This has been around for awhile, but I thought I would bring your attention to this in case you haven’t seen it. Facebook has created a resource for businesses. It focuses on the use of pages, ads, sponsored stories and platform. I have a feeling the impetus for creating this resource was the beta launch of Google +. Whatever the motive, it is a good resource for businesses to learn more about the different options available.
The Pages section gives you some basic steps for getting started with Pages. I like that it focuses more on the strategy and conversation, rather than all the bells and whistles. While the explanations on each step are pretty general, the PDF downloads contain some good actionable information. I love that they include the concept of the Conversation Calendar, aka the editorial calendar. Great information for those starting out and probably not a bad reminder for those of us trying to cut through the noise.
The Ads and Sponsored Stories provide good guidelines for how to get started with both of these paid solutions. It’s nice to see that they promote the fact that you determine your budget. This allows smaller companies to see they don’t have to be a huge national brand to advertises on Facebook. In all areas, they are pushing their Insights as measurement tools. If you haven’t looked at your Facebook Insights, you should. It provides you with some interesting information that can be used in your ongoing strategy.
They have broken their Platform section into apps, social plugins, mobile, and credits. The mobile capabilities and credits are going to become more important as Facebook evolves. Most businesses will need to get some outside help to best leverage these capabilities, but it gives you the opportunity to review your options and create some ideas before reaching out to developers.
So will this resource answer all your Facebook questions? Probably not, but it is worth a look if you haven’t looked at what Facebook has to offer lately. Have you seen it yet? What do you think?