Facebook page

[doctor Bob]

Does anyone here have a facebook page for their business, I have set one up recently, I keep it updated along with a blog but how useful do you think it is, will I be twittering next and all the other stuff.
Do you think a facebook page is a bit modern for a cabinet making business?

It just seems that this "social networking" can be an endless thankless task.

Plus can I link facebook to my profile?

 

[marcros]

Does anyone here have a facebook page for their business, I have set one up recently, I keep it updated along with a blog but how useful do you think it is, will I be twittering next and all the other stuff.
Do you think a facebook page is a bit modern for a cabinet making business?

It just seems that this "social networking" can be an endless thankless task.

Plus can I link facebook to my profile?

I have not done one for my beekeeping equipment business. I see facebook as a place to see what mates have done at the weekend. I suspect that you would persuade your mates to like the page, and that is the only time that they or anybody would visit. It might be useful, but I wouldn't waste much time doing it. IMHO, far better to have a traditional website, or portfolio.

 

[Doug B]

Hi Doctor Bob,

I went down the route of facebook so more folks could access my blog but it attracted a lot of weirdos from a chat site, so i`d advise caution

 

[Tusses]

I'm just in the process of setting up on FB and Twitter too.

You can link them both, so if you post on FB it appears on Twitter (apparently)

I guess if you are blogging anyway, then it's mainly a cut an paste job to do them all !

 

[mailee]

Yes Bob I have one for my business but have to admit I don't keep up to date with it.

 

[RogerS]

I think it can backfire as for quite a lot of customers Facebook and Twitter are seen as pretty naff.

 

[wobblycogs]

Glad someone asked this question as I was thinking of setting up FB and T for our business. I can't help feeling it's just a waste of time though as none of our clients want to know what the workers had for lunch...

 

[marcros]

exactly. And the fact that the employees went out last night and are too tired to actually care about the incoming phonecalls, but are going to order bacon butties in a minute.

 

[Tusses]

:roll:

 

[Benchwayze]

:roll:

Ditto!

 

[t8hants]

Facebook........Nations shall speak complete blocks unto nations!

G

 

[doctor Bob]

Well, my facebook page is certainly not like that, it's a business page, not a social page. I have a lot more control over it, who posts, only I or an administrator can start a topic and every one elses meaningless posts don't appear.
It's here if anyone would care to comment

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Armstrong-Jordan-Ltd/186752778021842?sk=wall

 

[RogerS]

Well, my facebook page is certainly not like that, it's a business page, not a social page. I have a lot more control over it, who posts, only I or an administrator can start a topic and every one elses meaningless posts don't appear.
It's here if anyone would care to comment

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Armstrong-Jordan-Ltd/186752778021842?sk=wall

And you get meaningful comments such as

You is just toooooo cleaver Micky x

 

[doctor Bob]

In defense.... I'd say I'd be stupid to not advertise to all age groups. Yes the older generation don't understand facebook comments and consider it beneath them and not the queens English but unfortunately this is the next generation of buyer.
Our best demographic of buyer is 30-40, new rich, the generation immediately behind them will be our main customers in 5-10 years.

 

[Anonymous]

will facebook still be around in 5 - 10 years? or will it a new phase?? I am not on either so can't comment on how effective it will be.

Bob - Have you ever advertised in the glossy mags - Period Homes etc etc?

 

[Benchwayze]

In defense.... I'd say I'd be stupid to not advertise to all age groups. Yes the older generation don't understand facebook comments and consider it beneath them and not the queens English but unfortunately this is the next generation of buyer.
Our best demographic of buyer is 30-40, new rich, the generation immediately behind them will be our main customers in 5-10 years.

Bob,

From experience with my daughter's purchasing, the taste of most youngsters today is dictated by what they can afford. That's why they go to IKEA or Homebase. My daughter especially. I offer to make her bits and pieces, but she tells me herself, she might get fed up with it, and flog it. So her furnishing exploits are down to convenience and affordability. In any case, her generation seems to be all for 'get-rid-of' and 'have something new'. She doesn't have a Facebook page BTW.

Those among them with a more permanent approach to furnishing their homes, and cash to spend, probably wouldn't see Facebook as a market resource anyhow.

Or maybe I am wrong. I dunno! But my Hobby-Based Facebook page got to be a pain in upkeep, so I deleted it.

John

 

[doctor Bob]

Thanks for all the comments guys, to be honest I'm with you, I dislike facebook and the chavvyness of it all, however I will stick with it as it's another tool as such.

