It?s no secret that Facebook is growing by leaps and bounds.  Latest reports estimate that more than 500 million users are active on the social giant. So too are the uses the medium can have for small business. You cannot help but wonder just how Facebook is becoming the hub of the internet in just a couple of years. The truth is, Facebook provides its users with a ?high school hallway? type environment.  Now we can keep engaged in our intimate relationships more than ever while still seeing what is happening with those casual acquaintances. And when an event occurs it can travel the hallway as fast as Johnny just kissed Sally.  Social media is becoming the communication medium of choice for the majority of the world. Customers are now in charge of the information they receive, they respond to, and they pass down the hallway.

How do we embrace and live in this environment as a small business.  We need to create an intimate relationship with consumers.  Recent trends show that businesses see the value that Facebook can have on their business. The rush has been on to get your business page on Facebook.  No strategy just a rush.  The first question when starting your Facebook page is ?what you want to accomplish with the page??, customer feedback, communication of events and products, education, or sales.  The ability for one friend to pass relative business information to another is the modern version of word-of-mouth. Consider the hallway mentioned earlier, what do you want traveling down the hallway?

Getting creative with Facebook business pages is a great way to brand products, communicate, and develop feedback on products or see what product needs customers are looking to find. You must create a love affair between you and your customers. You romance those customers with clear, honest and open dialogue.  It cannot be contrived or mundane.  Asking silly questions to just receive comments make keep you on the news feed but are they relevant to your goals for using Facebook? A huge key is to stand out, offer unique services, develop promotions center on your Facebook presence, and maintain open communication.  How?  Custom pages can aid in accomplishing these tasks. Pages within Facebook can offer service and functionality from your website, create fun and memorable promotions, show product choices, educate with video . . . the list is only contained by you imagination.  Even with the glamour and sparkle of custom pages, you must relate the pages to your strategy, your goals and your company.

Facebook is a bonfire marketing channel that is changing business. We are seeing the marketing of small business change as it did with the invent of radio, TV, and the internet. Business is coming from a world of TV, radio commercials and mailboxes where the consumer really didn?t have a say on what they saw or heard. Now the consumer is in charge. As marketers it is our charge to develop creative and promotions that will have the customer wanting your information about products and services. It is time to romance the customer and find out their wants and needs.  We must form an intimate relationship with them. We must be entertaining, educational, interactive, and most of all honest. Our job now is to romance customers, not for the one night stand (quick sale), but for the long term, enduring relationship.