’ Facebook Place Page. Currently these pages must be claimed separately from your business page. The process is:

1. Check in to your business on Facebook from a mobile device.
2. Then log on to Facebook from your computer and search for your business, and your business’ Places page will show up.
3. Click on the link that says, “Is this your business?” and go through the process of claiming your page.
4. Don’t merge your business page and your Places page.

Facebook Deals

The Facebook service that allows you to make offers and discounts to your customers through your Facebook Places page. There are four different types a of deals.

1. Individual check-ins. A deal is offered to any individual who checks in via Facebook Places.
2. Group check-ins. Customers must check in with a certain number of people to receive the incentive.
3. Loyalty. Customers must check in a certain number of times before they unlock the incentive.
4. Charity. Donations are made to non-profit organizations for each check-in.

Don’t just offer discounts through Facebook Deals. Be creative and instead offer privileges or extras rather than discounts.

SELECTED QUOTES FROM MIKE WHALING

“I think Facebook is probably the best outpost out there, in terms of being able to distribute content, connect with an audience, and get a sense of where they’re at.”

“Focus on the content…Focus on ‘What am I sharing to the wall? What am I pushing out so that it shows up in people’s newsfeeds?’”

“Facebook is where you show off your personality. Think about what you want to do when you log on to Facebook. You’re there to connect to your friends and your family. You’re not there to be marketed to.”

Links:
30 Lines Facebook Page
The Marketing Spot Facebook Page

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The Internet Show About Small Business Marketing

Podcast Episode #66: Facebook Marketing with Thomas Umstattd

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Facebook has spawned an opportunity for you to create positive conversation about your business. But only if you get in the game. Yet more than 75% of businesses are standing on the sidelines watching the Facebook game play out in front of them. Time commitments, fear of negative comments play a part in this non-participation, but the biggest culprit is know how to get started and run the first play

In this episode of Power to the Small Business, Technology consultant Thomas Umstattd joins host Jay Ehret to discuss Facebook pages for small business. He thinks that how your business looks on Facebook, may be just as important as you look on Google and the other search engines. Learn how you can get started and optimize your Facebook business page.

Guest: Thomas Umstattd – Technology Consultant, Austin

Length: 28 minutes Email subscribers and feed readers – If you don’t see the player, click here to listen to Power to the Small Business

You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #66 (for personal use only)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

SHOW NOTES

• Learn to listen first. Search Facebook for the name of your company and see what people are saying and then respond to that. Try this Facebook search engine: http://booshaka.com/
• Reach out to advocates of your business to encourage positive buzz.
• Be attractive, not pushy.
• People have to benefit for your page. Have a clear answer to the question: “What’s in it for me.”
• Pull back the curtain and let people see what happens behind the scenes at your business.
• Use your Facebook page to drive traffic to your blog. Business websites with a blog, get 50% more traffic than business websites without a blog.
• Facebook Optimization is the art of landing in top news. Pages in Top News can get 10x more traffic than pages in Most Recent

Facebook Optimization

1. Get people to “like” your status update: The more likes your status updates have the more likely you are to end up in Top News. Also, when someone likes your status update, their friends are more likely to like your status update.
2. Encourage comments on your status updates: The more comments you get, the more your updates attract additional comments.
3. Ask Questions: It’s a great way to get comments.

Facebook Best Practices

1. Pick a good name for your page: You cannot change the name of your page after you establish it.
2. Pick a good photo: The image you have affects how many people will become a fan.
3. Designate you page as public: let fans comment on your wall.
4. Advertise on Facebook to attract fans.

SELECTED QUOTES FROM THOMAS UMSTATTD

“One of the things you have to realize about Facebook is you’re not trying to please everyone…Because the more broad you are, the more you compete with the big players. But the more that you focus, the more you can really thrill a tiny group of people.”

“We’re not selling to businesses. We’re selling to people in businesses. And once you make that adjustment in your head, being social and using social media for… B2B marketing gets easier.”

“If people are complaining about your business, you want it to happen where you can see it and take care of it right away on your Facebook page, not on Yelp, not on Google, where these ratings can last forever and really hurt your business.””

SHOW LINKS

Thomas Umstattd’s Website: www.UmstattdMedia.com

Help for writers timid about technology: Author Tech Tips

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