Social networking seems to be such a hot topic for small business owners these days that I’m afraid it may be getting a bit too much attention.  (Most of the trade shows this summer seem to be offering seminars on the topic, I’ve noticed.)  But at the risk of adding to the already crowded field of information on this topic, I wanted to share what I’ve found about recent changes at Facebook.

Our shop, Orange Tree Imports, has had a Facebook Fan page since November of 2008.  We have gradually built up our fan base to about 400 customers. But I noticed recently that we have 46 “friends” and 360 people who “like this.”  If you’re like me, you’re wondering what happened to our fans.

The answer to this particular question is simple: the 46 friends are members of my personal Facebook base who have also become “fans” of my store. Because Facebook has been set up in such a way that you had to have a personal page before you could set up a fan page for your business, this shows the overlap between these two universes. And those that were not friends became “likers,” apparently.

The new development that allows you to “like” a business instead of “becoming a fan” will apparently potentially increase the number of visitors to your site significantly, according to Facebook, because more people are likely to click “like”.  The new button allows people to "like" your content, company or blog post from anywhere on the web where your  "like " button is displayed.   The secret is to get them to see something that gets them to hit that thumbs-up button.

“When you click "Like" on a Page, you are making a connection to that Page. The Page will be displayed in your profile, and in turn, you will be displayed on the Page as a person who likes that Page. The Page will also be able to post content into your News Feed,” according to Facebook.

One option for getting more people to “like” you (aside from being really nice, giving out money, and other obvious ploys) is to buy advertising from Facebook.  They conveniently show you how one of your posts can be made into an ad, and in a move modeled on Google click-throughs, they’ve set a maximum amount that you will pay without specifying a minimum.  The amount is based, according to their materials, on your success rate.

“Create an ad to reach potential fans with your post,” suggests Facebook. “You only pay when people Like or click to your Page from the ad.” And as with Google, you can target the geographic area you want, and also the age (i.e. 18 and older) of the customers you’re trying to reach.  You can also specify that you’ll only pay for clicks from viewers who are not already connected to your store.

If you find all this a bit confusing, welcome to the club!  Please let me know if you have any insights you care to share about your successes with these new features on Facebook. I’d really “like” to hear from you!

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder