How can social media help your business?
Many business owners are concerned that are missing the social media boat but remain unconvinced the benefits. They often get side tracked by personal opinions about Facebook ("My daughter wastes her life on that thing!") or Twitter ("Who cares what so-and-so had for breakfast?!"). And with every passing month it seems that a new social media technology demands our attention. Instagram? Pinterest? Vine? The list is endless. Where do we business owners start?Read more
Hot tips from the Twitterverse
I recently ran a course called "Twitter for business beginners". In preparation, I put Twitter's renowned collaborative powers to the test. So, I tweeted, "If you were teaching a course about Twitter basics, what would you say people MUST learn first?"Read more
Why is WordPress taking over the web?
These days we meet a lot of SMEs that are looking for a new solution for their website. Normally, they've had their existing site for five or six years and it's beginning to show its age and cannot meet the demands of the way business needs to market itself. See here for our web design services...
What worries you most about social media?
What follows is no major piece of market research – just genuine feedback from some businesses we've spoken to over the last few months. We've picked up recurring themes (or fears?) that are troubling small business owners about making the social media leap. Read more
How to gauge real social media influence
Businesses often set a target for X number of followers on Twitter or Y number of Fans/Likes on Facebook to be achieved in a set period of time. These targets can be unrealistic to hit and so the business can be quickly disappointed that a clear cut goal has not been realisRead more
What are people saying about YOUR business?
Whether you like it or not, existing or potentially new customers are talking about your business behind your back. Wouldn't you like to know what they are saying?Read more
10 things your business should NOT be doing on Twitter
- Don’t ignore the benefits of mapping out a content strategy before you start. Many businesses clearly have no direction, objectives, style and purpose on Twitter. If you really want to make it work for your company, you need to stop and think about all the above plus how Twitter integrates with your existing channels of communication.
Read more
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread...
We meet a lot of local businesses who are suddenly keen to use various elements of social media to win new customers. Many of them are already well followed on Twitter or have hundreds of friends on Facebook - on a personal level.Read more
What IS social media?
So how does Wikipedia, one of the world's most popular forms of social media actually define social media?Read more
Why you shouldn't use a personal facebook profile for your business
Facebook allows you to create a page to promote your business. This allows other Facebook users to ‘Like’ your company and receive updates from you without becoming a fully fledged friend.
It’s quick and easy to ‘Like’ a business on Facebook. One click of a button and it’s done, no ‘friend requests’ and ‘friend confirmations’ to deal with. It’s immediate.
However, there are still many companies, (some quite well-known) that are using a personal Facebook profile as opposed to a Facebook business page to promote their company. This can have its problems.
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Here are just 5 of them:
1. You are breaking the rules
You may have set up a personal Facebook profile using the name of your business or your business branding. If you also have another Facebook page for your own personal use, we’re afraid you’re in contravention of Facebook rules and one or both accounts could be suspended. Section 4 of Facebook’s terms clearly states that you shouldn’t have two separate Facebook accounts and you should never use a personal Facebook profile for commercial gain. We’ve seen businesses have their accounts suspended altogether over this malpractice.
2. Your business won’t be seen
Facebook business pages can be optimised for search engines like Google, but personal Facebook profiles cannot. Surely you would like as many potential customers as possible to find your company online wouldn’t you? Using a personal page to promote your company is hindering your chances.
3. No-one will ‘Like’ your business
It will be much more difficult to gain ‘friends’ as a business if you’re using a personal Facebook profile because regardless of privacy settings (which confuse most Facebook users anyway), people will be reluctant to share personal information with a company – no matter how good that company is. A Facebook business page allows people to ‘Like’ your company without any privacy risks because your company cannot access their personal information.
4. Your business could run out of Friends
Although it’s not easy to verify, many commentators say that Facebook will only allow a personal profile a maximum of 5,000 friends. But your Facebook business page can be ‘Liked’ by a limitless number of people. Why limit your opportunities?
5. Your business will be one dimensional
Whilst you can only have ONE personal Facebook profile (if you’re obeying the rules) you can create more than one Facebook business page. So if your company has several sub-brands or specialities, you could consider creating a dedicated Facebook business page for those too.
Convinced? And there’s more where that all came from.
It’s not rocket science. Facebook personal profiles are for people and Facebook business pages are for businesses. Of course you can still reflect your business in your personal Facebook updates, but it’s simply not designed to enable a company to maximise the many benefits that social media offers today.
UPDATE: FACEBOOK HAS NOW DEVELOPED A TOOL THAT WILL NOW ALLOW ALL BUSINESSES THAT MADE THE MISTAKE OF SETTING UP A PERSONAL RATHER THAN A (BUSINESS) PAGE PROFILE TO MIGRATE ONE TO THE OTHER.
Click here for more: https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?migrate