Using Facebook to Grow Your Business

September 14, 2009 By 2 Comments

Should you use Facebook to grow your business or is it a waste of time?  Facebook uses technology,  that wasn’t available when I first started my business, to help you network with potential and existing customers in your local area as well as around the world.  Unlike My Space, the fastest growing population of users are in the 25 and older age group. I suggest that you invest some time to determine how and if Facebook can fit in with the rest of your marketing efforts.

Facebook is all about building personal relationships.  The Facebook term for those relationships is  ”friends” .  While you’ll suddenly discover “friends” from your past, you’ll also find “friends” who really want to be friends, not with you individually, but with your company.  You’ll find some big name companies there that you can follow and become friends with — but these won’t be personal relationships.

Step 1: Create Your Profile

It’s all about how you use it.  First, you need to create a profile for you, using your real name.  To build that profile, you can upload a photo, enter your education, business, and contact information, and even join your local networks.  The more you include in  your profile, the more easily you can connect with other people. If you’re concerned about privacy, Facebook offers highly customizable privacy settings that control who can see different elements of your profile. This way you can share photos of your kids with friends and family, but not with your boss or customers.

If you have a database of your current contacts, you can upload it to Facebook to see if any of them are already members.  If so, you can ask them for permission to add them to your list of friends.

Step 2: Create Your Company Page

Once you have a personal profile, you can create a page for your business.   This is where you can upload photos of your products, your retail location, and any other information about your company that you feel would be valuable to someone searching for your products and services.  You can even add an RSS feed from your blog or embed videos from YouTube.  These company pages are available for the search engines to index so you definitely want to include links to your website.  This contributes to the SEO of your site.  You can add what Facebook refers to as “fans” to your company page.

All of this may sound silly or a waste of valuable time, but just think of it as another way to network without having to participate in small talk or eating snacks that you really don’t need or want. 

You can promote your company page via email, your blog, and through the Facebook network to drive more traffic and build up your fan base.

Step 3: Join and Create Groups

Another way to network on Facebook is through the use of groups…but be careful that you select only those groups that you are really interested in or it can become overwhelming.  Groups, unlike pages, are only visible to Facebook members. Groups can be formed around any subject you like.  You can join an existing one or create a new one. 

A Word of Caution

We’ve all been to networking groups where people are there just to sell you something with no interest at all in what you need.  Be careful that you don’t act that way on Facebook.  If your only object in joining Facebook is to make a quick sale or to increase your business, you’ll be disappointed.

Like any other networking function, it’s all about building relationships.  You create your network and increase your reputation over time by giving instead of also wanting to take.  You need to share information, reach out to connect with others, and build rapport.

Is Facebook right for you and your business?  Only you can determine that.  Check it out.  You might be pleasantly surprised.

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Before You Sell or Recycle Your Computer

June 18, 2009 By 1 Comment

Greg Lamb wrote an interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor that should make all of us stop and think before selling or recycling a computer.  In a recent research project, the research team bought 300 used machines from several sources including ebay.  They found that about one-third of them still contained personal or business data on the hard drives.  This was even true of computers recycled by large corporations, hospitals, anhd government service providers. 

The biggest mistake that we can make is to assume that all the files are gone on the hard drive once they’re put in the trash bin and deleted.  The truth is that the “actual data remains intact on the hard drive. There are programs designed to find this data and easily recreate the original information.”

To really erase all the data from a hard drive, you have two choices

  • Totally destroy the hard rvie with a hammer
  • Using software

Two things that don’t work are formatting or partitioning the hard drive which just moves the data around even though Windows warns you that it will be erased.  “There are several free programs that will do a good job of erasing a hard drive,” the article continues. One is an open-source program at www.dban.org.  Two programs that can be purchased are DriveScrubber and Lavasoft’s FileShredder.

Identity thief is more prevalent than ever.  You can help prevent theft of your information by taking the necessary precautions before you sell or recycle that old computer.

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SBA launches new website for small business owners!

March 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Small Business Administration, has added a new website to help small businesses have questions answered and to find support for growing their business.  In addition, business owners and prospective business owners can also find quick links on starting a business, registering a new business, information on finance and taxes, and staying compliant with laws.

From the SBA:

WASHINGTON–SBA’s Business Gateway Program announced today the launch of a new Web initiative– http://Community.Business.gov –the first government-sponsored online community built specifically for small businesses.

The objective of the Business.gov Community supports the White House’s mission to create a transparent and connected democracy, and aims to provide small-business owners, bloggers and the government with a place to discuss and share information about starting and running a successful business.

An extension of Business.gov, the Business.gov Community combines discussion forums, blogs, an idea exchange and more, and offers advanced tools for navigating the labyrinth of government resources, policies, laws, and opportunities that impact the small business owner.

In addition to providing a “home” where users can share expertise and unique experiences, the site also provides a pioneering opportunity for small businesses to provide direct input into Business.gov and voice the ways government and the online community can better serve them.

“Over the past year, we have significantly expanded our efforts to engage with small business owners by giving them easy access to the information they need to run their business,” said Nancy Sternberg, program manager of Business Gateway. “The launch of the Business.gov Community represents a new milestone. Through the application of Web 2.0 technologies, we hope to unite small-business owners, industry experts and government, and take the program to a new level of collaborative knowledge-sharing and insight.”

Over the next few months, the Business.gov Community will expand to include additional features and resources that address specific user interests and provide access to the wider pool of government and Business.gov partner resources available to the small business owner.

About Business.gov

Business.gov is managed by the U.S. Small Business Administration in partnership with 21 other federal agencies. This partnership, known as Business Gateway, provides innovative information services to the small-business community that save time and money, engage citizens to participate, and enable collaboration across all key levels of government. Launched in 2004, Business.gov provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation’s businesses with their operations.

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Free Resources and Special Offers

March 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As I mentioned in my original post, I’ll be including some resources that you’ll find very useful while building and growing your business as a Creative Entrepreneur.  Here are some to take advantage of right away as the time is limited on them.

 Free Handwriting Font in  YOUR handwriting

So, you want a font in your own handwriting? This is not anything new but it is usually not free.  In today’s world, free is good.  Right?  For a limited time, you can get it done for free at YourFonts.com . Once they reach 250 thousand fonts, they will start charging. They are closing in on 130 thousand fonts now.

Rebate and More on any Dummies Book and Audio Set

March is Dummies Month apparently. When you buy any “For Dummies” book or audio set between March 1st and 31st, you will be entitled to a $5 rebate check and that’s not all, they will send you an additional $5 rebate for any “For Dummies” book that you purchase from June – August 2009. Details here.

Free Website Magazine

I receive Website Magazine and have found that it is a great mag for anyone who owns and runs a web site and more importantly looking to make it profitable. You can grab your copy here Website Magazine.  Magazine offers run out quickly and I don’t know when they will re-appear so you’ll want to get yours today before the offer closes.

That’s it for today, folks.  But check back often as I will be posting other great free offers periodically.

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