View Full Version : Facebook? Worth it or not for small businesses?
Do you use Facebook for business/retail purposes?
In other words: do you buy products based on what you see on Facebook?
bluedragon436
10-20-2011, 01:02 AM
I have seen many things I didn't know about or hadn't seen on a company's website.. some of them that I did go and purchase.. some of them that are on my list of items to purchase.. But I would say for the ease of setting up a facebook site... it is worth the effort... not to mention you can get some amazing advertising by all the people's pages your information will show up on... I'll def. friend 4wheelingplus on facebook!!
bigjim350
10-20-2011, 01:02 AM
I personally don't. But what can it hurt, its free. Even if one person bought a product based on what they saw on facebook, it makes it worth it.
I'll def. friend 4wheelingplus on facebook!!
Thanks!
I personally don't. But what can it hurt, its free. Even if one person bought a product based on what they saw on facebook, it makes it worth it.
I thought that at first but when I direct people to the 4WheelingPlus facebook page there are so many distractions (farmville, thisandthatville, free ipads, etc.) PLUS competitor advertisements and such so I am second guessing this.
Add to that... it's hard to keep it updated. And people will post a question that I won't see for several days so they get upset when I don't reply in 2.5 seconds. :confused:
bluedragon436
10-20-2011, 01:11 AM
What?? You mean you aren't going to reply to my questions, comments and concerns in 2.5 seconds?? That's it.. I'm going to be-friend you now!! LOL... *uck em' if they can't have patience for a company not being tied to Facebook all the time.. can't work deals for the customers if you were..
What?? You mean you aren't going to reply to my questions, comments and concerns in 2.5 seconds?? That's it.. I'm going to be-friend you now!! LOL... *uck em' if they can't have patience for a company not being tied to Facebook all the time.. can't work deals for the customers if you were..
:smiley-laughing021::smiley-laughing021::smiley-laughing021::smiley-laughing021:
It used to be that people would have patience and wait a while for a reply so as to get a good deal... but nowadays there are so many people selling parts online PLUS people are assuming that Internet sales are instant, so they demand a super fast turn around on reply's to questions as well as delivery of products.
I kid you not... every Monday morning I will have several emails or voicemails from customers asking me for a tracking number on their order that they placed on Friday. :confused:
They assume that it was shipped over the weekend. :eek: :confused:
bigjim350
10-20-2011, 01:23 AM
Well there are quite a few vendors that use facebook, even some of the ones here. And if you look at there pages they dont update very often and it still works for them.
cantab27
10-20-2011, 01:24 AM
im not on fb.....to old and crumpy.........
Well there are quite a few vendors that use facebook, even some of the ones here. And if you look at there pages they dont update very often and it still works for them.
I see the other vendors but how do you (me as a vendor) gauge if it is or isn't working?
For example: Do I need to do a FB discount?
If I do... how do I tell XJalk.com members to like my facebook page and get a discount when you already get the best discount for being a XJTalk.com member?
bigjim350
10-20-2011, 01:28 AM
Well I would't say you "need" a facebook page. But if you do, just post it up that you do. And im sure my fellow xjtalk members, being the great people that they are, would "like" you page BECAUSE you already give them a great discount.
im not on fb.....to old and crumpy.........
Kinda how I am feeling.
I thought FB was a fad... but it looks like it might be here to stay. :confused:
Well I would't say you "need" a facebook page. But if you do, just post it up that you do. And im sure my fellow xjtalk members, being the great people that they are, would "like" you page BECAUSE you already give them a great discount.
I have had one for a while... but it's not as "business" related as some. :confused:
http://www.facebook.com/4WheelingPlus
cantab27
10-20-2011, 01:32 AM
you do see alot of,, check us out on fb ,,on a lot of business sites but
bigjim350
10-20-2011, 01:34 AM
I have had one for a while... but it's not as "business" related as some. :confused:
http://www.facebook.com/4WheelingPlus
Sweet, didn't know that. Now its "liked" and recommended to my local jeep club.
you do see alot of,, check us out on fb ,,on a lot of business sites but
I am scared of the "Check us out" because what if the page I am asking you to check out... is outdated? Makes me look bad IMO???
cantab27
10-20-2011, 01:36 AM
true dat,,,, can always can the page if it becomes to much....
