Is a facebook fan page necessary to Brand and Market “EVERY” business?

Most of the businesses today are considering a Facebook fan page or a you tube channel or one of the many so called “social media elements” to promote their business. The question that strikes me most often is: Do they really know what they want or are they just following the herd?

The answers for the following can be thought of before entering the foray of social media

1. Why? Just “Because everyone else is” cannot be an answer

1. What is the objective

2. Who is your target audience?

3. What would be the judgment matrix?

4. How is it going to help your business (profits in the long run ;) )?

The energies and time of every resource in the organization is important; especially in the times of cut-throat competition. Hence, the question of spending these on SMM (social media marketing) becomes important.

2. How will it help your distribution channel:

Facebook is a great way to distribute information and can be used intelligently to create a whole lot of popularity but at the same time it requires data handling and planning.

3. Execution and implementation:

There needs to be a proper team for the job. You need to be sure what information you are going to share and at what frequency. Who will be handling the posts and the categories of posts that you target.

4. How will you manage online reputation?

How will control random posts? Will you write back and defend or simply delete or ignore? Each will have repercussions that you’ll want to be aware of before you even start. On the positive side you can even take it up as a platform to provide solutions to most of the problems. The best example would be of Jet Airways. The used their Facebook fan page to resolve customer queries and created good word of mouth.

5. What would be your contingency plan?