5 Facebook Features for Promoting Your Small Business

Leveraging the power of Facebook to promote your small business can increase the reach of your existing online marketing platforms at no cost to you. Facebook buttons that you customize and post on your web pages and blog posts allow your readers to link with your Facebook profile, which they can then share with all their followers and fans. Pretty soon, like rings on a pond, the reputation of your business will grow. Here's what I learned about using Facebook from watching a close friend promote his new bakery.

Facebook Page

Unlike private Facebook accounts, Pages are built to serve businesses and organizations. Create your business Facebook Page as a separate entity within your personal Facebook account; just choose a privacy setting for that Page that allows everyone to view your posts. Invite friends and update your current customers via your client email list. When a friend of mine used a Facebook Page to promote his new bakery, he shared posts that went well beyond the obvious, such as fun links to the largest cakes in the world. He also shared recipes and wisdom from the baker's mouth, sending out a tantalizing post every hour. This attracted new friends and follows at an accelerated rate.

Facebook "Visit My Page" Button

To connect your various online endeavors, create a Facebook "Visit My Page" button and post it on your webpages or blog posts. Any visitors who stumble upon your content through search engine filtering will have the chance to visit your Facebook page, become acquainted with your business, and decide to share it with their friends and fans, who may continue the trend.

Facebook Groups

Sometimes the universal exposure Facebook offers your business is less than ideal. When my friend held a pre-opening party for his new bakery, he wanted to avoid offending any customers from his other bakery locations, who were not invited. To that end, he created a Facebook Group, and though his general friends on Facebook were able to see who was included in the group, any posts intended for the Group alone were not visible outside it (with a private Group setting). You can also create Groups that are visible to all, which will still allow you to filter what you send by targeting the interests of your recipients.

Facebook "Like" Button

Yesterday's word-of-mouth advertising has taken a leap with Facebook's "Like" button. To advertise the bakery, we harnessed the power of the "Like" button to add followers to the bakery's Facebook page and website. The "Like" button also allows fans and friends to share content with their fans and friends. Use the Facebook Developer's Social Plug In Tool to create the HTML code for the "Like" button, then post it on your website or blog. Be sure to customize the "Like" button to each page by inputting individual right URL's.

Facebook "Send" Button

Unlike the "Like" button that shares every thumbs-up with every Facebook friend and fan, the "Send" button gives your followers the ability to reach out to a specific group only. This makes your Facebook marketing more effective. First generate the "Send" button HTML code, making sure you do so for each URL, then post the icon beside the "Like" button on your website pages and blog posts.

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