There seems to be a lot of curiosity out there over how and whether to use Facebook for business to business marketing efforts. The answer in my opinion is a resounding YES you should, and the way you should is with a Fanpage.
But, be careful how you go about doing it. A popular practice and one being recommended by many social media gurus and experts (in my opinion there are no experts – just varying degrees of experienced users of the tools) is to create a fanpage with something other than your business name or brand at its center. Here is why that is no longer a good idea.
I read an article on this topic, removal of fanpages, recently and suggest you read it when you’re finished here. Facebook can remove your page if you aren’t careful in how you name it and it centers around recently updated terms of service.
I’ve created a brief video highlighting what you need to pay attention to in creating and naming your facebook page, and why – pointing out the specific items in the new terms of service that could get you into trouble if you ignore this piece of advice.
I welcome your thoughts and comments on this topic. Social media tools change almost daily and I don’t pretend to have all the answers but if you follow a sound inbound marketing strategy and apply these tools you will find a lasting success that isn’t as vulnerable to the constant changes.
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Watch my video about naming your facebook fanpage:
Bottom line is, if you do not own a corporation or small business. bugger off.
Corporation- File articles of incorporation at the state level, register for EIN at the IRS website.
Small business- Register as sole proprietor or partnershop at local courthouse, and get business license from city hall.
Facebook should have been smart enough to stop abuse in the beginning by restricting pages to verified, credentialed people. Instead they let children abuse the system who can'tr ead, and now those pages are being turned into redundant “community pages” that have ZERO value and only confuse people more.
Bottom line is, if you do not own a corporation or small business. bugger off.
Corporation- File articles of incorporation at the state level, register for EIN at the IRS website.
Small business- Register as sole proprietor or partnershop at local courthouse, and get business license from city hall.
Facebook should have been smart enough to stop abuse in the beginning by restricting pages to verified, credentialed people. Instead they let children abuse the system who can'tr ead, and now those pages are being turned into redundant “community pages” that have ZERO value and only confuse people more.
I agree, Facebook really should have known better at the outset. I have seen a few kids in my sons’ school create some really horrid pages aimed at their dislike for a particular school teacher and have marveled at how long it seems to be taking for anyone to stop that – people are opening themselves up for lawsuits for slander, etc.
In the setting I referred to in my post I was attending a social media “class” and the instructor was actually recommending setting up these kinds of pages because they are so much easier to engage large audiences than a business page. He even showed the example of a person’s business page that appeared to be all one way communication, then compared it to one of these “community” pages that had largely community generated content. Of course everyone loved the idea and I could imagine all of them rushing to their computers to set up similar pages as soon as they left the class.
A lot of people are setting these things up in innocence, maybe even with good, pure motives – but oh my how it can lead to trouble.
Thanks for your comment.