Facebook - Use Freely Yet With Caution
As the social media machine storms ever onwards in an attempt to ensure everything we do in the real world is transcribed to the virtual, we are forever being pushed by friends, colleagues and business advisors that the future is online.
Facebook has now become a massive force in the online world due in part to its immense user base but also due to their pretty bold statements about where they intend to be in the coming years.
They have proclaimed that they are after Google and as everyone knows Google is king of the web, we now surely have even more incentive to join up with Facebook and bear our souls every morning when we turn on the PC.
There's no doubt that Facebook and its ilk have changed how we work, rest and play but you have to ask yourself, is it really that necessary to tell everyone exactly what you're doing every minute of the day? And in the business arena, could it actually be a hindrance and cause you to become less productive rather than more? Well I guess we need to start with the question "what's the point of Facebook in business anyway?" so let's examine why we would consider it.
On the face of it, Facebook is simply a place where you can post updates so all your friends can see them.
For instance, you might want to tell everyone what a great weekend you had, announce the birth of a nephew or upload some pictures of your stroll in the park.
However, there are various places where you can post commercial content and this takes the form of 'Pages'.
A 'Page' is a central point where a company, band or charity for instance can post information about what they get up to as a group.
Others can 'like' them which means they will receive updates from them when they are posted.
Some organisations use this functionality to tell their fans about what's happening in their business or give away some information and as a marketing ploy, this can be good.
There's a general rule with marketing that you need to get your name in front of a potential customer at least five times before they would be ready to buy from you.
Facebook is good for this because if a potential customer becomes a friend you can 'stroke' them multiple times easily enough.
But there's also a big downside.
We are human after all and some companies have found that when they become popular they have to be very careful what they say and who they say it to.
For example, I remember one company telling all their friends about a particularly bad client and although they were quite cryptic with how they described them, it didn't stop the actual client (who was a 'friend') realising they were being spoken about.
A few phone calls and emails is all it took for some pretty bad press to ensue.
This is the problem with these super-fast methods of communication.
Bad news can spread as easily and quickly as good but it tends to have much more clout.
There used to be a saying - "there's no such thing as bad publicity", but I doubt that's true anymore.
So how can you protect your brand and make sure you don't fall into the trap of bearing your soul and losing your customers? Firstly, remember who could potentially view your posts.
The answer here is 'pretty much anyone' because what you say is out there and free for everyone to pick up on and send everywhere else, once it's gone, it's gone.
Secondly, if you work in a big enough office, consider a policy on social media use.
Make sure your staff knows that what they say could reflect on the company as a whole and make it a general rule to keep private and work usage completely separate.
Facebook and sites like it should be seen as a massive opportunity to boost your brand and reach new people but it could so easily end up as your downfall.
Facebook has now become a massive force in the online world due in part to its immense user base but also due to their pretty bold statements about where they intend to be in the coming years.
They have proclaimed that they are after Google and as everyone knows Google is king of the web, we now surely have even more incentive to join up with Facebook and bear our souls every morning when we turn on the PC.
There's no doubt that Facebook and its ilk have changed how we work, rest and play but you have to ask yourself, is it really that necessary to tell everyone exactly what you're doing every minute of the day? And in the business arena, could it actually be a hindrance and cause you to become less productive rather than more? Well I guess we need to start with the question "what's the point of Facebook in business anyway?" so let's examine why we would consider it.
On the face of it, Facebook is simply a place where you can post updates so all your friends can see them.
For instance, you might want to tell everyone what a great weekend you had, announce the birth of a nephew or upload some pictures of your stroll in the park.
However, there are various places where you can post commercial content and this takes the form of 'Pages'.
A 'Page' is a central point where a company, band or charity for instance can post information about what they get up to as a group.
Others can 'like' them which means they will receive updates from them when they are posted.
Some organisations use this functionality to tell their fans about what's happening in their business or give away some information and as a marketing ploy, this can be good.
There's a general rule with marketing that you need to get your name in front of a potential customer at least five times before they would be ready to buy from you.
Facebook is good for this because if a potential customer becomes a friend you can 'stroke' them multiple times easily enough.
But there's also a big downside.
We are human after all and some companies have found that when they become popular they have to be very careful what they say and who they say it to.
For example, I remember one company telling all their friends about a particularly bad client and although they were quite cryptic with how they described them, it didn't stop the actual client (who was a 'friend') realising they were being spoken about.
A few phone calls and emails is all it took for some pretty bad press to ensue.
This is the problem with these super-fast methods of communication.
Bad news can spread as easily and quickly as good but it tends to have much more clout.
There used to be a saying - "there's no such thing as bad publicity", but I doubt that's true anymore.
So how can you protect your brand and make sure you don't fall into the trap of bearing your soul and losing your customers? Firstly, remember who could potentially view your posts.
The answer here is 'pretty much anyone' because what you say is out there and free for everyone to pick up on and send everywhere else, once it's gone, it's gone.
Secondly, if you work in a big enough office, consider a policy on social media use.
Make sure your staff knows that what they say could reflect on the company as a whole and make it a general rule to keep private and work usage completely separate.
Facebook and sites like it should be seen as a massive opportunity to boost your brand and reach new people but it could so easily end up as your downfall.
