500 million users & chris brogan can’t be wrong

Well, last week Facebook raced past 500 million users. And this week Chris Brogan announced that families run on Facebook.

Every demographic, every interest group, every religious & political group, every income level is represented on Facebook.

If you’re not using Facebook to market your business, you’re missing out.

Your customers are on Facebook.

When I worked for one of the big box bookstores with a capital B (there’s at least 3…), part of the mission of the company was to be the “third place.” We wanted to be place you wanted to be when you weren’t home or at work. We were pretty good at that part… not so good at turning that affinity into sales though. But that’s a post for another day…

Point being, if you could provide an environment that offered comfort, style, entertainment, COFFEE, and a wee bit of education, you had great potential for being able to influence customers.

Well, forget “third place,” Facebook is the internet’s “second place.” As a society, we wake up, check our email, and then head to Facebook.

Using Facebook strategically & authentically, your business has the ability to insert itself into your customers’ second place. It’s an environment of comfort, style, entertainment, and education. All it’s missing is the coffee. Why, why can’t there be coffee?!

The good news is that building a brand on Facebook is easier than ever.

The bad news is that you’re probably doing a half-assed job. And you forgot the coffee.

Consider these questions when building content for your Facebook page:

• Am I speaking directly to my customer in a way that is meaningful to them?
• Am I engaging my customer rather than broadcasting a message?
• Am I sharing my entire brand message and not just promoting a product or service?
• Am I building a community that is empowered to spread my message organically?

Providing content that considers those questions means that you’re not selling to your customers, you’re influencing them. You’ll have opportunities to sell down the line. Draw them in, build a community, get customers talking to each other. Selling – while oh so important – comes a little later. But it will come.

Want more concrete ideas? Check out my friend Ken’s post 26 Things You Should Be Doing on Your Facebook Business Page. I also offered some Facebook tips in a previous post on this here blog.

The important thing about about building your brand on Facebook is to not become a part of the noise. If you engage your customers meaningfully, give them useful information, entertain them, and find out a way to give them coffee, you won’t be noise. You’ll be part of the experience: the experience that takes up the most important part of the internet day, save email.

Your customers are on Facebook. Bring the coffee.