Facebook for Business – Is It Worthwhile For All Company Types?

When we look at the statistics it’s clear that today’s consumers are using social media for far more than chatting right? Of course…we know that more people are using it to tap into what’s on offer both locally and nationally in terms of products and services they’re looking for.

The growth in terms of the wider picture is enormous with industries such as housing and recruitment leading the way for those industries who were traditionally not so involved with social media. The same can be said for telecom companies…in recent research it was found that more than 80% of telecom companies plan to use social media to engage loyal customers by 2015.

These industries, housing, recruitment and telecoms have not been as involved in social media as consistently as retail industries have done but they’re quickly learning that partly due to the rise in mobile device usage and a growing community of Facebook users, that they need to be available and present within social media…and they need to do it quickly.

Facebook is still at the forefront of the social media explosion with an astounding number of small and large businesses on board taking advantage of the enormous audience it provides; consider the following stats

• 1.317 billion people are using Facebook on a monthly basis worldwide
• 72% of these people use the site at least once a month
• 24 million of these use Facebook daily and they’re all in the UK
• 35% of Facebook users will like a page simply to enter a competition
• 42% will like a page to get hold of a coupon or a discount
• 25% of consumers who complain via Facebook expect a response within 1 hour

Social media is where more and more people are turning to today and in many cases they’re bypassing search engines; whether they want a dog groomer, a solicitor, a new network provider or a funeral service. Consumers expect a presence on Facebook no matter what your industry and a lack of presence often triggers some suspicion. By browsing the pages and history of a businesses social media, consumers can get a good idea of their performance and their brand identity and this creates a sense of trust.

GoDaddy has recently released stats which say that 7 out of 10 consumers prefer a business with social media and that they feel more confident about the legitimacy of a company with a recently updated page on Facebook. Outdated or irrelevant information will result in more than 70% of people ignoring that presence though so it’s vital to keep your Facebook Business page updated.

Some businesses are lagging behind the rest in their use of Facebook but in all cases this is a mistake. Take the construction industry for example; this is the industry that is least present on social media. Why is that? Simply put, it’s because construction workers are among the lowest users of social media and because they traditionally rely on word of mouth recommendations; huge mistake. Those consumers who are using the services of construction companies are the very people who are using social media to find and book the services they need.

Another industry lagging behind is the wholesale industry; e-commerce is growing fast though and as more and more small businesses are opened, the wholesale industry needs to get with the picture and use targeted Facebook for business marketing to increase their sales.

Now is the time to fill the gaps and catch up; building up a presence on Facebook and other channels is vital to all industries no matter whether they’re B2B or B2C…. Facebook is not just the “new Yellow Pages”, it’s the new word of mouth too.