Why Do Local Businesses use Facebook?

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.
Really? :)
Do these customers also stop during road trips to take a family picture under some billboard of their favorite brand?

But I understand what you mean, the platform can be used to push stuff while it is still popular. And I also agree with milking interested companies, no objection here.
 

that was an awesome video, and it was very informative. facts dont lie. social media and mobile marketing are definitely not some type of fad, they really are the future of communication as well as the new mass consciousness of the planet. like it says in the video, people will soon stop searching for products on google, the products will soon find them through social media, its true. get in or get left behind.
 
Facebook your business if you wanna go viral. Damn I just thought of a great way to monetize fb. I'm gonna read their tos right now!!
 
May be , they want it to make it international or they may some exciting offers awaiting for members everytime that they would like to publish or simply this can be because
they like to create a page for them
 
that was an awesome video, and it was very informative. facts dont lie. social media and mobile marketing are definitely not some type of fad, they really are the future of communication as well as the new mass consciousness of the planet. like it says in the video, people will soon stop searching for products on google, the products will soon find them through social media, its true. get in or get left behind.

When they speak of it being a "fad" I highly doubt they are speaking of marketers. FB has 500mil-600mil users. I have to respectfully disagree with you. Social Media...ESPECIALLY FB and YouTube have caught on to people who are of all ages, from different parts of the world, etc.

I was watching the news the other night and they sad most teenagers spend AT LEAST 4 hours on the Internet and that's probably not including their smart phones.
 
It all depends on where you are from....here in Seattle, it works pretty well. I know a couple local business that thrive from using facebook fan pages.

I guess it really just comes down to the area you live and whether or not its worthwhile for you to do it.
 
I think we got a ways to go before facebook replaces google.
 
It works and this is why... Most people log in to facebook constantly. So if your a local business or any business in general and stay connected. Your exposing your brand to your fans, multiple times a day, everyday. If your a local bakery, when ever they feel like eating bread, where do you think their more likely to go?
 
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...


Your common sense is wrong --- people do go on Facebook to receive stuff - check out tiger direct...they rock...

It has massive SEO implications......If you are smart you capture info through form on fbml or iframe...... i work in the OEM automotive field what I am doing is straight B2B prospecting have increased exposure a lot.....

I can go on and on...I can say one page alone has paid me close to 25-30k in 2 yrs of passive FUN income :)
 
Your common sense is wrong --- people do go on Facebook to receive stuff - check out tiger direct...they rock...

It has massive SEO implications......If you are smart you capture info through form on fbml or iframe...... i work in the OEM automotive field what I am doing is straight B2B prospecting have increased exposure a lot.....

I can go on and on...I can say one page alone has paid me close to 25-30k in 2 yrs of passive FUN income :)

You made that money by selling off facebook or using it to capture info?
 
I use FB to bash some companies that piss me off, like my cell phone company.

OP, here is a well-written and interesting article that basically agrees with everything you said in your initial post. I can't post urls so...

hxxp://moneytalkinternetmarketing.c0m/2011/will-social-sites-dominate-internet-search-the-truth-about-facebook-advertising/
 
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Hey BlackhatBigfoot!
The article you linked just made me realize what I wasn't seeing clearly. FB lacks content!!

Many times when I'm watching a movie I find mysel wishing to buy the sunglasses, the watch, the shirt, the shoes, the drink... currently shown. And telling myself if the stuff gets advertised in the next commercial break, they will get clients instantly.

Adwords is doing just that, it is that simple!

Whereas with FB there is no context, no depth... it's like watching some reality show with (sometimes clowny) normal people for fun. But normal people are not cool, at least not in a way that others want to have the same stuff.

In FB people need to go to the advertiser, with G the ads come to the people...

Thank you.
 
In FB people need to go to the advertiser, with G the ads come to the people...

And what's wrong with this picture?

Yep it's only too true. FB lacks a true contextual basis from which to serve its "targeted ads", and the idea of fan pages seem to me a colossal waste of time for many businesses. Even if I could find it quickly why would seek out an advertiser on FB when I could google it in a few seconds.

On TV there's this lame cranberry juice commercial (you know the one I'm talking about) where at the end of the commercial the guy says, "now on Facebook"

I'm going like " for what!?" Oh yeah that"s all I ever really wanted, a facebook fan page for cranberries! Gimme a break!

FB is seriously over-rated. Maybe the FB pros know how to use it to advantage but most businesses don't have a clue what they're doing there
 
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I do not think it is overrated. It is overrated if the business owner do not know what they are doing like others said before.

Just think for a while. You have adwords where the ads are ultra-targeted, ok. Now you have facebook where even if ads could be targeted, you suppose that people do not go on facebook to search for local business. And yes you are right, no one log into FB when they want to order a pizza. But what if that local pizza place near you has a fanpage that you liked before just posted some coupon or something like that in the same day that you are thinking of ordering a pizza?

I know how this sounds but think large, on the business perspective. The business owner can have his message sent to his 300+ fans of that page (if the page is well worked) on a slow day for example. If on every wednesday that pizza place used to sell like 30 pizzas on a slow day, with a well done FB campaing the business owner can raise it to 100 for example.

And all this just happen because ppl usually spend a lot of time on facebook, you will be exposing your brand at all time. Also it is a direct channel of contact between owner-clients.

Of course this is just a simple example there are sooo many ways to use facebook offline marketing
 
For a fan page to go viral i think the business must first use paid FB ads to offer something outrageously popular, let's say a pizza for four bucks, where if you like the page you can get the coupon for it.

Any customers gotten this way will likely be repeat business since people like to eat everyday. When the offer ends you can still send your fans new(not so cheap) offers. I get this point.

However, businesses that sell things that don't digest in a six-hour period and whose product line has no depth can have real problems trying to go viral.
 
Yeah I agree, that lead us to a point where some business can have almost instantly return, but at the other side some other type of business will have to wait a little longer to see results. But that's not a bad thing in my opinion.

If a customer open his e-mail account and see something like advertising (of any type of business) he will have the option to open the message or not to see what's the business owner have for him, while on facebook where people usually spend a lot of time reading their friends updates and checking someone's life, the ads will be there in the context of the whole thing (friends updates).
 
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