5 Reasons Why Facebook is Best for Business
Currently the biggest and most popular social media websites include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Digg and YouTube. However no business can deny that Facebook is a powerful platform for consumer interaction, advertising and having a business presence. Facebook seems to hit the right spot, between personal use and business use.
LinkedIn tends to target professionals. Twitter is still finding its feet, even now, as most users are not exactly sure how to really tweet for business benefit. Digg is the biggest social bookmarking website, where users seem to digg more for fun and technology, than business purposes.
And YouTube….. which is attracting phenomenal traffic and users, but still walking a fine line in regards to beneficial interacting, for business and social media.
So why do I believe that Facebook offers the best opportunity for Internet Marketing?
1. Most Users
With more than 400 million active users, Facebook is the biggest social media website in the world wide web.
Other Stats:
Twitter: more than 105 million users.
LinkedIn: more than 50 million users.
Digg: It is difficult to find confirmed number of registered users, but it was clear to find that Digg has 38 million hit
Youtube: 27 million users.
Sources:
http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/10/14/linkedin-50-million-professionals-worldwide/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/14/twitter-user-statistics-r_n_537992.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:youtube.com/user&hl=en&safe=off&start=10&sa=N
2. Applications
The applications on Facebook are fantastic. Everyone can create custom applications that fits to their business needs, and can be embedded in Facebook. This is the biggest and best decision that Facebook has ever made. There also are huge possibilities for future advancements and applications.
Web developers were the first to develop applications because they understood how to write in the Facebook markup language, and in the beginning there were limited interfaces available for non-technical people.
Now the creating of Facebook Applications has boomed, as businesses see the value in utilising their Facebook presence for maximum exposure and interaction.
Even if you are a Real Estate Agent, Hairdresser, or Web Designer, you can create an application that will serve your business needs. This also opens new job possibilities for “Application Designers” to work along side Web Designers.
3. Interactivity
With Facebook, you can upload data, your portfolio, and your company’s products. This is best for business because you can keep your clients updated with your latest business activities and incorporate photos, videos and other tools and links.
Now also incorporating the “Applications” as mentioned above, you can even add helpful features like – Contact Us forms.
4. Is Totally Free
Currently, having a personal profile page on Facebook, and having a Business page on Facebook is free of charge. This is a huge plus for businesses, especially small business, which is almost on an even playing field. Of course, advertising on Facebook is not free, but is currently affordable and can be easily tailored to specifically target the clients you are looking for.
Whether Facebook continues to be free in the future……….. well, we certainly hope so.
5. User Friendly
Everyone is on Facebook today, and this means that everyone knows how to use it. Setting up a personal profile page or setting up a Business page or Group page is very straight-forward and simple to follow, which is helpful since most people are not technical.
Also maintaining your page with news and photos, and sharing information across Facebook is very easy to do as well. Even though it seems the layout and processes of Facebook change regularly.
In Summary
The summary is up to the readers, they can judge and comment about their thoughts. I think that Facebook is amazing and has huge potential.
One Comment
Fiona
I agree. In today’s modern age, every business, big and small, should have a Business Page on Facebook. And the potential for applications is amazing. The “Applications” revolution is part of the emerging Web 3.0 – where users are creating their own web content. It’s exciting times.