Facebook marketing tips for small businesses

4/29/2011

Facebook has more than 500 million members worldwide and over 100 million in the United States alone, easily making the social network a popular marketing tool among small business owners. However, as American Express OPEN Forum recently noted, many entrepreneurs use the social network as a broadcast tool, which isn't leveraging the full capacity of the social network.

Broadcasting promotional messages enables a company to reach its entire user base on Facebook, but if content isn't interesting or relevant, they may choose to unsubscribe from the brand's presence. Instead, entrepreneurs need to be sure they are posting content that is engaging for their audience.

"With Facebook, marketers of any size can do effective, word-of-mouth marketing at scale for the very first time. But Facebook is all about authenticity, so if your company is not being authentic or engaging with customers in a way that feels genuine, the community will see right through it," Facebook spokeswoman Annie Ta told the source.

Facebook's cost-efficient self-serve advertising tool is especially popular with small business owners, who account for nearly two-thirds of the social network's advertising revenue, according to an Advertising Age report.