Facebook is the New Grapevine

Katherine Bennett - April 29, 2009

You’ve heard the phrase “You snooze you lose” and the “Early bird gets the Worms.” These phrases are true not only in the real world but in the world of social media. Facebook as well as other social media platforms are becoming the dominate way for people to communicate and stay informed.

I was recently at a friend’s wedding reception (we’ll call her Susan to protect the innocent) when one of my former college friends asked if I was on Facebook. I told her I wasn’t really into it, but had thought about opening an account. She basically said all our friends from college were on it and staying connected. I nodded and didn’t really give it another thought. A few weeks later, I sent another college friend an e-mail and told her about the wedding that I had just attended. I thought she would write back surprised, but to my amazement she wrote back that she knew about Susan’s wedding because it was on her Facebook profile. Hmmm, no big deal, some of my friends are really into the internet. Then about a month or two later one my friends mailed me a picture of their new baby daughter. She’s almost a year old! I called my friend to tell them how cute their baby daughter was and guess what I heard. We’ve posted her pictures on Facebook. Do you have a Facebbok account? Okay, I can take a hint. 

Facebook is starting to become like a cell phone, only you don’t have to sign a two year contract or be concerned about going over your minutes. You have to imagine the person’s voice but that’s not hard. Think I’m joking. This past Sunday I was with some friends and one of them asked the other “How was your weekend, other than…….” To which my friend responded, “I guess we don’t need to talk since you can check everything on my Facebook profile. Do you get the feeling everyone’s on Facebook. Yeah, so do I.

So how can businesses use Facebook for a profit? Facebook is a great way to interact with your customers. Many companies have created Facebook pages that people can “fan.” Burger King capitalized on a Facebook weakness a few months ago. They offered a free whopper for every 10 friends that you dropped.  Facebook can be used to keep customers informed and offer them special discounts or incentives.

Not only can businesses keep customers informed, but it’s a great way to see how people feel about your company and what they are saying.  If you start to get negative posts about a certain product or service, you can quickly find a solution and post a note addressing the situation. This makes people feel good about your company. It seems that social media is here to stay, so get on board and start communicating with your fans (customers).