If you frequently visit pages on Facebook you are in for a change of scenery. As of March 1st, 2011 all Facebook pages will be switched to a new page layout. This layout gives page administrators several new capabilities that they did not have previously. This page layout will now mimic the changes that were recently made to all personal Facebook pages. Instead of Company pages having the tabs across the top of the page, they will have their tabs on the left hand column.

Perhaps the coolest featured being released to Facebook company pages is the ability to interact as the company. The ability to write on another page’s wall, as well as ‘like’ that page is now possible. This opens a world of possibilities when you want to connect with other companies, or build B2B relationships on Facebook. This will now give Facebook users the ability to segment their personal interactions, and business interactions without the fear of using their personal Facebook profile for professional uses. Facebook has put a lot of effort into these new features and will continue to roll out new features in the future. Keep your eye out for whats next!

Everyone is talking about ways Facebook can help benefit your business, but rarely do they ever talk about the basics. The real trick to any successful Facebook marketing strategy is a strong foundation. That foundation is built through understanding Facebook, and how it leverages social connections around the world.

Facebook has made signing up extremely easy for everyone, and it shows with over 500,000,000 users. In order to create a business page you have to sign up for a personal Facebook account first. It is important to spend time creating your personal Facebook page, but I want to focus on business pages within this blog post.

Facebook has become more business friendly over the past year. They have increased the ease of uploading photos and videos, along with the size of photos and videos you can upload. Facebook also made a major change when they introduced the ‘Like’ button. This button integrates across the Internet and allows you to ‘Like’ any content that is relevant to your interests. This is important for your business because it gives Facebook users the option to ‘Like’ your business, and the content it creates. Within every business page there are tabs across the top of the page. The default tabs are ‘wall’ ‘info’ ‘photos’ and ‘discussions’. Another added benefit of a business page in Facebook is the option to build custom tabs.

Setting Up Your Page

Facebook will guide you through setup, and take you through six steps of creating your business page.

1) Add an Image - This is the most important, yet simple step in setting up your Facebook business page. This image should be your companies Logo. If you do not have a logo this is a great time to create one! Be sure to make your logo large enough that it can easily be read on your page.

2) Import Contacts- You can import your contacts in two ways. First, you may import by creating a contact file (easy to follow directions can be found on Facebook). The second way is by signing into your email account and Facebook will automatically import your contacts. This is an easy way to build fans for your business.

3) Provide some basic info – People want to know about your business! Tell them where you are located, your phone number, website, and general information about your business.

4) Post Status Updates – The reason a Facebook page is so important to your marketing strategy is it allows you to stay in contact with your customers easily. They are able to see important information you are posting such as links, photos, videos, or events. You can let them know what the company is up to at any time, from anywhere.

5) Promote your Page on your Website – You are able to build the amount of people who “Like” your business by adding a Like button directly to your website or blog.

6) Set up your Mobile Phone – You are able to update your business page from anywhere with your mobile phone. Facebook will give you an email that is unique to only your page where you can email status updates!

Once you have your Facebook Business page optimized you can begin to build relationships with your customers. You can begin to create custom tabs that are industry specific. If you were in the food industry you could create a tab titled “Menu” or “Recipes”. This unique feature will differentiate your Facebook page from others, and will encourage users to “Like” it. Adding content to your Facebook page is the #1 way to bring customers in. The Facebook Page shown directly below is WEATHER GUARD® Videos, with a custom background.

Easy Ways to Engage your Customers

1. Status Updates
2. Photos
3. Videos
4. Events
5. Articles
6. Locations (check-in’s or store locations)
7. Promotions
8. Contests
9. Coupons
10. Resources
11. Links
12. Industry Tips and Tricks
13. Custom Tabs
14. Answer Questions / Feedback
15. Monitor your Social Media, Check it Daily if not hourly!
16. Ask Questions to your Customers

Get The Word Out!

Once your Facebook business page is established with information about your company and has been populated with content, you need to get the word out! Here is a simple list of tactics to engage in:

1) Invite your Facebook friends:  make sure to invite friends that you know will positively engage with your company. I would also be sure to invite your employees to your Facebook.

2) Add your Facebook to your Email Signature:  every email you send is an opportunity to invite someone to your Facebook page. Let them know you are proud of the content you are putting on your page.

3) Email Blast:  build a customized HTML email inviting everyone on your Email list to engage with your Social Media Pages. If you don’t have an email list start building one! Also know your audience: If you work with end users, reps, and dealers think about sending several different emails that will intrigue that audience to engage with your Facebook Page.

4) Advertise on Facebook: You know who you are trying to engage, so target them specifically! Facebook uses an extensive targeting methods to make sure your advertisements get to a specific group.

