When Facebook Is a Waste of Time for Small Businesses

There's one problem, however: Your business' page is a microscopic fish in an ocean teeming with more than 1.5 million local business fan pages. So-called "social media gurus" may wax rhapsodic about Facebook's spectacular ROI and how easy it is, but it takes work to stand out, even in a local crowd.

Setting up a fan page requires no cash outlay and a minimal amount of time. Maintaining that page -- which is a key component to the ROI equation -- is something else entirely. That doesn't mean it can't be done economically. The key is to spend time on the activities that resonate with your audience -- and forget about the ones that don't.

Here's an example of a page that's missing the mark:

Bills.com landed in the Wall Street Journal as an example of a B-to-B enterprise that was trying (and struggling) to market itself on Facebook. While it's more difficult to amass a following when the company's not consumer driven, it's not impossible. But Bills.com's strategy hasn't been doing them many favors.

For the most part, the staff posts daily to the Bills.com wall and with the exception of one, all of the updates are links to their own blog posts. Self-promotion is fine, but a page full (especially as each update appears with the two-tone Bills.com logo) is not click-friendly. That's time wasted in this case.

Before the article hit, Bills.com's fan base was a paltry 67. It has since more than doubled, but these plain-Jane posts persist.

René Lacerte, founder and chief executive of Bills.com, may say he wants to push the social media envelope, but he's squandered an opportunity to wow new followers with interesting content that doesn't necessarily have to be generated by him or his staff. Linking out to relevant news and info takes mere seconds and builds the page's reputation as a resource for the latest and greatest money tidbits.

Now, here are a couple of examples of owners who've mastered the juggling act and mixed it up on their pages:

Rebecca Pike, owner of Salon 864 and Boutique, has a two-pronged business: part hair salon and part clothing shop. Located in an industrial part of Greenville, SC, her storefront isn't attracting any walk-in traffic. To increase her client base, and to attract shoppers to the boutique, Pike started a Facebook fan page about a year ago.

She began by using her personal FB account as a launching pad, encouraging her friends to "like" Salon 864. A B-to-B enterprise could do the same by leveraging the principals' LinkedIn connections as well those from their own Facebook accounts.

Since then she's amassed nearly 300 followers, but more important, has converted many of those into regular customers. Pike told me she's been "found" through Facebook by customers who live 25 or more miles away. She says she posts faithfully 6 days a week. Writing a line or two about a new item and adding a photo usually takes her about 2 to 5 minutes. Bills.com could employ a similar strategy by mixing up blog posts with industry news, photos of the staff at work, as well as more personal updates that allow followers to get to know the people behind the company.
The Tuscon Tamale Company is a terrific example of a niche business maximizing its reach via Facebook. The secret ingredients to their fan page are a mix of photo and video updates, and posts designed to interact with the company's more than 1500 fans. A recent video (which runs just over a minute) features general manager Todd Martin and fills fans in on special seasonal goodies such as pumpkin tamales available for a limited time only.

The fan base has apparently clamored for tamale rolling classes, which Tuscon Tamale plans to offer in time for the holidays. This is a tactic that most any company can try: Post updates that encourage responses with your followers. For example, something like "Ask us anything you want to know about how we do x, y, and z," can give you insight into what customers want.

The caveat for this strategy is to make sure a staff member reads and responds to each comment. Simply posing the question without bothering to follow up sends a strong message that the company isn't really committed to listening to its customers. And it doesn't have to take lots of time. Using a varied mix of updates as well as making sure to answer all customer requests, the Tuscon Tamale Company is reaping big rewards that don't necessarily show up as a line in the balance sheet. Scan their wall and count the number of raves and recommendations. Priceless.

Flickr photo courtesy of Ray-Franco Bouly, CC 2.0