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(By Megan Walker and published in The Courier-Mail 12 December 2011).  In the six years since Facebook was launched, it has achieved phenomenal impact with more than 800 million active users worldwide.

Developed by university students, it was originally established to communicate with students across campuses in the United States. It then branched out to schools, then corporate organisations and in 2006 become open to anybody with a valid email address.

Closer to home, I hear local business owners continually question the purpose of Facebook for the corporate sector – “it’s just for kids”, “it’s for your personal life” and “nobody does business on Facebook”.

On some occasions I agree with these statements. However Facebook, like any marketing tool, is only effective if it aligns with your brand, your products and services and, most importantly of all, your target audiences.

If your customers don’t use Facebook or wouldn’t look for your products or services in that arena then it’s not for you. BUT it does work if used correctly for the right applications. Three examples of commercial uses are as follows:

1. Support tool to drive online sales. Facebook can be used to engage potential buyers with stories or interesting information, communicate the benefits of products or services, tell stories and build a sales database of followers. Post daily to maintain a presence in your followers’ news feeds. A great example is the Haggus and Stookles Facebook page, a Brisbane e-tailer that offers travel products for children

2. Market research. Find out what your audiences are thinking by using polls or asking open ended questions. Set up polls on your page by adding the poll application and then creating your own mini survey. You can also search on your industry, company or brand names by typing key words into the search field to see what people are saying about you and identifying market trends

3. Search Engine Optimisation. Claim your vanity URLs (company or product names) on Facebook and other social media sites. Make sure you include relevant key words that people will use to find you in the name of your pages and in your text. Over time and with regular posting, you will appear multiple times in search results effectively giving more attention to your business and pushing your competitors lower down the page

Being online (relevant to your business and your target audiences) is an integral part of your business strategy.

For more information on building a powerful Facebook presence or outsourcing your social media writing, please contact me on 07 3899 8335 or email megan@marketsavvy.com.au.

Kind regards
Megan Walker