When you are learning how to promote your business with Facebook, there is a lot of ground to cover.

One of the things you will learn right off the bat is that the ways you will use Facebook for business go well beyond the ways you use it for personal reasons, though they are based on the same concepts.

In fact, it is very important to remember that if you want to be successful in this endeavor. After all, in implementing all of the tips we are about to give you, you need to remember that people do not usually log onto Facebook because they want somebody to try to sell them something.

How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Business:

 #1. Your Friends List

One of the ways you go about using Facebook to promote your business differs from how you use it for personal reasons in that most of your business use of this social media powerhouse will happen outside your personal friends list. However, it is also important to not forget about your friends list entirely.

After all, this can be your "warmest" market, especially when you are just starting out. You just want to make sure that you don’t end up getting a reputation for always trying to sell something. Remember the advice we gave you before about that.

Another piece of advice that we would like for you to keep in mind while you are learning how to use Facebook for business is that as you continue to make new business contacts (networking), your friend list is likely to grow. There is a lot of overlap between social networking and business networking.

We would caution you about accepting friend requests from customers that you do not know. A better place to interact with them is on your page, which we will talk about in a moment.

You want to keep the limited spaces on your friends list open for either people you actually know or people who can help you move your business forward.

#2. Your Facebook Page

We said we would talk more about the Facebook page itself, and now we will. This page is really the central component of how to use Facebook for business.

Even when you start using paid advertising methods, which we will also talk about, the majority of your efforts will be to direct people to your business' page.

You want as many "likes" on that page as possible. That will give you the best possible chance of harnessing the viral potential of your social media-based marketing efforts. Your page is the number-one place that Facebook users, whether you know them or not, will find out about your company and its products.

Your Facebook page also provides a great place for you and your customers (or potential customers) to interact with each other, which is really what figuring out how to use Facebook for business is all about.

At the end of the day, Facebook's (and other social media's) ability to let people talk to each other is what makes it such a powerful tool for marketing.

When your customers experience you interacting with them directly, they are far more likely to be loyal. Therefore, you should make every effort to interact with them as extensively as possible through your page.

Paid Advertising

We also promised to talk about paid advertising, and it is indeed an important component of how to use Facebook for business. While you want to exhaust the free options for doing business on Facebook first, taking advantage of the paid options will boost your profitability, as long as you take a smart approach to them.

Unless you are a very large corporation, we would recommend that you use the "pay-per-click" options instead of the "pay-per-impression" methods. That way, you will only be paying for your ads when someone actually clicks on them instead of every time they are displayed.

We also have another tip for you about your pay-per-click advertising on Facebook (www.facebook.com). You see, one of the most important concepts for you to become familiar with as early as possible when you are first learning about how to use Facebook for business is that the less money you spend doing it, the more profitable it will be for you (naturally).

To that end, we would suggest you place your initial per-click bids at one-half of Facebook's minimum recommendation when you set up your first pay-per-click campaigns. This will make perfect sense to you during the sign-up process for the program itself.

So, there you have it. You now know enough about how to use Facebook for business to harness the unprecedented success of this company and turn it into some success of your own. If you follow the advice we have provided you here, you will be well on your way to doing exactly that.

Top 5 social networking blunders made by small businesses and how to avoid them

Social networking can become a boon for your business, or it can backfire or simply not work towards any greater rewards. Just like any other strategy, be it sales, marketing, or customer service, there can be several aspects where a small business can go wrong with its social networking.

Here are some of the most common social networking mistakes that small businesses make, and we also list some ways of avoiding them.

#1. Taking Action Without a Plan!

Most small businesses simply create a Facebook page and a Twitter account and begin tweeting, posting discounts and promotions, and other such things.

What happens here is that the business may generate some interest among its customers, users, or fans, but there will soon be nothing new that the business is up to.It is all about staying in the thick of things and coming up with new stuff. Users are likely to lose interest when the initial frenzy dies down.

How to Avoid

- Assume you want to use Facebook for business purposes. Have someone plan out the social networking strategy properly. You do not need a million followers in a week.

Steady growth would be more appreciable and will actually help you notice robust growth in sales or traffic to your website. A sudden outburst is often met with a sudden loss of interest.

#2. Overdrive Promotion!

No matter which industry you are in, most small businesses go into overdrive with their promotional campaigns. Since there is no limit and no expense as to what you post online, there is a tendency to post the same thing over and over again.

The moment a small business does something like that, the prize or reward for the users loses its value. Shakespeare was not wrong when he said that unless you long for anything, you will not give it its due value.

How to Avoid

There is a need to keep your marketing ball rolling, but that can still be done in a strategic manner. You can schedule every update at a decent interval, which does not end up dominating the news feeds or Twitter feeds of your customers.

#3. Buying Easy Solutions!

There is this growing tendency among small businesses to buy views, likes, and user activity. Of course, it is the decision of the company's management if they want to spend some time rather than money to get their social networking efforts to gain any noticeable momentum.

However, if you spend money to get the likes and the views, would that in any way help an online business gain momentum? These users or purchased likes hardly get you the traffic that you desire, nor do they buy anything, which is your ultimate objective.

How to Avoid

It is better to plan the launch properly rather than buy likes and stuff. If you can manage to launch a fan page or a new website with enough information already out there among your customers or local groups and communities, then anticipation or pre-launch hype can help you get started with the momentum that you would want to have.

#4. Lack of Awareness

It is common for a small business to only discuss social networking among its employees, and people come up with taglines, content for posting, and the company actively promotes their deals, blog, or some product through social networking.

Now, whether a business is just starting out or has been in social networking for a while, there is always a great deal of knowledge and statistics out there that show what works and what does not. It does not cost a fortune to refer to these published studies and create awareness of the strategies that have been working.

How to Avoid

A small business must stay informed about all new social marketing trends and popular turnarounds. Every now and then, something captures the fancy of consumers, and any small business must try and cash in on such incidents rather than trying to come up with something unique that would fail to make an impact.

#5. Lack of Involvement

Social networking is based on social networks, which exist because of online users, or in other words, members. Unless the members are satiated and offered the minimum amount of attention, the whole social networking strategy can go kaput.

Many small businesses lack the resources to engage in conversations or respond to comments from fans, customers, or curious bystanders. This is a big mistake that scares away potentially interested people.

How to Avoid

Just spending a bit more time, keeping a dedicated staff, or browsing through every little like and comment can easily address this issue. One has to offer significance to social networking if the expectations are to be met.