Social Media Marketing

Finally there is something more popular than Porn online, Social Media is now tops I read this week.

So is there a way to advertise on Social Media? Look at this from Small Fuel:

What Can Facebook Really Do For Your Company?

Are you on Facebook? There are millions of potential customers on there, just waiting for you. Through Facebook, you can market to people you would be unable to reach otherwise. It’s just a matter of knowing your options and becoming familiar with the site.

But what can Facebook really do for your company? Read more to find out.

Advertising

Many companies in a hurry to take advantage of social media marketing pass by the advertising opportunities available on Facebook. Instead, though, they should be your first stop: how would you like to advertise directly to your chosen demographic — and only your demographic? With Facebook Ads, you can limit your advertising to women in your hometown between the ages of 18 and 30. That sort of narrow focus is ideal for a small business with a clear picture of its target market. You can even limit your choices further: relationship status, workplace and other options let you profile your perfect customer.

You don’t have to have a huge budget to take advantage of Facebook Ads either. Instead, like many other websites, Facebook allows you to bid for either pay per click or pay per view ads. No matter which you choose, you can limit the amount of money you might spend in a day.

Free Marketing

Beyond advertising, Facebook does provide some free marketing opportunities. Chief among them is the Facebook Page. You can create a Facebook Page for just about anything, including your small business. You can use a Page to share information about upcoming events for your company, news and even to talk about your products. While such a Page isn’t a replacement for your company website, it can complement it by directing Facebook users to your site.

Seeking Out Customers

If you’re looking to take a more personal approach to marketing, Facebook can help you build a community focused on your product or brand. You can create groups, host discussions and invite people to show their support for your product — you could use a forum on your own site for the same purposes but Facebook might be a better choice for several reasons. For one thing, the infrastructure to build such a community can require some technical expertise as well as some money. Why reinvent the wheel when you can use Facebook for free? Also, Facebook just has more people. There are millions of users on Facebook, a number that most small businesses simply can’t hope to rival. So why not take advantage of the user base that Facebook has already built?

There is plenty of work associated with converting Facebook users into customers for your business, no matter whether you are inviting them to join a group or take a look at your business’ Facebook Page. You have to make sure that even the title of your page makes your value clear. Most Facebook users won’t click on a link unless it looks interesting — and they’ll leave a page or group immediately if it’s boring or they think you’re just trying to sell something. When you’re making a plan for marketing on Facebook, think about how you can help or interest potential customers.

Applications

If you want to dedicate some resources to marketing on Facebook, you might consider creating a Facebook application. It takes some technical know-how. If an application is fun or useful, though, it can wind up on thousands of user profiles in a matter of minutes.

One Drawback

Facebook can do plenty for a small business, but there is one fact you need to keep in mind. Despite the constantly growing numbers of Facebook users, not all demographics are equally represented. If your business caters to an older age group, marketing on other social networking sites — like LinkedIn — may give you more bang for your buck.

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