Today let's look at what businesses should have a website or Facebook Page.
Do you need a website? A serious question! Firstly, put yourself into the mind of your customer… what would they want to find out about your business online? Is it contact details? Is it a product brochure? Is it more information about your business? Websites can be used for many different reasons in today's digital world.
Before you design your website, make sure you sit down and
consider what the purpose of this site is for your business and what function
you want your website to play in your marketing mix.
If you decide you need a website, make sure you read our article on website best practices, then on how to choose a web agency, and make sure you add an analytics and web traffic platform such as google analytics.
Do you want to get your brand onto Facebook? There are almost 12 million Facebook users in Australia… that’s roughly 50% of our population. If Facebook was a country, it would be the worlds third largest. Facebook in Australia has a slight female skew (54%), the largest segment is 23-34 year olds but the fastest growing segment to adopt Facebook are 45-55 year olds. Facebook has been very successful for many Australian brands, both big and small, but before you jump on board, I urge you to again consider, what is the purpose of Facebook for your business? There are squillions of Facebook pages which lay idle and aren’t used effectively by the companies that own them. Facebook is fantastic for leveraging word of mouth referrals and boosting brand awareness. It can also be used as a customer service platform to engage with customers and prospects in relation to your products and services.
Facebook is most effectively used when it is both a push and pull medium. By that I mean, that it should be used to push messages out, but also pull or attract messages from customers to comment, message, engage with the page. Facebook should be a customer engagement platform first and foremost, an area to share information, and then secondly to promote your business. Don’t fall into the trap of constantly asking your fans for business, or you will lose your fans very quickly.
Facebook is a very visual social media platform, which continues to evolve as more and more timeline composition designs are released, it does, however, require some custom work to make full use of Facebooks functionality. A note of caution – do be careful to read the rules and restrictions of using your Facebook brand page correctly, for example: you are allowed to use your Facebook page for competitions, so long as any data collected is collected by a third party application on your page and that competition entrants aren’t required to use any Facebook functionality for their submissions, or for any notifications of winners. See the latest terms and conditions here http://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php
Businesses who should use a Facebook Page: Any businesses who rely on word of mouth referral traffic, retailers, sole traders, online businesses, B2C businesses who run promotions or sales.
If you do decide your business needs a Facebook Page, make sure you set it up as a branded Facebook Page, and not a Personal Page. It is easy for some sole traders to use their personal pages, but to look professional and ensure you get the best functionality available to you, ensure you set your business up on a Company Page.
Stay tuned for Part 2 on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for Small Businesses.
Caitlin Davey
Director of Communications
Piggieback Pty Ltd.
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