Sunday, December 4, 2011

Random Ramblings of the Day

Happy Sunday everyone!

Todays post will focus once again on networking our businesses on Facebook.

First, let me say what a great tool Facebook is for small and home based businesses. It's FREE advertising and promotion for you and your business. You can make a business page, promote it, your products and most importantly, Yourself. That's right, we said it, "Yourself". When promoting your business and products, you must promote yourself, as well. People will not only want to see your products, but will want to see what type of person they are thinking of dealing with as a business. People want to know that they are dealing with someone who is honest, trustworthy, willing to help and friendly. You are a reflection of your business. How you conduct yourself will be a deciding factor if someone "likes' your page, your business and ultimately you.

 Promoting and networking is a two way street. You have to be willing to give to get. We have to remember that Facebook is a "Social Network".
All to often we see business posting their ads on pages, then leave. This is fine if thats how you want to promote yourself and your business, but, is that really being "social"?  Your ad may or may not get noticed. On the other hand, if you placed an ad on a page, then bothered to look, like and maybe even comment on someone elses post, your odds go WAY up that you'll get noticed. Try it. We bet you'll see a difference in how your page will grow. Again, Facebook isn't about just showing ads, it's about being "social" and networking. We encourage you to show your ads on our wall. We also encourage you to show that you are willing to help others. Come and post your ad and when you do, visit some posts close to yours. Like their post and maybe make a comment. You might just make another contact, friend or customer.

Another subject we'd like to comment on is networking events. In particular, cruises, climbing, ladders, tagging, etc. These are events that are designed to help fan bases grow quickly by getting on a list, hovering the links and liking pages right from the list without having to go to each page. When considering that not long ago you had to actually visit pages, post on their wall and hope they like you back, this is a great tool to get your 'like' number up. The bad side of these events is their isn't a good way to monitor who is "playing fair". Some people get on these lists looking to get likes without giving a like in return. These people make a great tool very frustrating. Not only to the people who play fair, but to the page hosting the event as well. I can't speak for the other pages that host these events, but when we put these events on, we work hard to monitor the list, make sure the instructions are understood and keep the list clean and easy for those on it, only to see complaints at the end like "I liked 30 pages and only got 10 back. People aren't playing fair." The cold hard truth is that you will never get back the same amount you put in. Even in the days past when you had to visit pages, like them and post on their page, never did we get a 100% return in likes back. So, decide which way you want to network, it is totally up to you, but you'll never get back what you put into it. This isn't to discouraged anyone, it's to educate and hopefully keep the frustration level down when it happens.

In closing todays ramblings:
-Be "social".
-Don't portray yourself as one who always wants and never gives back.
- Post your ad, it's ok, but visit some other posts as well.
-Don't tag and run on a networking event. (word travels fast if you are found out)
-Network, make friends and promote your business and yourself.

Have a great week ahead :)
TCS


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