Businesses are now using Facebook to connect with customers.
Facebook is more than a vehicle for social chit-chat amongst friends. You may have noticed many businesses starting to use it – even now using a facebook.com/businessname URL instead of a usual web address.
If you’ve been thinking about doing something on Facebook for your business or brand, here’s some key websites, simple ideas, case studies and videos to enable you to understand the basics and get yourself up and running.
If you haven’t already done so, the very first thing is get yourself a Facebook account / profile. You need this to move on to other features.
(These first two sites here are for the real newbies.)
1. Facebook.com
The starting place to sign up for a Facebook profile (if you don’t have one.)
2. How to set up a Facebook account / profile (video)
A simple video with the basics about how to set up your profile.
There’s a bit more in this:
3. ‘How to build your personal brand in Facebook’
A Mashable article with some simple, useful advice on how to make the most of your Facebook profile.
If you get stuck at any stage, this site should help:
4. Facebook’s Help Centre
Links to help on many of the key aspects aspects of Facebook.
Profiles are really about individuals. You can leverage your profile to gather contacts and get messages out to your contacts which can be useful.
But if you’re trying to promote a business, organisation, cause or venture, you really need to set up a Facebook ‘Page’. The following links will help you understand, develop and promote your Page.
5. Facebook’s Video on Pages
Why you should set a Page up for your business or brand and how it works. (Video from Facebook themselves.)
6. Facebook’s start page to create a Page
The place to start on Facebook to set up your business or brand Page.
7. ‘Claim Your Facebook URL’ Video
Explains how to grab your business or brand name on Facebook (i.e. the “vanity URL” for your Page.) And why it’s important. There’s also simple advice about the content you should put on your Page.
8. Facebook’s Help Page on Pages
Provides tips, examples, best practices, explanations and additional resources specifically for building Pages.
9. Examples of Facebook Pages
A collection of interesting Pages to help provide the inspiration and some ideas on how you can do your own.
Finally, to give you an idea of how seriously large companies are taking Facebook and how they’re using Pages for marketing their brands, I’ve included this short case study:
10. Levi’s Case Study (video)
Describes how Levi’s used their Facebook Page to grow an online community, build awareness, gain sales and garner feedback on products and promotions. (Video from Facebook.)
Have I missed any good ones? If you think so, let me know – in the comments.
That Levi’s case study is great, it will be interesting to see how social commerce develops in 2011.