Last summer, I got HelloTxt; a tool that allows me to update my statuses  in different social channels on the same time via MSN. Cool, I thought, and added Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Then I changed my mind. I only wanted to use LinkedIn and Twitter for business purposes, via HelloTxt, and Facebook for private stuff. It’s embarrassing, but I have to admit it, I didn’t succeed in removing Facebook from HelloTxt, so all my business status posts were shown in all 3 channels. However, I made a very valuable discovery. People were more active and responsive to my status updates, even business related ones, on Facebook then on Twitter and LinkedIn.

With over 350 million active users and growing, especially in the age group 35-65, as well as 3.5 million people becoming fans of a Facebook page every day (the business equivalent to a profile), Facebook is a marketing force to reckon with. And not only for B2C products targeting young people.

Possibilities for your company to ba active on Facebook:
- Start a page; connect with your customers, start discussions, keep up the dialogue
- Use event postings to promote off-line activities
- Use discussions as on-line customer service or recruitment
- Get photos and films from fans, and keep their interest by letting tag themselves in the photos.
- Entertain with apps, especially sticky ones that make your customers want to come back.
- Advertise – Facebook gives you a unique possibility to be very narrow and specific in communicating with your target group.
- Use social ads, they are very powerful (X is now a fan of Cordovan. Would you like to become a fan to?)
- Create a marketplace and sell your products
- Be mobile

Here are 3 great blog post from Social Media Examiner with different aspects on corporate presence on Facebook:
- Five Facebook-Only Strategies For Business Success
- Facebook marketing: everything you need to know
- 5 ways to promote your Facebook fan page

Sometimes,not succeeding in doing something (like removing Facebook from HelloTxt) can be a very valuable lesson.

/ylva.

Related post: What are you doing right now?

Do you, just like me, have an account on Twitter and one on Facebook and one on LinkedIn, etc? All these communities have status fields (but then again, Twitter is a status field). It’s a full time job keeping them all updated. But fear not, there is a solution! I’ve tried several different solutions actually, but the one that works the best according to my humble opinion is HelloTxt.
You register on their site and in return you get a bot as a new MSN friend (mine is called Fabrizio… hot Italian bot and/or the founder of HelloTxt). HelloTxt was founded in Italy in 2007 with the aim of making life easier for people who belong to multiple social networks and I think it’s the best thing since… well, sliced bread.
With HelloTxt you can post your status once and have it appear automatically on all of your networks, allowing you to keep all of your friends up to date with ease. It also lets you read your friends’ updates from main microblogging and social networks all at once.
You can update your status on the website, or using email or even from your mobile phone or do as i do – use MSN. You can also embed photos and video right into your status updates.
What I’m doing right now? I’m loving HelloTxt!
/ylva.