Yesterday I was honored to speak at the South Bay Business Leaders Summit in Manhattan Beach, California on a panel called “The Digital Influencer: Explode Your Social Media Footprint.” Along with three other panelists, Dimple Thakkar, Ana Lydia Ochoa-Monaco and Calvin Lee, I tried to impart a little of my social media/blogging philosophy to a room full of business owners who had little knowledge on how to leverage social media for their business.
While I had a blast doing it, I realized that social media has become such a vast medium that it was almost impossible to pinpoint exactly what each person should or shouldn’t be doing online. Every business is completely different and what might work for a bookstore would most likely not work for a restaurant or a doctor. The social media landscape doesn’t just include Facebook and Twitter anymore. We’ve branched out to Pinterest and Instagram and Google+ and Tumblr and Reddit and LinkedIn, among other lesser-known platforms. I found the answers to many of the questions harder to narrow down. It seemed like almost all of them could be answered with… “it depends.”
And herein lies the confusion for so many business owners: where to start.
My philosophy might be different than someone else’s, but I actually do believe that everyone should have a Facebook page for their business. Regardless of whether you like the platform personally, or have any interest in having a personal page, having a business presence is necessary for a few reasons.
1. It shows the world that you are relevant and understand the benefit of social media. Whether you actually do or don’t isn’t the point. Not having a presence will hurt you more once people start searching for you online and come up empty.
2. People use Facebook as a type of search engine. If their friends are talking about a restaurant or a doctor or a clothing store they’ve been to, the first thing that people on Facebook tend to do is just do a Facebook search for you. If you don’t show up, they might not bother to go into another search engine to hunt you down.
3. Most businesses today realize the importance of having a company website, but few understand that the majority of people who are going to that website are looking for those little social media buttons so they can follow you on their social media platforms. Having at least a Facebook icon that leads people to your Facebook page will give them more options to learn about who you are and why they want to do business with you.
4. Facebook is FREE. Despite all the back and forth about whether Facebook pages actually show up in people’s feeds, it’s still a good FREE way to advertise your business.
Need help setting up a Facebook page? Need help deciding what to write about? Need help sorting through all the crazy, social media hype? Shoot me an email at [email protected]
