4. What is Facebook? Facebook is a social network where people connect with friends and companies Facebook can be used to communicate and to share pictures, links, events, content, videos and more Facebook is a mainstream social network (reaches 52% of social users online vs. Twitter’s 10%)* Facebook is the place to reach both influencers and consumers en masse *Source: Nielson
6. Types of Facebook Profiles Business Personal Your personal profile is attached to your full name and a photo of you You make friends You share updates, pictures, videos and content The best business promotion is a combination of personal and business profiles Your business fan page is attached to your business name and a business photo or logo You get fans You share updates, pictures, videos and content Your fans share the same
7. Tips for Getting Started You should first sign up as a person with your real name (not business name) and your headshot Determine if you want business and personal mixed or separated You can use tools such as email import to find people you already know to add as friends You can determine how private or public you want your account to be You should use a business page that will not show your personal information Maintain access and control of your fan page
8. “You will make mistakes. If you are sincere about helping the community, the authenticity will show and your mistakes will be forgiven.” Zia Yusuf executive vice president for SAP’s global ecosystem and partner group
9. Why Facebook? Facebook is the number 2 site on the entire web for traffic, with 133 million unique visits in January 2010. It is ranked second, only behind Google. The traffic has doubled in the past year. The story of Facebook is being made into a major motion picture, The Social Network. Source: Compete.com
10. Facebook by the Numbers More than 3 billion photos uploaded each month More than 5 billion pieces of content shared each week Business Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day More than 400 million active users 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day More than 35 million users update their status each day More than 60 million status updates posted each day Source: Facebook
13. “Don't say anything online that you wouldn't want plastered on a billboard with your face on it." Erin Bury Sprouter community manager
14. Being Safe on Facebook Like any popular site, there are issues with privacy and security Do not click suspicious links Do not click emails or strange messages seeking Facebook login information Be wary of strange applications asking for permission to launch in Facebook Use the built-in settings to decide for yourself how private your profile should be
15. You can control your privacy Facebook lets you decide who can see a wide variety of aspects of your privacy. You can be as open as you’d like, you can make sure only friends you approve see your information, or you can lock down your profile so people only see very basic information like your name and a tiny picture of you without your permission.
18. A Great Fan Page Set your fan page’s address at facebook.com/username Encourage interaction, engagement and feedback from your fans Reward customers for being fans via deals, great content, a sense of relationship Is open and allows fans to comment, add pictures, add videos, participate Responds quickly to contributions from fans
22. Little Debbie Engaging Fans Little Debbie posts a picture of the original girl used for their brand. 477 likes and 107 comments “makes me want to buy more cream pies” “I can't even remember how many brownies I've eaten while looking at that face”
24. “The secret isn’t growing a huge fan base. We have 100,000 Facebook fans, but those fans have all come to us organically. We believe the more organic the growth, the more loyal the fans, the more likely they will be repeat customers.” Cam Balzer vice president of marketing at Threadless
25. Getting Fans Promote your fan page everywhere: on location, on web site, in company email signatures, e-newsletter, brochures, with site badge and in advertising Invite your Facebook friends to be fans Be an active user on Facebook Invite people to join on Facebook and other social networks Offer incentives to become a fan via contests, coupons and exclusive deals
26. Incentives to Fans Kraft offers new fans a chance to get their new Cheesy Explosion Macaroni and Cheese free if they become a fan. They encourage both viral spreading of the offer, and new fans left several comments raving about their products.
28. Fan Page Statistics Fan page insights provide data on interactions and demographics of your page.
29. “The polling of Internet users shows that friends’ recommendations are the most reliable driver behind purchasing decisions. Right now that market is largely untapped. Facebook and other social networks can allow that to happen.” Yuri Milner Russian social-media investor
31. Bad Practices Do not bombard fans with several messages or links at once Do not spam other people’s profiles or fan pages with promotion of your business Allow conversation to appear on your fan page wall unless it is inappropriate Don’t be non-responsive Do more than just self-promote, but also join into the conversation Don’t leave control with one employee
32. Facebook Applications Networked Blogs GLPrint Business Cards Professional Profile IEndorse Testimonials My Office Slideshare Static FBML Find more at http://mashable.com/2009/01/22/business-facebook-apps/
33. Facebook advertising You can purchase ads on Facebook for as little as $5 per day You can drive clicks to a web site or your fan page You pay by the click You can target ads by demographics or interest in certain keywords Ads are at facebooks.com/ads
34. Time Management It is acceptable to automate some, such as pulling in Twitter updates or a blog feed You can “hide” items in your main page Facebook stream, such as games and silly apps Schedule a few minutes every weekday to visit Facebook and check fan page Take a few minutes once a week to visit other business pages for ideas