FaceBook for your buisiness

As a web 2.0 consultant the first question business owners often ask me is “Why use FaceBook, Twitter and other social media for my business. We have a web site and FaceBook is for kids and isn’t Twitter like a web based SMS system anyway ?”.

For this article i will concentrate on FaceBook.com and then other social media in the next articles.

Any business or professional should at least be aware of the technology trends as your potential and current customers are more than likely using such technology in their personal lives. Internet usage in New Zealand alone is 87% of the population.

There are over 175 million FaceBook users who are generally in the 35 year plus old bracket who have higher education, disposable income and are likely to be people who are comfortable sourcing services and products online as well as meeting new people in FaceBook.

This creates an ever increasing pool of potential clients that if you do not make a presence on FaceBook then your competitors will.

FaceBook allows business to create pages that have a Google search priority hence getting your business online and into the Google search quickly and with a minor effort on your part.

People who use social media such as FaceBook are more open to being introduced to new people online. This is your chance to meet and network with new colleagues, create new business partnerships and introduce new customers to your business. It also provides you an opportunity to put a human component to your business thus removing the cold concrete walls that traditional business conjure up when we think of them.

By constantly updating your profile with your business Twitter and blogs with new information, tips and tricks you will show that you are an expert in your area and a thought leader. Give some free advise and your customer loyality will naturally increase.

Allowing open discussion from your group or on your fan page allows you to listen directly to your customers and improve your services and products. It also shows new and potential customers that you are an innovative and personal company that values your customers and are prepared to listen and make your customer a priority.

By having a business page on FaceBook you can create a targeted advertisement campaign in FaceBook with paid adverts, but more importantly you will receive a lot of free publicity within your networks and within their networks if you have the right social media strategy.

.TEL domain name great for businesses of any size

A new domain name .TEL (Acronym for telephone) was launched around the world. Its popularity is yet to be known. But there are a great many benefits for organisations to utilise a new .tel domain even if your organisation has no web site or any immediate plans for a web site.

.TEL is like an online address book for your organisation. You do not need to have a web designer or a web host, you only fill in the form of your organisations contact details. Look at our company .TEL site http://www.netmania.tel .

You can then assign each staff member with their own pages within your organisations .TEL address.

.TEL is read by all search engines, with minimal set up and ongoing costs it is a genuine alternative to a web site as customers will find your contacts details via the Internet search engines.

.TEL is a good example of the limited options made available in the New Zealand by Internet companies based on their expected Return on Investment and not what is in their customers best interest. To date there is only one Internet company in New Zealand offering .TEL domain names.