Volume 5, No. 7
February 1, 2010

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Should Your Business Be on Facebook? - Part One

This is the first of a two-part series to help you decide if your business or organization should have a Facebook page.

Roughly a third of the U.S. population, 103 million people, are registered Facebook users. Worldwide, Facebook has 350 million users. Up from 150 million a year ago. Facebook's COO, Sheryl Sandberg, recently told TechCrunch.com that 175 million users log onto Facebook every day. It's predicted that by this summer, half of all Internet users will visit Facebook each month.

Who's on Facebook

Facebook started as a social networking platform for college students. However, today, the largest percentage of Facebook users are 35-54 year olds, at 29%. And the fastest growing segment of Facebook users are people 55+. Although this age group currently makes up just 9.5% of Facebook users, their numbers have grown 922.7% in the last year. Meanwhile, 18-24 year olds currently make up 25.3% of Facebook users and 25-34 year olds comprise 24.8%.

Businesses Create Facebook Pages

Individuals establish themselves on Facebook by creating what are called "profiles." Businesses, nonprofits, and political candidates, instead, create "pages." Individuals on Facebook collect "friends." Businesses collect "fans."

The beauty of Facebook pages, from a technical standpoint, is they have gotten easier to create and maintain. You don't need a webmaster or technical expertise. Just the ability to read and follow simple directions. Facebook has instructions for how to create a page.

The Need to Maintain Your Facebook Page

Even though Facebook is technically easy to use, there's little point in having a page if you don't regularly update its content and provide your fans with a reason to return. Social media is about engagement and relationships. I'll have more on this subject and the benefit of having a Facebook page in next month's PR Tip of the Month.

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