Creating a Business Page on Facebook

Image by AJC1 via Flickr

So, I get this genius idea to start using the web for promoting my employer. I remember Facebook. Open my page, and see a link on the page (somewhere, I forget) for “Advertising”. I go there. In the tabs on the advertising page, I see something called “Lexicon”. I like big words, so I click it. Looks interesting because there are a lot of visuals depicting all the lucious data I might get. Seems like it’s going to be a knockoff of the Google model, where I can deliver ads to some kind of target through the Facebook platform.

I am still trying to understand the appeal of Facebook for someone like me. I have friends. If I want to “connect” with them I call or email, or wait for them to call me. I’m not really someone who socializes much. I enjoy a quiet evening at home, with the family, possibly taking in some Food Network or playing something on the Wii, reading a book, etc. Boring. I like it that way.

Anyway, I understand that Facebook is the preferred social Networking platform for many, why exactly I still don’t know. Nonetheless, if that’s where people are spending time online, and I want to communicate a business in that realm, I need to get a presence there and make it “searchable”, or whatever it is people do on Facebook to find things/interests/people.

I am resistant, however. The basic premise of Google is that people search for things, businesses, information, enterainment and so on. If my business fits the searchers query, I can present a targeted ad or if I’m lucky I might show up organically. Facebook exists for a different purpose. To connect with friends online. If someone is interested in printing or marketing or whatever, a cosmetic dentist, say, why would they be looking for that on Facebook?

Plus, the word “Facebook” is… I don’t know… kind of uncomfortable?