Why Do Local Businesses use Facebook?

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Longover

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Why do local businesses use facebook?
NOTE: I'm talking about fan pages - not targeted paid advertising.

I understand that most businesses hear that you should get your business in Facebook... get a fan page... etc... It's a hot topic and has been for awhile. But is it pointless?

When I go on facebook, which isn't very often, I don't go to look for local businesses. I go on there, add friends, message people, and do stupid crap.

I can't imagine wanting to find a local business through facebook for anything: computer repair, auto repair, auto body, chiropractic, lawyer, etc...

I would just go do a google search if I wanted to find something.

Am I off my rocker? Or are local businesses just jumping on a bandwagon that is going nowhere?

The only way I can see facebook being beneficial to a business would be for something like the below:
-a bar listing events
-probably work for a strip club too
-some other types of businesses who's customers need updates on events and such

And before I finish this... Of course getting people in your city to "like" and follow you is the goal here. That opens the doors to communication and exposure for you business... which hopefully leads to more business (the point of it all). But common sense tells me that people don't go on Facebook to receive promotions, advertising, etc...
 
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Well there's a bakery around my area that has a Facebook. It's for the community, mostly. They do coupons and update about discounted items often. This is just one example of a page though. I'm sure people can utilize a Facebook fan page in many other ways and get a large following.
 
Depending a lot on the "niche" but I'd go with ego and hype, mostly. Kinda useless in general for a local business, as far as I saw... :rolleyes:
 
depends if they know what they are doing. if you can interact with the community and spread the word about your business, then its worth the effort. people see their friends following you and it raises awareness.
 
i have a theory that if you can create a great enough fan page, you can obtain new business throughh social media community that they won't have to go from your fan page to your website for them to do what you really want (get a coupon/spread the word/come in to the store) it can be less steps for the potential customer that you gain through SMO and therefore added business
 
SeeGoldTees said:
Well there's a bakery around my area that has a Facebook. It's for the community, mostly. They do coupons and update about discounted items often. This is just one example of a page though. I'm sure people can utilize a Facebook fan page in many other ways and get a large following.
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I've seen some of the bigger companies doing things like baby diaper coupons and things. I guess I was really wondering what there was beyond coupons, discounts, and incentives for following.

sirgold said:
Depending a lot on the "niche" but I'd go with ego and hype, mostly. Kinda useless in general for a local business, as far as I saw... :rolleyes:
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This is what I've noticed with a lot of businesses. They see their competitor on facebook and then they've got to be there.

Taktical said:
depends if they know what they are doing. if you can interact with the community and spread the word about your business, then its worth the effort. people see their friends following you and it raises awareness.
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That makes sense. And I think that facebook doesn't really makes sense unless the business has a solid marketing plan. Just putting up a fan page doesn't seem like a good investment unless they have fully thought out what they are going to do to get a following... i.e.: incentives, event notifications, etc...
 
well yea. a lot of people make the mistake of doing the "me me me" marketing. they just keep posting "don't forget to buy something from us this week" postings which accomplish nothing.
 
maybe you and i dont go on facebook to search for local businesses but i am sure that many people do. the world is a big place. if i owned a local business like a pizza shop i would definitely have a fan page, it can only do good and no bad, its free! you can also keep your re-peat customers updated and let them know about sales and specials as well. it seems like a pretty great idea to me, although i would never ever own a local business, after all, we are on an ONLINE marketing forum, not an OFFLINE marketing forum!
 
I think I could just be too narrow minded...

Businesses like flower shops, restaurants, etc.. make a lot of sense to me because the facebook following could be built entirely around offering incentives to keep people following.

But what about businesses like auto body shops, flooring companies, plumbers, lawyers, etc...?
 
Organize an event, can be whatever your business is. E.g. cooking pots, make multiple stands. Offer free (better discounted) beer, sausages or both. Place both hot female and male promoters (college kids for $5/hour) evenly accross the stands. Make people have to wait to get the goodness (the sausages and beer lol). Get more college kids to make photos. Anounce some raffle where you give prizes to people who tag themselves on the photos which you'll be uploading to your FB page.

=> massive exposure for little money.
 
