Facebook is not only the largest social network but it is also one of the most popular sites ever. Social networks might be fun but there are many other things they can used for – for instance, it is possible to use Facebook for business. Here is how.
Use Facebook to Drive Traffic
One of the greatest uses of Facebook for business is to get free traffic to a site. For a Facebook user with a large community of fans and friends, driving traffic to a site is plain easy. When a link is posted, this active community will click to visit it and here is the first wave of free traffic to a site.
The second wave of free traffic to a site is when friends and fans like the link and post it on their wall for their fans and friends to see. This wave could be even more powerful and could easily result in many hits. If the link is really popular, it stands a good chance to become a viral link, which means that it will be posted on other social networking sites, blogs, etc., thus bringing in additional free traffic to the site.
Use Facebook to Promote Products/Services
In addition to free traffic, another use of Facebook for business is to promote products and services. Again, the main driving force is the active community of fans and followers. If the community is well targeted, this is a marketer’s dream. It is possible to create a page for a product or a service and have people become fans. When other Facebook users become fans, this is shown on their profile page and their friends and fans can see it. If their friends and fans are interested in the product/service, chances are that they will join its page.
In addition to one’s own community, Facebook offers other opportunities to promote products and services – groups. Groups can be created about everything (or at least about everything legal) and this is another opportunity to use Facebook to promote products or services. There are groups with millions of users – just imagine how much exposure and free publicity this is!
Use Facebook to Sell Products/Services
Finally, a marketer can use Facebook to sell products or services. Selling of products or services can’t be done directly but if a marketer has an active community, all the free benefits of this, namely free traffic and free promotion opportunities, convert to sales very easily.
Facebook is a great social network and it is only wise to use it for business. The easiest use of Facebook for business is to drive traffic to a site but it is also not difficult to use Facebook to promote products or services and to make sales leads. When one sums up all the advantages Facebook offers businesses, he or she wonders how it was possible to do business in the pre-Facebook era.
