Developed by students at Harvard University, Facebook began as a way for college students to connect. Eventually, membership was opened to anyone, and the numbers soared. As of this writing, the Facebook Web site claims more than 200 million active users—more than double the number of the former social media king, MySpace.
Facebook’s Marketing Potential
Today, Facebook is a place for friends and family to connect and form groups around common interests, causes and brands. If you sell a consumer product or service, Facebook is a great place to market your business.
Businesses and organizations can create a profile page, and people can become their “fans.” More than 4 million users becoming fans of profile pages each day—that’s a huge market just swimming with potential. Your Facebook page can generate millions of impressions without costing you anything. It’s a free brand-awareness campaign.
Making Your Page
All you need to create your business Facebook page is:
- A good profile image,
- Some copy for the information section and
- A link to your Web site.
You may also want to prepare some topics or posts in advance for your wall.
Promote your Facebook page
As a business, you can’t send friend requests like regular Facebook users. But you can encourage people to become fans of your business. Add a “visit us on Facebook” line to all of your email communications. Ask your friends to join. Their friends will see your business and may want to become a fan, too.