I manage a local business and I established our FB page. I add daily specials. I have discounts for FB members. I do contests. I just gave away 2 sets of tickets to Dave Matthews Concert the other day, I give shirts away, and much more this summer... I don't keep it boring, I make it a little more interesting to people who like it...
 
EmpireQuality said:
maybe you and i dont go on facebook to search for local businesses but i am sure that many people do. the world is a big place. if i owned a local business like a pizza shop i would definitely have a fan page, it can only do good and no bad, its free! you can also keep your re-peat customers updated and let them know about sales and specials as well. it seems like a pretty great idea to me, although i would never ever own a local business, after all, we are on an ONLINE marketing forum, not an OFFLINE marketing forum!
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Thanks for that perspective.

I understand the whole marketing goggles mindset that can make it difficult to see how a normal searcher uses a site. And initially when I started thinking about this, I took a look at how my wife used Facebook (a non-marketer). She uses it 20% of the day through her phone and mostly messages back and forth with friends. But I've never seen her do a local search for something she needs through facebook.

I started this conversation because I really wanted to nail down some reasons as to why businesses should be on facebook. I've made fan pages upon request for a few businesses and will continue to do so. But I would really like to see these guys get something out of facebook.

I guess the whole topic is very closely related to the way that a lot of local businesses think about websites. Many of them hear that they should have one, but they don't understand why or the power behind online marketing.
 
Monrox said:
Organize an event, can be whatever your business is. E.g. cooking pots, make multiple stands. Offer free (better discounted) beer, sausages or both. Place both hot female and male promoters (college kids for $5/hour) evenly accross the stands. Make people have to wait to get the goodness (the sausages and beer lol). Get more college kids to make photos. Anounce some raffle where you give prizes to people who tag themselves on the photos which you'll be uploading to your FB page.

=> massive exposure for little money.
Click to expand...
That's a good idea. Sounds a lot like what the car lots do around here. They just get a crap ton of hot dogs and some balloons and a radio ad. I'm sure they get a lot of people walking up for a free hot dog. And the law of reciprocity has to kick in with some of those people. If not that day, then maybe next time they are looking for a car.

biginch said:
I manage a local business and I established our FB page. I add daily specials. I have discounts for FB members. I do contests. I just gave away 2 sets of tickets to Dave Matthews Concert the other day, I give shirts away, and much more this summer... I don't keep it boring, I make it a little more interesting to people who like it...
Click to expand...
Good ideas. I do feel narrow minded after reading these creative spins.
 
Longover said:
...
I started this conversation because I really wanted to nail down some reasons as to why businesses should be on facebook. I've made fan pages upon request for a few businesses and will continue to do so. But I would really like to see these guys get something out of facebook.
...
Click to expand...
They shouldn't be. And it will be FB's undoing (imao). People want to be left alone and simply exchange their own non commercial nonsense. But until that day comes we can try to make as much money as possible from the platform.
 
Pretty simply Facebook fan pages are about engaging and maximising LCVs. I've worked with clients who have increased their Fan LCV by up to 50% by engaging through social media.

-aReJay
 
cos facebook works ? I have my own fanpage and I desseminate my info and updates to them :)

---------------------------------------
http://NoFrillsFactoryOutlet.com
- Quality Men's Wear, Skincare & Accessories at Affordable Prices !
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Frills-Factory-Outlet/166922780017875
- http://calendarguys.blogspot.com
 
Facebook can be great (and cheap) advertising if local business owners know, what are they doing, for example: they can make funny video sketches about their office to gather a list of potential customers and then send them some cool offers, for example, to find a secret discount coupon hidden in the city.

However, without any imagination and unique approaches, I don't think that simple facebook page can attract a lot of new customers :rolleyes:
 
Monrox said:
They shouldn't be. And it will be FB's undoing (imao). People want to be left alone and simply exchange their own non commercial nonsense. But until that day comes we can try to make as much money as possible from the platform.
Click to expand...

I really don't know what you're talking about here. The majority of people on facebook are fans of at least one business, if not several. I manage FB pages of several companies (some local, some national brands) and the customers are thrilled to interact with them. This is the most personal level of marketing that a company can have, speaking directly from the executive management to their customers.
 
If someone likes a business page, the business can make status updates and the customers will see them i.e promotional offers.

Its great!
 
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