Is Creating a Facebook Page Beneficial for Business Growth?

[mmmsarah3]

I currently do not have a facebook page. I was wondering if it is even worth it to get one. How often do you use it and has it increased business?

 

[NooraK]

I can't say that mine has increased my business (yet), but I also have had a very slow year and haven't been able to promote it to my customers. I don't expect a huge amount of business from it anyway.

I enjoy having the page as a way to send recipes and such out more frequently than through email. It doesn't cost me anything, except a bit of my time. I'm on FB almost everyday anyway.

 

[minirottie]

I don't get much from it, but it's free and it's exposure. I like to share little tidbits, and often just simple tips about food/cooking/etc...two people have replied about appreciating those tidbits, so you just never know. Another woman who needed a QSP found me via FB and had been interested to do fundraisers for 2 non profits she's director/on the board of. Hasn't panned out yet, but if it does, I'd certainly say the page is worth it

 

[ChefBeckyD]

It has increased my business! It's been a great way to keep in touch with past hosts, and current hosts, and through posting event pages, I've been able to communicate with guests who are rsvp'ing for shows too. I've loved it for that reason. I've booked shows with guests BEFORE the party they are attending - so I can have a personalized host packet ready and waiting for them when they get to the show!

PLUS - I will often post recruiting tidbits on my FB page. I've had one customer who signed with my team last October because of a post, and I have 2 past hosts who are signing this month because of a post from this week! One came to my Team meeting with me on Wednesday, and we are meeting this Saturday to sign, and one is coming to my Past Host Party on Tuesday and will sign then.

So I would say YES! It has definitely been worth it!

 

[babywings76]

I posted about the Grill Pan Set and a friend of mine messaged me to order it! That's a show right there. I like it because it keeps my name and picture in front of them. I only send my newsletter out monthly and the open rate isn't that great. But with FB, some people are on there a lot, so they get to hear from me more often. I love it for posting notes of recipes. At shows I tell people they can find the recipe on my biz page and to stay tuned for future ones.It's free, so I think it's worth the time to get more exposure.

 

[Brenda.the.chef]

I have to ask... Do you have a personal facebook page AND a TPC facebook page? I do, but they both link to my non TPC email, so it's really difficult to post information because if I go to the PC FB page and click "share" it will go to my personal FB page and not my TPC FB page. Then, I have to cut and paste and it's such a pain.I was wondering if I could just deleted my TPC FB page and then set up a new FB account, using my TPC email address and just have two FB accounts? I know FB really monitors that sort of thing and they don't want you having multiple accounts.I'm curious how everyone handles this?

 

[babywings76]

Yeah, I thought about doing that, too, but heard about FB's strict policy of only having 1 FB account. So I stuck w/ doing the business page. I wish that when we click "share" it would stay in our biz page identity. It is a pain to copy & paste.

 

[NooraK]

FB does prohibit you from having two profiles, and a profile is only to be used for personal purposes, pages are for businesses.

However, you can now "Use FB as a Page". Go to your Page, and there is a link on the right side. When you use FB as your Page, when you click "Share" it posts to your FB Page.

 

[babywings76]

FB does prohibit you from having two profiles, and a profile is only to be used for personal purposes, pages are for businesses.

However, you can now "Use FB as a Page". Go to your Page, and there is a link on the right side. When you use FB as your Page, when you click "Share" it posts to your FB Page.

Ah! I didn't know they added that! Off to check it out....

Thanks Noora!

 

[babywings76]

Oh wait...now I remember...the only trouble with that is that my friends and other pages I want to visit I can't access under my biz page identity. I can see them, but I can't see their walls and get into the articles they liked and I want to share. KWIM?

 

[NooraK]

Oh wait...now I remember...the only trouble with that is that my friends and other pages I want to visit I can't access under my biz page identity. I can see them, but I can't see their walls and get into the articles they liked and I want to share. KWIM?

Right. When you're in as a page, you can only see stuff that's posted to be shared with "Everyone". So, if your friends' walls aren't public you won't be able to see them. You will, however be able to see other PC friends' Pages (because those are public), the main PC page, and other Pages like Kraft or Campbell's Test Kitchen (or something like that). Plus, your Page will have its own News Feed with just the Pages your Page likes, limiting the stuff to go through to find what you want. You'll just have to "Like" those Pages as your Page first.

And once you're done, you can always switch back, it's not permanent. I only do it for a little while when updating my Page.

Most often, I share links to recipes. I've signed up for emails with Tablespoon, Betty Crocker, Recipetips.com and a few other pages. I use HootSuite - Social Media Dashboard for Teams using Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and once a week I schedule recipes to post on my page, usually twice a day, from the links shared in those newsletters. There's a way to set up an email address to which you can email pictures for mobile updloads to your Page. I've discovered that if you don't include a picture, the Subject of the email becomes a status update, so I use that for on-the-run updates. I can also schedule just status updates in HootSuite.

 

[chefliz]

I do not currently have a business FB page...do I need to get one? (Right now I only have a personal one.)

 

[ChefCKHall]

I LOVE FACEBOOK! AND...HECK YEAH...it is GREAT for BIZ!!

 

[NooraK]

I do not currently have a business FB page...do I need to get one? (Right now I only have a personal one.)

Go to any other Page, and look for a link on the left (you have to scroll down a bit) that says create a page for my business (or something to that effect).

 

[dottywotty]

just signed up for hootsuite...how in the world do i do the scheduling of recipes????

 

[raebates]

To answer the original question--yes and no.No, because it will not magically get you oodles and oodles of sales and recruits.Yes, because it's a great way to stay in front of your customers--especially the younger ones. I even have some hosts for whom that's the only way they communicate. They rarely answer their phone or emails, but they always receive and answer fb messages. One really important thing about using social media for business. Make sure you're not just posting commercials. A recent workshop I attended suggested an 80/20 rule. In other words, 80% of what you post on your fb page should be valuable content. In our case that generally means food tips and recipes. Only 20% should be offering things for sale. That way you're a valuable resource. You can find great material to use from PC, from other cooking websites, etc. You can also get good ideas from fellow consultants; just be sure you're not simply copying and pasting the things another consultant has worked hard to produce.

 

[NooraK]

just signed up for hootsuite...how in the world do i do the scheduling of recipes????

There's a little calendar icon under the area where you put in your update.