Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel told participants that small business is what keeps the city going.
What’s more cool than getting a free sharp-looking duffle bag and a tasty sandwich?
I’ll tell you: learning in-depth techniques of Facebook from successful business people.
More than 600 persons were wowed by real people with small business success stories and a surprise visit by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel July 10 at a Facebook social media conference in this city.
The all-day conference was one of five “Facebook Fit” meetings throughout the country that are serving the social media giant’s push for more small business involvement. There were workshops on various topics, as well as the showcasing of local business leaders who talked about their success with Facebook’s social media and advertising services.
Here are six takeaway points from the conference:
1. Facebook works, even if you’re not very “social”
Dan Levy, Facebook’s Director of Small Business, explained how he deliberately picked a plumbing company, Morgan Miller Plumbing, to show how Facebook could help business. Their biggest problem was building trust among customers who felt hesitant about letting a stranger into their homes. So the page tells stories about their plumbers’ lives to show that they are honest, good people.
2. You can get customers even before you launch your business
The Silver Fox, a wedding and convention hall built from an old fraternal center in Streator, IL, began posting pictures of the rehabbing of the building six months before opening. A growing fan base watched the development, with its pictures, and even began booking events before the hall opened.
Bill Phelan, owner of the Silver Fox, who is also a farmer, makes posts on his mobile device while driving his tractor.
3. One device in your pocket that makes posting easy
Levy set up a Facebook page for his mother, a retired school teacher, to promote her race for a county school board seat in California. After she was elected, she stopped posting. Suddenly, he noticed a flurry of posts. What happened? “I finally bought an iPhone,” she said.
He said that it’s just simpler to snap a picture from your smart phone and send it to your Facebook page than to do all the steps with a digital camera. One tip urged at the conference was to use photos with posts, since this is a great attention-getter.
4. An unexpected benefit: finding good people
Divas Snowgear, a Wisconsin-based women’s clothing manufacturer, found its most recent employee through its Facebook page. Such pages are great for customers and fans to get to know each other. And a person’s involvement with the product and personal life can be known long before the hire.
Chicago’s well-known Lou Malnati’s restaurant finds good employees by sending Facebook ads to recent grads of hospitality schools. If a business has a large enough fan base, such ads can be sent to those who are already fans.
No time to post? Spend one hour a week to do so, and schedule posts in advance.
5. Can’t find time to post? Here’s how
Schedule an hour or two once a week and schedule your posts with the timer feature. Thus, you can have posts appearing days in advance. Schedule your posts at times of the day when most of your fans are reading your page (available through Insights).
For a larger business, review your posts every morning. Set up the task as you would a meeting. Or, for more involvement, check posts and make responses to fans’ comments three times a day. You can thus respond quickly, which is especially good when someone makes a negative comment. For unreasonable comments, you can completely block these persons.
6. One trend that you will ignore at your peril
It’s mobile, Levy said. More and more people are using smart phones, tablets and notepads to communicate, shop and learn. Businesses need to take advantage of this trend and the features that Facebook rolls out. Grow with the unique ways people use these devices.
Paid advertising played an important part of these campaigns of course, since this is how Facebook makes its money.
