Using Facebook for business – what not to do!
Most people are now aware of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, indeed we’ve covered it before in this blog – click here to read the article.
Three months on from that article I thought I would add some thoughts to the subject of using Facebook for business. It sounds perfect! Instant communication with interested potential customers, but there are a few things to look out for here, and a couple of golden rules that really shouldn’t be broken.
First thing to think about is mixing business with pleasure. A Facebook page tends to be a personal thing, and you’re likely to talk about all sorts of things on it. You need to decide pretty early on whether your page is to be used for yourself and your friends or for your business. It is possible to mix the two but you always must remember that whatever is seen on your page is an instant reflection on your attitudes, professionalism and personality to potential customers.
You also need to decide very early on who your business audience is going to be. If your company Facebook presence is purely aimed at being a networking tool for employees then that’s fine – but if this is the case then make the group private.
If your Facebook group is to be public then be careful what you post, and make sure that it can’t be read in a way that could harm your business reputation. Don’t post up incriminating photographs from your last drinking session, and don’t make offensive comments about people – no matter how much they deserve it! I always use the “Mum test”. Before you post your blog item, tweet or Facebook post read it back to yourself and ask yourself if you would be happy with your Mum reading it!
Remember also to take care when writing on friends walls, as whatever you write here is also visible to all friends of that friend. Eventually, as you use Facebook more, people begin to build up a picture of what you are like as a person. Even if you are posting from your personal Facebook profile rather than your Facebook business group people can still view your profile and put two and two together. It’s likely that they will also assume that this is what you are like as a business so naturally it’s important to make sure this is a positive impression rather than a negative one.
Finally, never repeat your posts over and over again. The same self promotion message posted more than once is the quickest way to get you blocked by your friends. Post it once, then move on.
Facebook is a very useful tool for business, but what you post is visible to lots of people, probably more than you may at first realise – so use with care!
