Facebook for small business ?

[Dimo]

After considering a FB account for a small business I registered only to find I cannot use the business name for the account. I therefore deactivated the account in my name that I set up.

But is a FB account the way to go to promote sales in specialist areas? I'm talking about a/ sales of framed art (£25-£120), and b/ sales of specialist board games.

I'm kinda expecting most replies to say it's a waste of time!

 

[DG web consultancy]

Do you mean couldn't use the business name for the main account or for the business page? The page you create for the business is separate from the main account which they want you to use your real name for.

If you have a link to more info on what you offer I'd be prepared to help you assess what potential there might be there.

 

[Chi Doan]

Yes, Facebook force to use real name, but you can use your company logo as the avatar.

Fan page doesn't have any name rule, you can use your company name for the fan page.

 

[Davidincognac]

absolutely use Facebook.
use their advertising engine to find people who enjoy the activity or things similar to it.

 

[Kaci Fashionn]

You first create a personal Facebook account (but you can hide it as non public and do nothing with it). Then you create a business page and have yourself as the admin which will allow you to use a Business Name for it.

 

[Socio South West]

Social media is great for brand awareness... you will hit those in your target market who are users of the media that you use.... but you will also hit a very much larger proportion than arent.

I would endorse using Post Boosts to a target market that you specify by location, age and interests

The best way to run this is set yourself up personally..... and run a page off that. It's very easy to fall foul of FB policies if you try and do it through a personal page. You are a business.... trying to attract customers.... no secret about that..... and they have channels to support that.
You don't have to post anything personally.

 

[Small Business Ltd]

Social media is a good way to go to gain an audience and be in touch with people that may follow you and your updates. Where possible, I always suggest that people use as much social media as they can to gain an audience and followers.

You may want to consider using a combination of Facebook, Website, Twitter (if applicable) and Linked In for business related information and presence. You Tube is probably not relevant for your business.

If you consider using a website to compliment the business, if costs are an issue, consider using a free / very cheap website provider (Search online). A number of providers also provide a blank template for you to populate.

If using a paid for website provider, be careful of the total costs you may incur over the period of 1yr. A number of cheap providers claim to offer a site for £1, but the overall costs throughout time (including hosting) can build up. You do not need to advertise any products for sale, as it can just be a front of shop type of design and you can redirect your viewers to your (Example) Facebook account for further information on your service. If using a website adding products and PayPal starts to get a little more involved.

Good luck with the business and sales..............

 

[D_Boardman1]

Twitter for me is the best social media to promote on. However, it can completely depend on which type of company you are, the product you sell, and your target audience.

In my opinion, Facebook and LinkedIn are the two absolute necessity's for YOURSELF and YOUR business if you want to create social media awareness.

Twitter is most commonly used these days, however, I would say 70-75% of users are between 17-35. Not that you wont receive customers that fall into this age bracket, however I wouldn't focus, at least not the majority, of your attention for advertisement in the direction of twitter. Furthermore, although there has become a rapid increase in the use of imagery and video content on Twitter in the last couple of years, moving away from simply written digital 'tweeting' content, there is still impetus on the written content voiced in tweets, but you get a limited amount of characters.

If you were to add a detailed and fairly sophisticated description of your artwork and boardgames, twitter won't give you much to work on.

Facebook and LinkedIn, provide the ability to use images of mostly all sizes, almost unlimited character storage for you to add depth into your posts, and from the experiences I've had with these two social media's, there seems to be an older demographic for you to expose your products to. In my opinion, the target audience of around 35+ will be more suited to your product, and more of these are found on Facebook & LinkedIn - however, you will know more it's your business!

Just one last point, I would definitely consider LinkedIn for your business. There is a lot of businessmen/women, who post for engagement and advertisement of their achievements and their businesses. You will attract (tongue in cheek) quite a lot of people who may have a nice budget to work with to spend a few quid on the type of things you are selling! Furthermore, it's a fantastic place to find partners, investors, and lots of people who are willing to give you great advice. Connect with as many people as you can! Dom

 

[Scribe Copywriting]

If it's framed art, then most of your posts are going to be visually attractive, I assume. Instagram could be a good option for you.

 

[Ed Swain]

We actively use the FB to promote sales and new product offerings, the conversion is very good.

Instagram with is 'shop instagram' ability would also work very well for your product.

 

[artraifi]

Facebook has one of the most sophisticated advertising platforms on the internet. For an advertiser its great, but for a user, it's pretty scary.

Regardless, if you have a website, you can easily attach a pixel code that will track all users going in and out of your website. That code will send the data to your facebook power editor and it will allow you to target those users that have taken their time to preview your site.

On the other hand, if you do not have a website then you would use Facebook's audience insight to find relevant interests and then add them to your campaign.

The job is not easy and it takes a lot of time, effort and a good understanding of the platform. If you do not know how to use it than I would highly suggest that you hire someone who can.

Best of Luck

 

[Magda kafelek]

You can prepare business page on facebook .

 

[Dimo]

You first create a personal Facebook account (but you can hide it as non public and do nothing with it). Then you create a business page and have yourself as the admin which will allow you to use a Business Name for it.

Thanks - I created a personal then a business page. What I've found is I am unable to post to related pages and groups joined using the company name but have to use my (unpublished) user name. Yet if I choose to add comments to other pages I'm given the option of signing with the company name or my user name. The point being that to promote the company and products I want to post to pages with the company name obviously. There seems no way to do this. I can only join groups with my name, not the company!

Also, as many other users have complained about, a person cannot make friend requests via their company page, only their personal page.

I have to say this FB lark has been a bit of a slog and a few things that ought to be straightforward are anything but. Well, I'll give it a while and let's see...

 

[Paul Murray]

There used to be a handy option to use Facebook as a page, so you'd see a feed of content from other FB users/pages/groups you had joined/liked as your page. For some reason this was removed, presumably to force users to use an interact with Facebook content as an individual (and gather more of your data probably).

Facebook pages are designed around the idea of you paying to promote your posts. Posting as your page in a niche group would be a great way to promote your products and they obviously don't want you doing that on their platform unless you're paying them a slice.

Facebook really is terrible and clunky to use but with all the niche data they old on individuals it's still one of the best ways to advertise to a very specific demographic. Whether or not it's worth sticking it out and slogging through really depends on what you want to promote and to whom, but also just how patient you are.

 

[Hahnbeck]

This is true, you can only represent yourself as a person in Facebook groups, not as a company. Many small operators change their name to their business name, but it is immediately recognisable to everyone and makes them look unprofessional. Don't do this.
Running a separate Facebook business page is still a good idea. Also with something as visual as the products you are selling, other media like Pinterest would make sense too.

 

[Dimo]

Thank you for your replies. Thus far I have found FB largely a waste of time...and a lot of it!