Facebook Setup and Use

Should your business be on Facebook? Absolutely.

First, let's start with the basics...Facebook is a social media platform. Social media platforms are the type of software or technology that enables users to participate in the creation or development of user-generated content and facilitate conversation. 

Creating a Facebook Page

Creating an effective Facebook page for a business or organization is not as simple as everyone thinks. True, anyone can create a Facebook page, but if you don't create the correct TYPE of page, then it will just be a waste of your time. It doesn't end there either...once a page has been created, many people fail to follow-through with maintenance and upkeep. This is the CRUCIAL part of a Facebook page being worth your while.

How to use Facebook

Facebook is a place for people to engage in communication and to share with one another. It is not a place for businesses/organizations to push a “hard sell” (ie. “Buy my products and services”, “Sale! Clearance! BUY BUY BUY!”). Those messages should be left for advertising. Facebook is a place for you to create and paticipate in conversations with consumers. Visit the Times Web Design Facebook page for a clearer picture of how to use it effectively and “like” us to see what we come up with next.

One specific question we would like to answer is:

“Can we keep people from publishing negative comments [on our Facebook page]?”
                -Nancy Miller, Morson Tourism/Morson Bass International

Yes and no. No, you cannot prevent people from posting negative comments, overall, but yes, you can prevent them from posting to your page. However, this hurts the effectiveness of your page, with regard to engaging user interaction (or lack-of, rather). Plus, if negative comments were being made directly on your Facebook page, that's probably not the only place they're popping up. Learning how to appropriately deal with negative comments (online) will be covered in a future newsletter.

For all those interested, we will be holding a Facebook seminar soon. We'll be going over:

• How to set up Facebook pages correctly
• How to use Facebook pages effectively
• Useful tips
  

Please let us know if you would be interested in attending, so we have a number to keep in mind. Also, if you have any specific questions, feel free to Contact Us.

Cory Westover
Graphic Designer