Facebook is undoubtedly the most popular social network today. With 845 million or so active members worldwide and with each user spending an average of 20 minutes on the site, any business stands to benefit from the proper use of Facebook.
A business can benefit from Facebook by putting up a Facebook Page. Some people use their personal Facebook profile to create Facebook Pages. When you post on your Facebook page as an Admin, your Facebook page name—not your personal name—shows on the corresponding post. This means that you won’t have to worry about mixing business with personal stuff. Your Facebook Page subscribers also won’t be able to see your personal profile. As a Facebook page owner, you can designate Facebook friends as Admins. These people will only need their own personal login details when using your Facebook page. Alternatively, you can choose a business account and create a business page directly without using your personal profile. However, you won’t be able to use third-party apps and customize your page if you choose this. Some best practices when putting up a Facebook page are:
- When adding admins, choose only people you trust. So far, any admin can remove other admins (even the Facebook owner himself). If an admin is only temporarily working on your page, remove him as soon as his work is done.
- Customize the public appearance of your Facebook page. Add a custom header and profile picture that reflects your business. You can also customize your Facebook page using third-party apps like Pagemodo, or if you’re familiar with HTML, you can use iframes.
- Use default apps like Photo, Links, Video, Events, and Notes to your advantage. Sharing and responding is the way to engage people on Facebook.
- Contests are also a great way to promote your page. Remember that Facebook only allows the use of third-party apps when hosting contests on Facebook. You can use Wildfire and Involver for this.
- Use Facebook Insights to check your page stats.
Twitter is one of the top social networks that have been on the rise, as seen in this Ignite Infographic. The others are Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn, and Tumblr. Twitter is a source of breaking news, interesting blog posts, and quotable quotes. There’s something addicting about retweeting a 140-character-or-less Tweet. That said, here are some of the best practices for Twitter:
- Fill in your Twitter profile. Use the profile settings to link to your blog and to sound interesting to your niche audience. When people read the few words below your Twitter handle, will they be motivated to add you to their “following” list?
- Hashtags can become trending topics or search items. Use hashtags in your Tweets and in your profile.
- Retweet and respond to tweets that mention you.
- This RingCentral blog post suggests that you promote tweets in search and post tweets that are valuable to your audience.
- Follow thought leaders and industry leaders.
With that being said, social media is a definite platform for businesses when it comes to branding and client interaction.