The days have long since past when MySpace was for teenagers and FaceBook was for college students. These days, FaceBook has the market in a stranglehold and is estimated to have more than 1 billion users come 2013. You may be thinking, “So what? What’s this got to do with my business?” Fact of the matter is – it has everything to do with your business. FaceBook isn’t just something you can ignore in this day and age. It’s no stretch to say that NOT having a fan page by now would be extremely imprudent of business owners. Now, you ask, “but what if there really isn’t much for my business to be posting statuses about?” Simply answered: this is rarely a sufficient argument for staying out of the social media world. Especially, since FaceBook has one of the most innovative and globalized advertising platforms the world has seen yet.

Advertising online may seem silly when you have a site that is seldom frequented and updated; however, FaceBook solves this by allowing you to create your own page tabs and set them as the landing page for your advertisements. Instead of sending potential customers to your website (although you can if you so desire), where they may just browse the home page and then click away to something else – setting up a discount ad on your fan page immediately engages them with exactly what they were hoping to see – a deal on your product(s). It only gets better from here. As soon as they click your ad, which you only pay for if they actually click on it, you can prompt them to ‘Like’ your fan page in order to be able to view the deal they are getting. Once a person becomes your fan they start seeing your posts in their newsfeed and additionally, you become a suggested friend for all of their peers. For example, if your advertisement brings you 10 new fans and each of those fans has 100 friends, your business is now reaching out to 1,000 new people.

Generally, anywhere from 1 to 5 percent of the people your page reaches end up ‘liking’ your page too. If you only paid $1 per click, and it later turns into 20 new ‘likes’,  then technically you’ve only paid $0.50 for those ‘likes’. That’s pretty cheap considering the business you could be hauling in when your new fans see the deals your giving out. The biggest part of FaceBook advertising is in the customer service though. If your page is personable, up to date, and manages to lure people to the actual bricks and mortar, the only task at that point is to show them that you’re just as friendly and helpful in person.

Now, you wonder, “what if the fans I’m rounding up aren’t actually interested in my business?” If it’s reaching the proper demographic you’re worried about, then have no fear – FaceBook takes cares of this too. You can advertise to anyone – from specific gender, to a certain city, to people who have friended your competitors – it’s all possible. FaceBook’s ad campaigns aren’t flawless, but with enough tweaking and maintenance, business owners are able to bring new life to their dead, or unfrequented fan page, or website. The moral of the story? Get your business on FaceBook if you haven’t already and once you have, make sure to utilize the advertising feature to expand your fan base and bring in the potential customers you’ve been unable to captivate through your typical means of marketing. TV spots, radio advertisements, print ads – all of these are great ways to reach out to local clientele – but if you really want to be a step above the rest, it’s necessary to be engaged with the world of social media.