I ignored the facebook buzz for months, assuming it was a dumb kid thing, or another Myspace type site to stay away from. The first time I really looked at it was after Rob Wells brought it up last year at a chamber meeting, but that still didn’t convince me to pay it any attention. Shamefully, I have to admit that what finally made me sign into it was wanting a farm on Farmtown like my co-worker had.
Facebook gives you a mini web presence for yourself and your business and allows you to connect with friends, other people in the community or people with similar interests. Information you share is posted immediately on your friend’s and fan’s news feeds. You can post pictures of new arrivals, remind people of sale dates, and link to merchandise sites or to your web site to give people more information.
Once I found my way around the site, the potential as a local business tool became obvious. Facebook allows you to create a page for your business and share news about your business with fans immediately- and at no cost. It won’t replace other forms of advertising, but it can be used with it to reach people you might miss with an ad, or to remind people of sales you are running, or to create an immediate interest in a new item.
There are a good number of Wallace businesses that have a facebook page. BrandSource, One Peacock Place, Art of Hope, Fancy Farmer, Farrior’s, Peek-a-BooTique, Willa’s Florist & Gifts, Polka Dot Zebra, Butter Box, Riverside Antiques Barn, The Duplin Times, Johnson Realty and Dunn Realty all have pages where they post specials and news about new merchandise or listings. Farrior’s and several other stores have a fanbox which updates their facebook postings on their web site, so the most current sales information is always updated. To get all the listings from one source, Discover Downtown Wallace is also on facebook, and posts from any Wallace business are posted through it. The fanboxes for several businesses also have live feeds on the Discover Downtown Wallace blog for those viewers who haven’t made the leap to facebook.
No discussion of facebook can be had without the warnings though. There is a potential for computer viruses- so only add people you know as “friends”. Stay away from video links, no matter how enticing they look, as it is a favorite virus delivery method. Use the privacy settings to control who sees your information and to control the flood of junk postings when someone gets a high score in a game.
Look at what the other local businesses are doing with the site, and see if you think it can work for yours. You’ll be surprised at how many Wallace folks you’ll find on facebook to add as friends, and how many will become a fan of your business. Once you set up your site, don’t forget to use it! It takes less than ten minutes to post a new comment, so try to do that at least once a week.
If you take the leap, and join the facebook community, don’t forget to add me as a friend, and let me know your business has a page. I’m abandoning the farm at New Year’s, so keep me busy! Marlane Carcopo
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