Companies need to take full advantage of Facebook as a tool to build their businesses and increase sales, says Robert Scoble, chief start-up officer at Rackspace, futurist and blogger.
Scoble was speaking at Software AG's Innovation World 2014 yesterday morning, and advocated that companies - and those working for them - use Facebook as a tool, and not view it as a private-use social media network.
Entities need to decide where they want to go with their business, and use social media to signal this, says Scoble. He adds they need to build a brand and create conversations to develop new business, and cannot afford to keep aspects private.
Facebook is becoming an "organism machine", says Scoble, and is learning what people want to see. As a result, it is "not showing everything to everybody". This "deep learning system" can be used by companies to boost their social media presence, he adds.
Scoble provided these tips for turning Facebook into a business tool:
1. Be available
If someone is a "privacy freak" they are looking at the wrong tool because Facebook is a network that finds people, which aids in making business connections. Comment on problems quickly, because you will be seen to provide good service and can gain business.
2. Build a system
Filter people into categories, such as family, friends and groups, so that information about relevant industries shows up in news feeds. The information gleaned about an industry adds to employees' knowledge and informs their work life, giving them something to discuss at meetings.
3. Always publish
Continuously adding interesting articles about a relevant industry to news feeds improves how knowledgeable the poster appears. Adding questions or conversation points to an article also grows reach, because those who comment on it will share the post with their audience.
4. Tell a story
Providing content that is consistent and "beautiful" will ensure posts do not get filtered out of news feeds. Filtering will change how Facebook works because it is moving towards providing information in real-time based on where people are as it is working on proximity-based feed.
5. Thoughtful friend-making
When accepting friend requests, look at selecting those who are potentially influential, and then look at their feeds to see if they will add value to your news feed. "People are judging you just this way."
6. Personalise, just a bit
Adding just a bit of personalisation, such as politically correct comments on sports, makes the poster look human and removes the perception that Facebook is decided by committee. Too much, however, is bad, so limit personal content to one or two out of every 20 posts.
* Nicola Mawson is in New Orleans courtesy of Software AG.
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