My main focus is my website and blog, I do advertise in some glossy magazines but very specific ones such as Bentley, Aston Martin and other similar magazines, usually with very narrow targets as well.

As usual though the best way to advertise yourself is to do a good job and hope they tell friends, but as business grows it's foolish and virtually impossible to rely totally on this.

Thanks chaps, any comments on the blog would be appreciated, it seems a thankless task

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

I have one but your using it for the wrong reason.

You don't want to try and do business from facebook you want to use it to drive traffic to your website. Not just FB but twitter, delicious, stumble upon, folkd and so forth, there are loads.

You may have heard of SEO (search engine optimisation). A complicated and large subject, its a process in which to optimise your website to gain a better ranking on search engines for relative key phases. SEO also follows the trends so its no surprise that social networking and bookmarking is a large part of the seo process now. What this means is the more links you have on Facebook and other social networking sites the better. Also social bookmarking sites. The idea behind a facebook page is, one get more social coverage on your website and more links and two, to drive more traffic to your website. Now the idea behind Blogs is to keep users on your website. This improves whats called a bounce rate. The longer a user spends on your website the better your site will seem to google and search engines. If someone simply clicks to your website then clicks off, search engines will think the site isn't very good and rank you down.

So you have a blog on your website, a galley, videos or other media that will keep people on your website for a few minutes.These people don't have to be looking for your services, the fact there on your site and staying improves your bounce rate which means your site will be more likely to pop up on the first page in searches on search engines from people that are looking for your services.

So you use your FB page to create a buzz about a blog/galley/feature on your site and gain followers that will stay on your website. You keep updating your FB page to advertise new blog entries, new photos, new news etc.

Its not that easy though. You need to get "likes" and make sure any links are relative to your key phases.

The question isn't is it important but how important. If your the only one with a website that covers the areas you do then its not to important but still a good thing to make sure you stay at the top when a new site is launched and is a competitor. It only becomes not important when most if not all your work comes from non online sources.

 

[doctor Bob]

I have one but your using it for the wrong reason.

You don't want to try and do business from facebook you want to use it to drive traffic to your website. Not just FB but twitter, delicious, stumble upon, folkd and so forth, there are loads.

You may have heard of SEO (search engine optimisation). A complicated and large subject, its a process in which to optimise your website to gain a better ranking on search engines for relative key phases. SEO also follows the trends so its no surprise that social networking and bookmarking is a large part of the seo process now. What this means is the more links you have on Facebook and other social networking sites the better. Also social bookmarking sites. The idea behind a facebook page is, one get more social coverage on your website and more links and two, to drive more traffic to your website. Now the idea behind Blogs is to keep users on your website. This improves whats called a bounce rate. The longer a user spends on your website the better your site will seem to google and search engines. If someone simply clicks to your website then clicks off, search engines will think the site isn't very good and rank you down.

So you have a blog on your website, a galley, videos or other media that will keep people on your website for a few minutes.These people don't have to be looking for your services, the fact there on your site and staying improves your bounce rate which means your site will be more likely to pop up on the first page in searches on search engines from people that are looking for your services.

So you use your FB page to create a buzz about a blog/galley/feature on your site and gain followers that will stay on your website. You keep updating your FB page to advertise new blog entries, new photos, new news etc.

Its not that easy though. You need to get "likes" and make sure any links are relative to your key phases.

The question isn't is it important but how important. If your the only one with a website that covers the areas you do then its not to important but still a good thing to make sure you stay at the top when a new site is launched and is a competitor. It only becomes not important when most if not all your work comes from non online sources.

Thanks, yes I'm fully aware of this, I have good rankings in all my keywords, I have an SEO guy who manages my website, yes the whole point of the blog is to drive traffic to the website as is the facebook page, I also do adwords as well.
I just feel it could be endless work, as you say twitter may be next.

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Ask your SEO guy for some Like buttons, social bookmarking Icons and the latest "like" trend google +1 Metrics (if you don't have them). These will help your site somewhat and help lighten the load. You don't need to write loads of blogs all the time. I don't know your site or target market but most trades sites only need about 2 blogs a month at most. It does seem thankless. Like a few feel on here when they post a WIP and get little comments but loads of views. If you check your analytics on your blogs when you see the bounce rate and visitors you may feel its not so thankless. As for endless, ride it out until SEO changes (and it will) then jump on to the next trends.