about the need for a Fan page for your business. Let me share with you another reason. Facebook Fan pages are the perfect storm.
Internet Travels
When we look at the recent history of the internet, we see we have traveled a long road in a short time. Less than five years ago it was mandatory for a small business to have a website, if for no other reason than to get credibility with your customers.
Because of the static nature of websites, they did not produce the results they promised. Most business owner never made changes to their sites. These sites were left behind by the search engines because they lacked any fresh information..
Websites gave way to blogs and their ability to constantly add fresh information. Blogs were also interactive and allowed people to participate and comment. The internet became a two-way street.
Blogs have their limitations. Most small business owners don’t like to write. It’s difficult to maintain weekly blog postings.
Blogs were followed quickly by other social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. These sites started as social sites and then became commercialized. Building relationships was easier than writing blog posts.
Twitter is called a micro blog because Tweets can be done in 140 characters or less. And those Tweets don’t have to be heavy duty content.
Facebook Fan Pages
Now we have Facebook Fan pages, the commercial side of Facebook. . It offers the best of the many internet worlds. It can look like a website; it can offer all the tools a website can offers: videos, photos, audio, shopping carts, etc.; it offers fresh materials like blogs and discussion groups with interaction between participants. It can be short and sweet like Twitter. The Status Updates are directly picked up by Google making a Fan page a very power SEO tool for higher rankings on the search pages.
Another unique aspect of a Fan Page is its Newsfeed. Most of the time, we do internet searches to find information. What if, instead of us looking for information, it would come directly to us? What if, we could control what information we want presented to us? Facebook’s Newsfeed does this exact function. Information comes to the participants instead of them chasing after it.
When participants find good information, they share it with their friends through the social networking of Facebook. Now we can tap into the viral nature of the internet to aid our small businesses.
The Perfect Storm
If you already recognize the limitations of a static website but don’t want to throughout everything a website can offer, a Fan page is the answer.
If you recognize the amount of work involved in keep a blog current, but don’t want to throw out the blog value for participation, fresh information and developing a reputation for your expertise, than a Fan page is your answer.
If you want to tap into the social nature of the internet but are tired of the noise you must endure, then a Fan Page is the answer.
Conclusion
At this point in time, Fan pages make the best of the internet developments and leaves behind much of the internet weaknesses. It’s the perfect storm.
In the next post, I will give you another reason why Fan pages will become essential to your marketing in the future.
To be continued, your comments are welcomed…
Al Hanzal
you have about 10 seconds to get people’s attention and communicate quickly who you are and how you can benefit them. They will want to know in a glance what they can expect from your Facebook Page. Here’s the third writing exercise to prepare for your Page. Write a one sentence answer to each of these four questions.
