I have to be completely honest going into this, I am not a big fan of Facebook for personal use. I had a personal Facebook page for a while, my school kind of did this blitz to all alumni and encouraged us to set up a Facebook profile, within the school group. It was ok for a while, my wife would send me those flair things, which was nice. I actually had a friend from Japan, who I had lost touch with, find me again through Facebook, which was amazing. But over time Facebook began to be a royal pain. People you hadn’t seen in years, and some of them by choice, were showing up requesting to be friends. I even had old girlfriends find me, and then attempt to contact me, seriously? I’m sorry, old boyfriends and girlfriends contacting each other, chatting online, being friends, just seems pathetic to me. Get on with your lives, there is a lot more out here in the present world that is new and exciting. I am glad to be out of high school, I have no desire to go back to those times. Just as a note, I have also removed all the rearview mirrors from my cars too, I just don’t like to look behind me.
Anyway, so Facebook became a major distraction, a major pain, and basically sucked. Every Facebook email that came in, all the requests, it was a joke, so I shut it down. I have been very happy about it since. I now listen to others talk about their Facebook page, and what’s going on there, and I say to myself “losers.” (My wife and her sisters aren’t going to be happy about that comment, but it had to be said). Spending time on a personal Facebook profile, is just flushing good time down the crapper. I don’t want to be that personal online with many people, if anybody. I don’t have time for it, and it does me more harm than good.
All that being said, I think using Facebook to set up a business profile is a pretty great way to go. While I don’t like talking about myself personally online, talking about our business, our products, our services, and providing another opportunity for potential clients to find us makes perfect sense. Facebook gives companies another opportunity to get their brand out there, to interact with current and potential clients. Companies facing online reputation management challenges can use Facebook to potentially take one of the spots on the SERPS, because Facebook pages and profiles are now indexed. Anytime you can take a spot on the first page of the SERPS with any keywords about your business, it is worth the effort and leaves one less place where a naysayer can take a negative shot at your firm.
I would suggest keeping the business Facebook page very clean, stay away from joining all those ridiculous groups, don’t align your company with anything controversial, or questionable, don’t even join The Office group. We actually have a client that hates the show, so you never know. I would not add flair or any of that other clutter, just keep it simple and professional as possible. Too much noise, which is frequent on Facebook pages, can distract from the true purpose of conveying the company vision and message. Also, there are many Facebook addicts that will love the fact they can find you where they spend much of their time, and if they are impressed with what they see, this will drive new traffic to your actual site.
So in short, Facebook for personal use is a colossal waste of time in my personal, yet humble opinion. Facebook for business, an excellent way to go, if it is done professionally and the focus of the profile remains squarely on your business.
