Carbonite went in the direction of social media pretty much from the day we started our website. As we started to design and develop it a key part of it was going to be the blog/news section.
At the beginning I used to update it every couple of weeks. However what I started to discover was that targeting particular topics or industries began to deliver traffic. It didn’t mean sales but it did mean awareness, which at the time was our biggest challenge.
You can read the whole story at the Smart Business Solutions website.
My second story is about a work from home mum (Effie) that I was speaking to last week who opted to buy her domain and redirect it to her Facebook page, rather than actually build her own website. By building a Page on her personal Facebook profile, she has managed to build over 100 followers and believes that using Facebook was the best way for her to market her small business.
Babushka Designs makes Unique Event Stationary & Cards, Canvas Peg Boards & Personalised Noodle Boxes.
Whilst this small business owner had been on Facebook personally for a very long time, Effie quickly realised that she could build a Facebook page and then use her own friends to Like and promote her small business for her. What really changed her mind however was using her profile to connect with other similar businesses on Facebook. One in particular with over 12000 Likes profiled her work recently which lead to 40 new “Likes” over night. who have actually profiled her work and lead to significant traffic to her page and many “Likes” in a short period of time.
Effie is now looking at ways to use the various Apps available on Facebook to improve what she can do via Facebook. Apps like Reviews and even down the track a shopping cart app might be on the cards.
So an actual website isn’t the only way that you can build an online sales channel, Facebook and other social media services can get you up and running in no time and even help you tap into the right customer segment.
Over the past few weeks there have been a few articles on creating Facebook pages. It is actually quite easy (having done a few myself) and there are lots and lots of guides out there on the topic. Here are some articles worth reading on the topic to help you get started.
A Facebook Page, sometimes referred to as a Fan Page, is a single page that you can create for anything you want: a particular subject you like: a celebrity, a business profile, whatever your heart desires (as long as you have the legal rights to do so). Think of it as a one-page meeting place, with information, links, a message forum box, RSS and anything else you want (actually, it’s kind of like making a Squidoo lens!) Best yet, anyone can create them. All you need is a Facebook account!
This Squidoo post gives you some great ideas on how to create your page.
This is recent article via Dynamic Business which talks about this very topic of using Facebook as your website.
If you don’t have a website for your small business then perhaps Facebook is a good alternative. In a matter of minutes you can create a Page about your organisation, giving you an instant web presence, as well as the added bonus of being readily accessible to millions of active users via Facebook search.
And last but not least, you can also get a very thorough in in-depth look into how Facebook can work in your business via Luke’s great masterpiece – Facebook Pages for Business Guide.
