Social media can be a great marketing tool. In Australia alone, Facebook now has over 14 million active users every month. It has a massive market reach and provides a more than 51% purchase rate from people who are “fans” of yours on Facebook. As an example; Hettich has 36,163 likes!

Freddie Jansson is an analyst at Google and an authority on how technology is shaping new business models. He said: “A large part of a company’s potential customers are already on Facebook. No other advertising channel, at least where you can communicate, can compete with those numbers”. With Facebook you can reach millions of customers; target the consumers you choose; communicate to find out exactly what they want; make online sales and, more importantly, create a loyal following.

I recently looked up “coffee tables” and filtered “Melbourne” and got hundreds of companies including Jimmy Possum, Gus Fine Furniture Design, Chalk and Trees, Goode Custom Designs, Lumber Furniture and so many more that I gave up scrolling. It was interesting to see the communication between the company and its customers. Normally you don’t find out if someone is unhappy and telling everyone your product is no good. With Facebook they will often write about it and you can respond; and everyone else sees that you’re looking after the customer.

With a Facebook business strategy you can make ads and direct users to your website. You can also send users to a Facebook fan page where they can “like” you. Many businesses’ main reason for being on Facebook is only to get a fan base. It might be a furniture store or a machinery or product supplier. You are there to raise brand awareness. When I visited Hettich on Facebook, I was able to see Steve Bradley at AWISA on video and see some of the products on display: 762 people had viewed it, about 8% of all the people who actually went to the show. Your followers will spread the word about you to their friends and this must be good for your business. After all, friends trust friends.

Online sales is a straightforward way to advertise on Facebook. You produce traditional external-website ads and when someone clicks your page, they are directed to your web page where a purchase or sign-up can be made. It’s generally agreed that business marketing on Facebook benefits small, traditional retailers most and you also get the advantage of competing with larger corporations at a very small cost.