How or why would you use Facebook as a marketing tool?

It is simple. Sales leads whether you are selling a product or a service usually come from your network of contacts and people you know. The bigger your network, or the more people know what you “sell” the more leads you get. This is true in the real world as much as in the online world. Facebook is simply a way to amplify and automate your reach. If you are a creative either selling your services or a product using Facebook as a tool to amplify your message or reach is a no-brainer.
You don’t have to set up a Facebook account for “your business”, you can use your own Facebook account for business and personal networking.

This is my experience using Facebook as a marketing tool:

1. I use it to let people know about events I am hosting. About 30 people came to the Evil Businessman seminar from my event posting on Facebook. (250 people attended)

2. I use it to let people know what positions we are hiring. I update my status to “We are looking for…” when we are trying to fill a position. Which is all the time.

3. I use it to show people links of recent work or things we find interesting.

4. I use it simply to “ping” in my network (Or the the other way around, other people “ping” me. Not the be confused with “poked’). Over the last 3 months we have received 3 project leads (and closed them) via Facebook. This quickly adds up in terms of revenue.

So my final thoughts are:

Use it.

During the seminar, I mentioned I would “talk to you later” about some of the questions you had. Using the magic of the Internet I would like to address many of these.

I would like to share my experience of starting The Groop as a collective and how I did it.
First let’s set the baseline: What is a “Collective:”

    “Collectives, also known as “co-operatives,” “cooperatives” or “co-ops” are groups of individuals who join together to undertake an activity for their mutual benefit. Co-ops may be for-profit or not-for-profit, unionized or not, and legally incorporated or not — what’s different about a co-op is that it’s owned and operated by its members.”  Source : Backspace.com

The benefits of working as a collective are many. You have more resources to share, such as, space, equipment and supplies. Another benefit is that you have different skills, and you can promote the work of the different members. Collectives have been around for ages. A great article on Backspace.com mentions that Push Pin Studios, Pentagram and other successful design studios first started out as collectives.

So how did The Groop do it? How do you create a successful business with this model?

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