# Facebook for commercial use?



## tirediron (Aug 2, 2010)

Okay, it seems I'm the last person on the planet who doesn't actually use Facebook. I'm hearing more and more about businesses having a Facebook presence, but I'm afraid I know nothing and was hoping for some insight - looking at Facebook's website has left me more confused!!  

So:  -Is it worthwhile to maintain a business presence on Facebook?

-Does Facebook differentiate between commercial and non-commerical users and if so, in what ways?

-For those people who do maintain a business presence there, how worthwhile do you find it compared to a traditional website?

Any other tips, tricks, suggestions, and thoughts you might have would be appreciated!

Thanks!
~John


----------



## mwcfarms (Aug 2, 2010)

I know of a ton of amatuer photographers and proffesionals who use social media to market there business. Facebook, youtube, linkdin, twitter. Facebook has tonnes of traffic so basically its free advertising on a daily basis. Thats awesome in my mind.  All it takes is a couple people, and then a couple of their friends and a couple of theirs etc. Amazing exposure really. Some people might think that its tacky but if it gets word of mouth out there and its free, who cares. I dont think it differentiates at all between commercial or non. I think you can pay to have advertising on there but why pay when you can do it yourself for free. Most of the photographers that I know on facebook maintain both a fb page and a proffesional site. Just my thoughts on it.


----------



## eric-holmes (Aug 2, 2010)

Check out my page (see link). I am currently hosting an event called "Cutest Kid Contest". You know parents want to show off their kid and have the "cutest kid". I have gained 400 fans in 2 weeks and it keeps growing. You should check it out. Message me if you have any questions.


----------



## VJS (Aug 3, 2010)

Facebook is great for what you're asking. Get everyone you know to know you're now on Facebook. Start a group to showcase your photography. Invite everyone on your friends' list. Get them to invite everyone on theirs.

Works great, no lies. I'd say at least 85% of my sales are through Facebook. 100% of the people stuff I do is through Facebook.

You can create an account for _you_ and do the above. Or you could create and account with your Business Name and do the same w/out having to create a group.  Personally, I keep the group.  It allows me to have only people I _really_ know seeing my personal work ; my family, my sister's kids, test experiments and random, not for sale stuff.


----------



## smokinphoto (Aug 3, 2010)

The way that I look at it is:
1) It's free and
2) It doesn't hurt  so go ahead and put your business out there, Just don't completely depend on it. 

I know some guys who market 3-5 times throughout the day on facebook and get over 32% of their visitors from facebook so I guess it just all depends.


----------