Sweet, didn't know that. Now its "liked" and recommended to my local jeep club.
I don't push it too hard. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet.
I cannot tell where people are coming from so I am scared that I won't recognize someone on FB that I know on a forum.
true dat,,,, can always can the page if it becomes to much....
Yes, but doesn't that look bad in the short term? I get annoyed when I try to visit a page (Facebook or other) that was working last month, but is not today.
Makes me wonder what is going on???
Mudderoy
10-20-2011, 01:46 AM
About a month ago(?) Mark Zuckerberg(sp?) reported that Facebook had there biggest day with 500 million unique logins to Facebook in one day! 1/2 a billion people were on Facebook! Do I buy from a vendor on Facebook, haven't yet. I think this is because Facebook is still evolving. Many of the vendors I have purchased from got on Facebook AFTER I bought from them.
Amazon.com sells cheaper, or for the same price as most any place out there. They get the product shipped (if it's coming from Amazon) extremely quickly. I think this may be part of the reason for the demand for quick shipping information.
When I buy from NewEgg one of the things they have at checkout (I never use it) is a $2.99 fast shipping option. Basically I'm paying to get them to get it ready to ship quicker. NOT selecting this I don't expect it sooner, what I do expect as an online buyer is good and regular communications.
jccatt
10-20-2011, 01:50 AM
I wouldn't waste time on face book. But I am as old as cantab lol. Maybe an info page. If Im buying stuff I google not facebook.
About a month ago(?) Mark Zuckerberg(sp?) reported that Facebook had there biggest day with 500 million unique logins to Facebook in one day! 1/2 a billion people were on Facebook! Do I buy from a vendor on Facebook, haven't yet. I think this is because Facebook is still evolving. Many of the vendors I have purchased from got on Facebook AFTER I bought from them.
Amazon.com sells cheaper, or for the same price as most any place out there. They get the product shipped (if it's coming from Amazon) extremely quickly. I think this may be part of the reason for the demand for quick shipping information.
When I buy from NewEgg one of the things they have at checkout (I never use it) is a $2.99 fast shipping option. Basically I'm paying to get them to get it ready to ship quicker. NOT selecting this I don't expect it sooner, what I do expect as an online buyer is good and regular communications.
Awesome feedback.
I sell on Amazon.com and for the most part I can beat anyone's prices on Amazon.com
The regular communications expectation is interesting. I would have to automate everything since I could not possibly email every customer every detail about their order 24/7 like Amazon does.
I agree that companies like Amazon have trained people to expect Internet sales to deliveries to happen over night.
Has anyone had to contact Amazon.com for pre-sales support or after the sale tech support or do they punt you off to the manufacturer? :confused:
I wouldn't waste time on face book. But I am as old as cantab lol. Maybe an info page. If Im buying stuff I google not facebook.
That is pretty much how I see it... but I feel I am missing sales potential by not using FB. :confused:
Mudderoy
10-20-2011, 02:00 AM
That is pretty much how I see it... but I feel I am missing sales potential by not using FB. :confused:
Personally I wouldn't spend any money on Facebook, but I certainly would have a presents on Facebook, and I would definitely (and do) post and respond to people daily!
Facebook is basically a scrolling bill board. You need to have content posted on it every hour or so. This allows people to see what you are selling.
Mix in stuff you are selling with helpful information.
Just my opinion. As anything it's a risk.
I just posted a Poll on my FB page. It will be interesting to see the results in a few years when I have enough data to make sense of it. :D
Personally I wouldn't spend any money on Facebook, but I certainly would have a presents on Facebook, and I would definitely (and do) post and respond to people daily!
Facebook is basically a scrolling bill board. You need to have content posted on it every hour or so. This allows people to see what you are selling.
Mix in stuff you are selling with helpful information.
Just my opinion. As anything it's a risk.
I agree about the money.
My issue is having time to post every hour or so. I don't have a way to automate that so I would have to do it or hire someone to do it.
