Facebook Marketing

A couple of weeks ago I was having breakfast with a friend at a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. The food was delicious. I remember thinking to myself I can’t wait to tell my friends about this place. So after we finished eating I decided to ask the proprietor if he had a Facebook page.

His answer was “Yes, but it is more trouble that it’s worth”. Translation; He does have a Facebook page but he does not do anything to manage the content. How tragic! I was so shocked by this statement that I could not stop ranting to my friend on the drive home about how we continue to miss out on opportunities in business because we are not taking advantage of important technologies like social media.

How can one think that Facebook is a waste of time when practically every business in the world has a Facebook page? Does he know something that companies like Honda, Coke, Wal-Mart and other Fortune 500 companies don’t? Perhaps the number one thing businesses use Facebook for is marketing.

What company large or small feels that marketing is more trouble than it’s worth? During my visit we patronized several Black-owned businesses none of which had a Facebook page. I could not believe this. Here is brief list of the businesses we visited that I noticed were not utilizing this powerful tool:

• Churches
• Barber shops
• Beauty salons
• Restaurants
• Day cares

This is not only a great opportunity for these businesses to create new business, but it is also an opportunity to serve their current customers better. Moreover, it is an opportunity for the young men and women in our communities to master Facebook and other social media tools and market their services to the community in ways that provide income and strengthen the community at the same time.

At the very least, purchase a book on Facebook marketing, or take a class at your local community college and create your own opportunity instead of waiting for the economy to improve.