Can 'Social Media' help businesses?

I have found an article online which explains how people may use Facebooks 'Fan Pages' for business use. It goes over all of the different features and explains how to use each one to reach its full potential and get yourself out there and customers rolling in!

http://www.networksolutions.com/education/how-can-facebook-help-my-business/

Here are just a few points the article highlights:

A Facebook Fan Pages' audience consists of "Fans." These are the Facebook users who have elected to ‘Become A Fan' of your business in order to receive updates about your business. The updates show up on that Facebook user's "wall" (a wall is a Facebook user's profile page) as they are added to the Fan Page. Many popular business Fan pages, including Victoria's Secret®, Toyota®, and Starbucks®, have thousands or tens of thousands of users who display Fan page updates on their walls.

Determining exactly how you might want to use Facebook for your business is the first step to take. A plan should be in place before you even set up an account.

Should I Use Facebook for My Business?
There is no hard and fast answer as to whether a business should be on Facebook. Consider the following and then decide whether this tool is right for you:

1. Upkeep: Setting up a Facebook account "just to be on it" is not useful. Social media is a continuous process that requires regular attention. Think of it as starting a conversation with your customers and "friends" of your customers. You don't want to just "go quiet" mid conversation. You will not attract new visitors or keep your current Fans coming back if you don't keep your Facebook Fan Page updated on a regular basis.

2. Time: Once you decide to use Facebook as a marketing platform, another consideration is how much time you should spend making the most of this marketing tool. Though it can be a useful tool, generating fresh content and keeping the page updated can be time consuming.

3. Fresh Content: Keeping your page updated with fresh, original content will keep your current Fans coming back and can also attract new Fans: Your updates will be visible to their friends and family on your Fan's wall and may entice them to visit your site and also become a Fan.

4. Monitoring the Discussion: You will also need to be able to monitor your wall and discussion boards to address and feedback your Fans are posting to your Facebook Page. Unaddressed or unnoticed issues can create more of a headache and is something you will need monitor consistently and be able to respond quickly.

5. Fan = Customer? Businesses should also be aware that a Fan doesn't equal an active customer. Many people who become Fans of a page are simply saying, "I like this." Facebook Fans don't necessarily interact with the company more or increase their level of spend.

6. Strategy: For Facebook to make sense for your business, you should target a specific goal that's relatable to your business strategy. Such a goal might be, "I want to increase revenue by 15% in 25-34 year olds." Then you could decide whether Facebook is one of the right platforms to reach your business demographic or if you should be spending your marketing efforts elsewhere.

There is no doubt that Facebook has become a really popular way to network, for big businesses as well as small. I have noticed even large companies such as Dominos, for example, putting up competitions on their Facebook page to win free food which obviously attracts lots of attention and therefore gets more people looking on their page (and wanting pizza!). It's clearly working for a lot of people, hence everyone jumping on the bandwagon. With articles like this (and there are lots of them out there), it makes it even easier for those who aren't even very computer literate to set up a page and let their business grow in just a few steps. The way it comes across online makes you wonder why anybody wouldn't want to get their business online, it's free, easy to navigate and if used correctly is a really useful tool to have. You can contact people instantly, whether they are in the same room or on the other side of the world, there's no waiting on hold why you get an answer as you can wonder off and have a look at something else whilst you wait, what do you have to lose? At the moment, I can't see any downfalls as to why someone would want to stay away and so I want to try and find some research that highlights any potential problems.