Leading Question

»Despite efforts like “Quit Facebook Day” and people deleting their accounts in protest of Facebook’s use of private information, the social-media giant is posting huge growth worldwide, with 500 million users.

“It’s definitely hot,” says Alison Drake, owner of Fort Myers-based Alison Drake Marketing, Advertising & PR. “It’s definitely a place where people are gathering, sharing information and ideas. It would only make sense that if you’ve got that many people on one site, your [company] is going to get some eyeballs.”

The luster does not appear to have worn off. “I don’t think people are necessarily leaving it, because there’s not a lot of overhead to maintain it,” says Dan Miller, executive vice president/business for Naples-based INgage Networks, a provider of social media software solutions for businesses and government agencies.

He adds that if companies are pulling away from Facebook, it’s probably because they don’t have a strategy for using it. “There’s low risk in doing so because there’s low investment,” he says. “It’s more of an issue of, once they’re there, OK, now what?”

Just getting people to join as a “fan” is not a great strategy, he says. Instead, businesses should be using Facebook to drive pools of people to an environment they own, such as their website, where they can analyze who is there and moderate discussions.

Drake says her clients have been using Facebook more this year. She recommends that, to make the most of Facebook, businesses customize their page so that people connecting to their website can see the company has built a brand.

Companies that set up pages on Facebook to market themselves can increase word-of-mouth marketing, customer loyalty and sales among their customers, according to a Rice University study published in the March issue of the Harvard Business Review.