Facebook is a Fad

The other day, I was browsing some news sites, I visit on a regular basis, and came across a story about how local companies are using social media to connect with their customers and grow their business.

I wish I would have bookmarked the page, not so much for the article, but for the comments that followed.

I have to say, I was honestly quite surprised at the number of comments from people who were totally dismissing social media saying things like, “Oh, there’s nothing like belly to belly marketing…” or

“I don’t believe in this…Facebook is fad.”

Facebook a fad? Really? Hmmm….

Facebook has over 600,000,000 profiles, but that’s besides the point.

This is for the Skeptics

This is a true story for our company and a great example of how it works when you network and build real relationships. This is for the skeptics, for those who say “How do I use Facebook to market my business.”

Hint, you don’t use Facebook to market your business, you use Facebook to build relationships.

Time Line of Events

18 months ago, I was searching for Army websites run by Army spouses for a project.

I found Army Wife Magazine and contacted it’s publisher, Monica Tucker.

Monica is in Texas, I am in Wisconsin.

Monica and I connected on Facebook and become great friends.

Monica is friends with Susan Day, who lives in Chicago.

Monica recommends Inspired WebWorks to Susan to help with her web presence.

Susan and I connect on Facebook and begin a great relationship.

Susan asks Inspired WebWorks to prepare a proposal for business.

I drove to Chicago to meet with Susan and the relationship bonds further.

Susan knows Denise, who just happens to be leaving her corporate job and is starting her own company.

Susan recommends Inspired WebWorks to Denise to help with her web presence.

Denise requests to connect with me on LinkedIn and asks us to prepare a proposal.

We prepared the proposal for Denise and will be speaking with her this week.

Of course this didn’t happen overnight. Great relationships never do and neither does solid, authentic, business.

There will always be those who will see Facebook as another way to blast their ads and in doing so, will annoy the heck out of a lot of people.

I’ve personally un-friended (is there such a word?) from a few people that I’ve known online for a long time because surprisingly, they just don’t ‘get’ social networking.

Social Media Mistake

Do NOT send people a Facebook message with an ad for your business! Once we’ll let you slip by… twice we’ll send you a polite ‘by the way..’ .. third time and you’ve become annoying.

So, for those who still question whether or not Facebook is good for business, our example is living proof that it is when you’re genuine and use it the right way.