Promoting your business on Facebook: what’s appropriate? Should you post resources on your “personal” wall or your business’s fan page wall? Is talking about business from your Facebook profile too pushy?

Non-profit organizations have an easier job navigating social media norms than for-profit businesses. It’s acceptable, expected, and desired of non-profit organizations that they promote events and products.

The utility of the information you present is key to the way your message is perceived. We try to present useful information to our business’s Facebook fans rather than advertisements for services. We believe that a business should find an educational mission. Information that helps this educational mission is good material for a Facebook fan page.

A Facebook profile is more personal than a business fan page. Even if most of your Facebook friends are business contacts, it is not typical practice to advocate one’s own business on a Facebook profile, although this depends on your business. Artists are expected to promote shows; writers to promote blogs. Applicability of content to your audience’s day to day wants and needs is key to judging whether it is suitable material for posting.

Authenticity, engagement, and conscientious professionalism are desirable characteristics in professional use of Facebook profiles.

Social media is very new, though, and the norms for behavior are evolving. And we live in a world of individuals–individuality is our “brand.” So norms for business professionals are subjective.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 8:35 am and is filed under Promoting Your Website, Selling with your Website, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.