GREAT 64 IDEA: Facebook Tips for Business Owners

Talk about a great idea. Mark Zuckerberg was a Harvard undergrad when he launched a web site as a way to rank the appearance of women on campus. Now, Facebook is the social media powerhouse of the universe. But how can you use Facebook to promote your business?

The secret is having a separate “fan” page for your business—in addition to your personal Facebook page.

“First, you have to understand how Facebook works,” said Mari Smith, a social media expert and author. “You get started by building a fan page for your business.” (Visit: www.facebook.com/pages.)

“Your fan page is really an extension of your brand,” said Smith. Once you have built a cool-looking fan page, then, she said it's time to push compelling content out through all your social media networks, including Twitter and LinkedIn. Your fan page is the place to highlight what's new, different, or special about your company's services and products.

Remember, your fan page should not feature the same stuff as your personal page. (For example, post Aunt Tillie's 90th birthday party pictures only on your personal page.)

No matter how hard you work on promoting your business via Facebook, be patient. Smith cautions that it takes time to build an online presence, so don't expect to see results overnight.

“It takes three to six months to see some solid, measurable results,” she said. The key is to constantly refresh the content. You have to post new material several times a week, if not every day. If you have nothing new to share, you'll quickly lose fans.

Smith shared another great idea: monitor what's being said about you and your business in cyberspace. Set up Google Alerts. The service is free and can help you avert a disaster. Or check out these sites—www.socialmention.com and www.scoutlabs.com—to see what is being said about your company.

“Many companies now have CLOs, chief listening officers, who trawl the Internet for information,” said Smith. (Her web site is www.marismith.com.)