Lately I’ve gotten an unusually large number of e-mail questions from business owners on the subject of social networking. Many desire to be represented on Facebook and Twitter but don’t really know how to approach such an audience.
Using Facebook as an example, let’s take a look at how to approach this.
There are two other historical examples that can be useful here.
When movies evolved from silent pictures to talkies, this change presented a problem for everyone. Actors had to adapt if they could to speaking their lines. In silent movies, much of the action and meaning of scenes had to be insinuated with motion and scenery. When sound became possible it widened the possible scope of the movie but made it necessary for the actors and the director to narrow the focus of their efforts to concentrate on the context of the action and the actor’s voice, especially the volume and tone.
Likewise, a business that desires to be effective on Facebook needs to narrow its focus to an approach that suits the medium. Facebook tightly controls the appearance of pages and the content they may contain. While this seems a bit extreme, it can work to the benefit of any business that has a presence there.