The last few weeks have had me teaching members of the business community in workshops and internal meetings how to use social media and specifically social networking as a method of building business relationships.
What has emerged most frequently is a demand for education and help with creating Facebook pages for business — and then, a plan and assistance with what to do with the page once it exists.
This need has led me to develop Facebook Business Boot Camp, a workshop for businesses who are new to Facebook, who need to learn about the platform and marketing uses from the ground up. Facebook has very specific guidelines for how businesses can offer promotions, run contests and communicate with fans. It’s important to understand these, and be in compliance as well as taking advantage of the potential to reach millions with your message on a site that attracts users for hours every week.
The first workshop will be May 5, 9am to 11am in Charlottesville.
I have been postulating a theory. Stick with me while I draw you through the rivulet of thought; the theory is that readers are more easily inclined to engage in social media. That, leading to the hypothesis that social media managers for businesses will be more successful if they are readers. I’ll come back to that in a second.