Integrating your Business Page with other Social Media

Once a business page has several ‘likes’, it is a good idea to integrate it with other social media initiatives such as Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, or a blog. This is done through applications on Facebook. YouTube videos can be directly posted to your Business page wall, or under your ‘video’ Tab on Facebook. Your Facebook posts can directly feed your Twitter account, so you can post once but it will go to both Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn can be linked to your Twitter account as well so it can then be posted to three different social media sites! We always suggest that your be a huge source of content for your Facebook! Whenever you have a new blog it should be brought over to your Facebook, and it should link to your blog. That one blog post will then populate your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts.

Custom Facebook Tabs

While getting the basics down in Facebook is very important, making your page stand out is most important! You can create custom page tabs with the application called FBML (Facebook Markup Language). It allows you to use HTML, converted for Facebook to create any type of tab you would like. Below you can see FUSION b2b’s Resources page which lists a Featured Campaign, White papers, Guides, and publications.

The most powerful feature of the custom tab is making it your landing page. When someone types “your company” within the Facebook search your company will come up, and when the click on “your company” it will take them to your landing page. By default your landing page is your Facebook Wall. You can create a custom tab and make it your landing page by:

1. Click Edit Page (directly under your profile picture)

2. Click Manage Permissions

3. Click down on the Default Landing Tab box and select the custom tab you’ve created

4. Click Save Changes

Personal vs. Business Facebook

When you create your Facebook profile you need to keep in mind who you want to connect with. If you’re looking to get your business into social media you should create a “just business” Facebook profile. Remember there are no rules against you having two Facebook accounts. Your personal Facebook can be catered to your family and friends, whereas with your professional Facebook can connect with potential Leads, Customers, Reps, Dealers, Distributors and Employees. You will impress your professional “friends” on Facebook by acting professional and being a subject matter expert in your industry!

Try It Out

The easiest way to learn Facebook is by trying it out. Start up your account, and start connecting with your business connections. There are several things you cannot learn unless you sign up. Soon enough you will be an expert Facebook Marketer! Shown below, a Facebook Events page for Tru Vue, a manufacturer of glazing for framing.

Basic Facebook Definitions

These are a basic list of Facebook definitions that have been included in this article. Please feel free to comment and add more definitions that you feel are important for someone starting out on Facebook to understand!

Profile Page: The main destination for personal Facebook pages. Someone’s profile page highlights his or her picture, user information, and interests. When you view other profile pages you first see their wall.

Facebook Wall: The Wall is located within a profile page. It allows other Facebook users to post links, pictures, and events. This is one way to communicate with other users, by posting content on their wall.

News Feed: Located in someone’s Home screen when they first log into their personal Facebook account. Updates of Friends and Pages come up on the news feed. When you post a status update, this is where a user will see it.

Group: A social page within Facebook that allows users with similar interests to connect on any given topic. You can create groups, or join an existing one.

Profile Page: The main destination for personal Facebook pages. Someone’s profile page highlights his or her picture, user information, and interests. When you view other profile pages you first see their wall.

Friend: A social connection between two Facebook users. A friend must be requested, and the recipient of that request must accept.

Fan Page: A page within Facebook that represents a topic or company that you have the ability to ‘like’. This is the Primary location of businesses on Facebook.

Like: A term on Facebook to show that you are interested in a given Fan Page, topic, or content. Often times you will see ‘like’ buttons across the Internet that allow you to show off your interests by clicking them.

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FUSION b2b recently was selected as a winner of the 2nd annual B2B Twitterer of the Year Award, which recognizes business-to-business (B2B) organizations for outstanding contributions in practicing, promoting, and/or enhancing business via the micro-blogging sensation Twitter.

Naperville-based FUSION b2b was recognized as the Runner-Up in the Local/Regional category for its Twitter profile @FUSIONb2b, which features over 1,300 followers. In addition to the Twitter profile, FUSION b2b uses Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and a corporate Blog to distribute content posts, news and information.

“Twitter and other social media are growing rapidly as a critical weapon in the arsenal of B2B marketing”, states Pavel Solyak, Director Social Media for FUSION b2b. “FUSION has taken leadership in B2B social media by demonstrating marketing results including sales inquiries and leads, PR placements, improved search engine results and website traffic, and other metrics.”

Hubspot and American Express Open were the winners of the National category. The Hubspot Twitter profile is one of the most active on the internet with over 30,000 followers.

About B2B Twitterer of the Year Awards

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by Pavel Solyak

Despite the many benefits and relatively low cost of social media, the majority of B2B marketers are only now considering the implementation of social media initiatives. For some categories, there are still opportunities for leadership and mindshare. At FUSION b2b, we believe every marketer should implement social media as part of an overall marketing program. Here’s several tips to get started.

Establish Profiles on Key Social Media Networks.

