I have to honest. I have been reading Kevin’s posts on social media and blogging, I am itching to write one on the topic myself since internet & blogging has done tremendous for my business. So here it is! (We will continue the regular programming on staging for next post 
I promise.)
I have been toying with Facebook a lot lately because I am intrigued of how this thing can work for my business (since I am spending a ridiculous amount of time on it) and how fun it actually can be even for work. Facebook has exploded on the business sphere lately largely because of its user-friendliness, much more professional look than myspace, and easy to network quickly with a string of people in a more relaxed atmosphere (they now even added a People You May Know section, which is frankly scary how they know I know these people).
At first I only used Facebook for contacting old college classmates & long lost friends, secretly comparing looking where they are working now how much weight they had gained, but lately I am finding a lot more business applications being developed and used, as well as an increased number of contacts in both staging and realtor fields. (Finally, no more of those invites of “Are You a Vampire?” but “Have my online business card.”)
I also read Guy Kawasaki’s 10 Things You Don’t Know About Facebook: “the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is those ages twenty-five and older. [per Facebook's own stats] Facebook is quickly becoming not just place for friends to meet friends, but for business users, baby-boomers…”
Which prompted me to establish a “store front” (in Facebook lingo: Page) for my staging business. I listed my mission statement, basic info, even added blog syndications and apps such as charity that I personally support.
It’s an interesting experiment so far. According to Facebook’s stats, (or “Insights” per Facebook lingo) I have received 88 hits so far in the last 2 days. Although it is unclear where these traffic are coming from…. While my page is not like a major consumer product’s page, such as Dr. Pepper or Guiness where they have legion of fans who have the kind of viral power that can multiply consumer bases quickly and sell more products through their Facebook pages, I am interested to see how small businesses or professionals can use this to help them increase exposure.
Moreover, more and more people every day are joining for the sole purposes of prospecting and expanding networks. Similarly to LinkedIn, you can seek introductions via Facebook by simply “poking” someone to view their profiles, nudging them to respond and even visually displayed how many friends you have in common.
Similarly to twitter, you can update your status quickly via your mobiles or on the internet to let your sphere of influence, as well as millions of other users to know what you are doing.
I also have to say, the SEO on the Facebook page is SCARY. I only made it couple days ago, it already popped up on my google alert. I am experimenting and I plugged in “Burlingame” just now, to test and see if it will pop up on future searches.
What do you think? Any success stories so far? What do you use Facebook for? Be part of my social experiment by becoming a fan of my page at http://tinyurl.com/3jryvf. Or simply add me as your facebook friend 
Tags: Blogging, Facebook, fan, guy kawasaki, linkedin, page, social media, social networking, twitter
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Kevin Boer, Broker Owner, 3 Oceans Real Estate, Inc. () // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Personally, I can’t see how being on Facebook would _not_ help your business. The exact way in which that would happen is not yet clear to me, but with Facebook’s penetration, features, viral nature, etc., it’s inevitable that it will become a good business platform.
2 Alex // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Can you tell me how you set that Facebook “page” or “storefront” up. I can’t for the life of me figure it out. Feel free to email me directly.
3 Alex // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Never mind. Just found it under “business”. I was in my personal page.
4 cindy*staged4more // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Kevin, TOTALLY! I love social media, and frankly with the increased usage of business apps and groups, it’s a lot easier to network with like-minded people in a much less formal and relaxed setting. I also love it groups so many different things together. I am having a little bit too much fun integrating all these medias, I think I am driving my non-business friends insane with my constant updates on FB.
Here is a great blog article on Facebook with lots of great comments from both sides: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/what-does-facebook-actually-do-for-me/
Alex, glad you found it! Usually on Facebook if you see one of your friends who have a particular app that you want to add, there is a button you click to add it on your own page.
Cheers,
Cindy
5 Nathan Blair // Apr 9, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I can’t believe I’ve been on Facebook so long and I never thought of creating a page like yours. It sounds like a great way to market a real estate business.
6 cindy*staged4more // Apr 9, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Hey Nathan
I think the Page thing is fairly new. They had the Group feature for awhile now, but it seems like for professionals and businesses, Page feature works better since in a way, it looks like a white/yellow page listing.
Cheers,
Cindy
7 iamutahrealestate-Marty // Apr 10, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Good information. I am new to this RE 2.0 stuff. I have set up a Facebook page, now I get to set up a store front. Thanks!
8 cindy*staged4more // Apr 11, 2008 at 9:21 am
Marty
Your welcome! Glad you are getting some usage out of facebook!
Cheers,
Cindy
9 Darrell // Apr 29, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Can someone please point me in the right direction on how to create a page like the one above? thanks.
10 cindy*staged4more // Apr 30, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Hey Darrell
When you are in your facebook, go to Apps, search for “Ads and Pages.” Then you should be good to go. The rest of it just follow FB’s instructions. Message me if you have problems! Feel free to add me as a friend and join the page as a fan.
Cheers,
Cindy
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