Many businesses fear social media. It is unpredictable and time-consuming. However, having a social presence for your business not only helps customers connect with you online; it also helps build your online brand.
A social presence is established by creating a business profile page. Unlike a website, these pages are hosted on social media platforms. For many small business owners, Facebook is the most popular home for their online presence. However, Recommended may be the better choice.
The Problem with Facebook for Small Businesses
Facebook has been an open social network since 2006. It began as a place for people to share updates with their friends and family. Within a year, the site began offering advertising services for businesses. Facebook members could now create business pages that were easy to find online for free.
While this development was huge for small business owners, it posed problems as well. In order to create a business page, you need to have a personal Facebook account.
While this requirement was great for growing Facebook’s user base, it didn’t do much for business owners. As indicated in Facebook’s help pages, business owners do not want their personal accounts linked with their business. Although Facebook ensures that the linkage is kept private, it is still enough to make people nervous.
Creating a page is one thing, but constantly checking to see who you are posting as is something else. Plus, in a growing political climate, a simple misclick, could lead to a loss of customers – simply because a friend posted something offensive on a personal page.
For many business owners, using Facebook for their online presence is a risk they wish they did not have to take.
A Facebook Page Is Free; Marketing On it is Not
The blurring between personal and professional is just one reason business owners have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. While creating a page is free, building one that is even remotely useful is not. Expect to spend time and money, before your Facebook page magically creates an online presence for your business.
Facebook pages are designed to help businesses market themselves as long as they do these three things:
- Purchasing advertising credits
- Add regular content
- Invite others to like the page
These things take time (or money). If you choose to hire someone to do it for you – here are some figures, courtesy of Lyfe Marketing:
Creating a Facebook page that helps your business is anything but free.
A Truly Free Solution
There are many benefits to Facebook. With an active page and advertising budget, businesses of any size can learn useful analytics about their customers and fans. It also helps customers learn about a company’s values when combined with relevant content. As a tool for building a social presence for a business, however, the free option falls short.
A business profile through Recommended is a better option for small businesses. It not only creates a free, professional online presence, it also does it without the risk of mixing business with pleasure. Business owners have a choice of creating a profile using their personal Facebook account, business Google account or professional Linkedin account.
A Recommended profile also is easy to maintain. Designed with simplicity in mind, there is no need to add regular content, purchase advertising credits, or continually spam your friends. Simply gather testimonials from your customers by adding your recommended URL to your email signature, embedding the ‘give a recommendation’ link on your website, or asking customers to leave a review.
If your business is highly recommended, we’ll do the work of making sure more customers can find you. No strings attached.