There are thousands of social networks out there targeted at different communities of people sharing similar interests. Creating profiles on all microsites is a large time-consuming investment. While they may have their place, it makes more sense to concentrate on the top 4 major networks: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Keep in mind that Social Media marketing is very dynamic and is likely to change overtime, so it is crucial to keep an eye out for trends and shifts to determine what other social networks would be beneficial. (ex. 2006 MySpace was number one Social Networking Site)

Create Social Media Hub on your corporate website.

Incorporate social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube and others into your corporate website. Make sure to have social media links prominently displayed on your site such as “Connect with us on Twitter” or “Become a Fan.” Make sure to have your website in every social media profile you have.

Inter-link your social media.

Your social media hub should already be linked to all external corporate social media properties, but don’t forget to inter-link those properties between each other. When your blog is updated – an RSS feed should automatically send a Tweet on twitter and change your status on Facebook and LinkedIn. A new uploaded YouTube video or Flickr Photo should be mentioned in your blog and updated through Facebook.

Research.

You want to use Social Media to connect to the right people, which in turn will take some research. Identifying Fans, Friends, Followers and supporters is not an easy task as most have online screen names rather than their actual names. Use your PR and clients lists to connect with publications, dealers, reps, users, thought leaders, trade shows and associations. Invite them to join you, or simply follow them – most will reciprocate.

Use directories and lists.

Twitter directories like WeFollow or Twellow and lists often help identify additional Fans, Friends and Followers. Some social networks will recommend people you should “Friend” or “Follow” based on their interests, location and other factors. Look at who others are following, perhaps you will find their connections relevant. Remember, however, that it’s not about the number of followers, but the quality of them.

Content.

This is the ONLY way to succeed on the web – posting well-researched, helpful content. You wouldn’t walk up to a person on the street and start selling them your product. First you have to establish your expertise. Developing quality content for your blogs and social media is no small task, but you can also reference articles written by others by re-tweeting them via tinyURL or posting a link to content relevant to your industry. If your connections like your content, they will keep coming back and recommend you to others.

Be original.

Create your own relevant content. Examples of relevant content includes: new products, attending trade shows and events, news releases, new brochures, new videos, customer information, market/business info. Don’t just sell – your content needs to be educational and informational. It’s a good idea to provide tips. Don’t be afraid of holding back information.

Sign-up for Google Alerts.

Google Alerts is a free tool that tracks keywords on the internet and alerts of their popularity. For example you can have a daily email that will notify you when keywords such as “Knaack”, “Weather Guard”, “Construction”, etc. are used. This helps you monitor the conversations and be able to respond to any questions in a timely manner.

Measure.

Have your agency do periodic category analysis using advance analytic tools to track progress. Is your Social Media strategy working? What tools are most effective? What feedback are you getting from users and followers?

Involve employees.

You can have a cool blog and a well-polished Facebook profile, but if there are no social connections –people likely won’t find it or read it. To get your Social Media project of the ground, use the connection you already have – your employees. Ask them to join your network or become a fan, comment on your blog or invite their colleagues to join. Keep in mind, however that not all your employees are right for Social Media. In any company, employees have different levels of passion about their jobs, and it’s your job to find employees who have most passion for what they do. Engage them first, others will follow.

Encourage Feedback.

Engage your customers and clients in positive feedback. Ask them to become your friend on the web, leave a comment on your Facebook wall or recommend you on LinkedIn. Ask them to post their suggestions or ideas for future or contribute to your next blog. All those things will generate conversation and buzz around your brand.

Communicate.

Get in a habit of communicating using Facebook and Twitter instead of internal e-mail. Create an event for company party, send out an invite to all your employees, then take some pictures at the event and tag your employees in the picture. Answer general questions using twitter, do updates and alerts, post videos on YouTube.

Don’t Spam.

Social Media is powered by people – real people like you and I. If they feel like someone is soliciting them, they will instantly block you or delete you from their friends. It can happen if you don’t post enough content, or you post too much and too often, your content is not relevant to them, or you are being too pushy with your ideas. Either way, you want to avoid this. Share information, put it out there for people to see, but don’t spam.

Mobile.

Social media is highly integrated with mobile technology (mobile telephones, wi-fi computers, PDA’s). Why not take and upload a picture of your booth at a trade show in real time? Sure, it’s a little blurry and dark, but it’s also original, timely and peaks interest/curiosity. Increasingly social media is going mobile with all the new devices and applications. Time to start using it?

Spread the Word.

Add social media links wherever you can, not just your web-site. Make sure your e-mail signature has a links to your company’s Facebook or Twitter. Why not have all employees do the same? What about brochures and literature you send to your reps and distributors or PR releases?

Keep you information up to date.

Spend time every week to update your social profiles: do updates, add pictures and events, communicate with your friends and followers. The more often your page changes content, the more likely people will come back to it and see what’s new. And not just people, Google crawlers who rank websites put higher weight on those website who change often, thus bumping up your standings with Google and doing wonders for your SEO.




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