Hiring someone to do it is not out of the question... but the more I spend on keeping ontop of things such as Facebook... the more I have to charge for parts.
jccatt
10-20-2011, 02:15 AM
That is pretty much how I see it... but I feel I am missing sales potential by not using FB. :confused:
I doubt it. FB is for social crap. Most of the posts are rubbish, like im at the shops.
Mudderoy
10-20-2011, 02:16 AM
I agree about the money.
My issue is having time to post every hour or so. I don't have a way to automate that so I would have to do it or hire someone to do it.
Hiring someone to do it is not out of the question... but the more I spend on keeping ontop of things such as Facebook... the more I have to charge for parts.
That's the risk part. You don't do it and you could really miss out, as there is a curve to anything. If you think about who your target audience is and when they would be on that is really the times you need to post something.
There are services out there (I've heard of them anyway) that allow you to post things in advance then set a time to send them. I know you're busy enough but this might be one way to set up a series of items to be posted then select WHEN they should go out. Freeing you and your people time to sell. Frankly I wouldn't want to pay a person just to be on Facebook. I would have the person(s) that are answering the phones do that along with being available via online chat.
I HATE calling and talking on the phone. I really like getting my answers via online chat. It's typed and I get an e-mail of the conversation.
That's the risk part. You don't do it and you could really miss out, as there is a curve to anything. If you think about who your target audience is and when they would be on that is really the times you need to post something.
There are services out there (I've heard of them anyway) that allow you to post things in advance then set a time to send them. I know you're busy enough but this might be one way to set up a series of items to be posted then select WHEN they should go out. Freeing you and your people time to sell. Frankly I wouldn't want to pay a person just to be on Facebook. I would have the person(s) that are answering the phones do that along with being available via online chat.
I HATE calling and talking on the phone. I really like getting my answers via online chat. It's typed and I get an e-mail of the conversation.
WOW! I will look into the services.
I agree about chat and email... but most of my customers want to hear my awesome voice. :smiley-laughing021:
Mudderoy
10-20-2011, 02:21 AM
WOW! I will look into the services.
I agree about chat and email... but most of my customers want to hear my awesome voice. :smiley-laughing021:
I bet the online chat thing would allow you (your business) to handle more traffic than 1 person = 1 phone = 1 customer. I'm just saying...
I bet the online chat thing would allow you (your business) to handle more traffic than 1 person = 1 phone = 1 customer. I'm just saying...
I did the online chat thing for about 2 years and it wasn't worth it. I just turned it off about 3 weeks ago.
Since then I added a link to each product page that allows people to email a question about the product. So far it's about the same as the chat, only I don't have to monitor the computer 24/7 waiting for a chat request.
With the chat feature I would get a chat request and if I didn't get to it within a minute or so the customer would close the chat. Sometimes I would get an email later telling me how my company sucks because I didn't answer their chat request immediately. :confused:
Mudderoy
10-20-2011, 02:33 AM
I did the online chat thing for about 2 years and it wasn't worth it. I just turned it off about 3 weeks ago.
Since then I added a link to each product page that allows people to email a question about the product. So far it's about the same as the chat, only I don't have to monitor the computer 24/7 waiting for a chat request.
With the chat feature I would get a chat request and if I didn't get to it within a minute or so the customer would close the chat. Sometimes I would get an email later telling me how my company sucks because I didn't answer their chat request immediately. :confused:
Good information. Sounds like I'm the only one that likes chat. :smiley-laughing021:
Firemanray
10-20-2011, 08:56 AM
I use FB only for social crap. I have a website for my business and have spent a lot of time to make sure I hit the top line when searched. That has paid off better than FB would. Like you said earlier if you don't respond quickly on fb people either get pissed or get there little feelers hurt. Wouldn't hurt to have the exposure but I wouldn't make it a priority.
Awesome feedback everyone!
When you visit my FB page do you see ads for my competitors?
http://www.facebook.com/4WheelingPlus
Also: Are you required to login before you can see my FB page?
I have tried to view it from other computers and it keeps asking me to sign in. I am dying to know what my page looks like when not signed in as me. :D
:smiley-laughing021::smiley-laughing021::smiley-laughing021::smiley-laughing021::smiley-laughing021::smiley-laughing021::smiley-laughing021:
NO JOKE! I was just playing around on my personal FB page and look what popped up:
http://store.4WheelingPlus.com/images/facebook-sorry-we-got-confused.jpg
Welcome to the club!
Sorry about the image size. I just did a quick screen shot.
Firemanray
10-20-2011, 09:18 PM
Awesome feedback everyone!
When you visit my FB page do you see ads for my competitors?
http://www.facebook.com/4WheelingPlus
Also: Are you required to login before you can see my FB page?
I have tried to view it from other computers and it keeps asking me to sign in. I am dying to know what my page looks like when not signed in as me. :D
I didn't see any comp. ads when I viewed it. From the ads that pop up when I use fb I have a theory. It shows ads depending on what it finds in your history and your browsing history. For example when I use fb I see ads that relate to things I've searched for on the net and things that are related to my business. I don't talk business on my fb so the info they get comes from somewhere else. I hope that makes sense to you.
Refresh me on how to take a screen shot and I will post you one.
I didn't see any comp. ads when I viewed it. From the ads that pop up when I use fb I have a theory. It shows ads depending on what it finds in your history and your browsing history. For example when I use fb I see ads that relate to things I've searched for on the net and things that are related to my business. I don't talk business on my fb so the info they get comes from somewhere else. I hope that makes sense to you.
Refresh me on how to take a screen shot and I will post you one.
That does make sense about things you've looked at then ads showing up on Facebook. I am starting to see that with more than just Facebook. eBay is doing it as well somehow. :confused:
Screenshot: Upper right hand corner of your keyboard is a button that says PrtScn
Hitting that button puts a picture of your screen into your computers memory. You have to paste it into another program such as MSPAINT, then save it as an image such as a .jpg
Make sure to make it smaller as well or it will take forever to upload and then for us to view it.
Firemanray
10-20-2011, 10:35 PM
Here you go:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd11/firemanray21/4wheelingplus1.jpg
Here you go:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd11/firemanray21/4wheelingplus1.jpg
Thanks! That is very cool of you to do that for me.
Firemanray
10-20-2011, 10:42 PM
No problem, I know what it's like to wonder what your own web-site etc. looks like to other people. Glad to help.
Hi,
Just saw that thread....
I think FB is almost a must those days.
but it has to be up to date and maintained on daily basis.
people talk, FB becomes an important part of that talk. you want to be there.
I was on a trail in the desert few days ago, you should see the young kids (~14-18) and their mothers, trying to get access to the web using their smart phones in order to update their facebook...
Saar
Hi,
Just saw that thread....
I think FB is almost a must those days.
but it has to be up to date and maintained on daily basis.
people talk, FB becomes an important part of that talk. you want to be there.
I was on a trail in the desert few days ago, you should see the young kids (~14-18) and their mothers, trying to get access to the web using their smart phones in order to update their facebook...
Saar
UGH! I hear you since my wife and son use FB all day. Why?
I get so upset when I see post after post that says:
"I made coffee"
"I walked the dog"
"I took my kid to the doctor"
"I am still unemployed"
:boohoo::boohoo:
I wonder how much time the average family wastes on FB?
default83
10-21-2011, 07:35 AM
honestly dude, any of the companies that i am friends with on FB, i make it to where i dont see their posts, it gets really annoying when the same company posts crap all day.
if you posted deals maybe once a day or week it would work out i think, but seeing the same company post over and over again sucks.
its a free service that offers great advertising at the very least it will help get your name out there. post really good contact information on the page that way if you dont answer a post immediatly they can email or call. also get the FB app on your phone and you will get notifications immediatly that will help with the response problem.
dagr8tim
10-21-2011, 11:59 AM
Sometimes I see a picture of something or a reference to something on facebook and then go google it. I consider it no better advertising than word of mouth on a forum.
UGH! I hear you since my wife and son use FB all day. Why?
I get so upset when I see post after post that says:
"I made coffee"
"I walked the dog"
"I took my kid to the doctor"
"I am still unemployed"
:boohoo::boohoo:
I wonder how much time the average family wastes on FB?
I don't like those posts either, but it is a fact.
If you want to develop a business on FB, you have to do it wisely. don't "shoot everywhere", focus.
Saar
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