I follow a number of businesses on Facebook and Twitter. Surprisingly, I find that many of them do not act like businesses, but instead they act like several of my personal Facebook friends. Does your business fall into one of these three categories?

The Spammer
Everyone on facebook knows at least one of these people. You know the ones that have at least a dozen updates each day. Most of the updates are not that interesting – “Just had this for breakfast,” “Visited this store”, etc. Now, maybe if you are TV and Movie Star Ashton Kutcher, your fans will want to hear everything that you are doing. But, if you are a business, I don’t want a lot of tweets or posts. I especially don’t want you telling me stuff that I, as a customer and businessman, don’t care about. I’m busy, and I follow you because you share relevant information that I’m interested in. Maybe I want to know about your weekly special, coupons, new products, etc. Maybe you review and highlight a product once a week. Perhaps you share your thoughts on something about your market or industry. If so, great! That’s what I want to know about. I don’t need you to tell me to have a happy holiday or that you just had dinner with a business acquaintance.

The Lurker
I have facebook friends that friend me but rarely, if ever, update their status. The only updates I see are that they have friended other friends, so I know that they are still active on facebook. Apparently, they watch everyone but never contribute anything themselves. I’ve seen something similar occur with a few businesses on twitter. They have a presence there (they link to twitter from their web site, for example), but they rarely post anything! Why have a business presence on Twitter and/or Facebook if you are never going to use it?

The Spazmatic
This person is sometimes a spammer and sometimes a lurker. For friends, it is ok for them not to post anything when they have nothing to say.
A business, on the other hand, needs to post updates in a relatively timely fashion. Of course, we want that update to be relevant! Even if you do not have some great insight to post, I would bet that you’ve read someone’s tweet or facebook status that linked to a great article. At the very least you can retweet that. Then I will know that you are alive and that you are still sending me the relevant information that I’ve come to expect from you!

I think the rules for businesses on Facebook and Twitter are different than that of friends or celebrities. Decide what kind of information you want to have a reputation for posting and stick to it. Doing so will cultivate the audience that is after that information. Maybe you provide the special of the week, the new product of the week, the review of the week, or even the joke of the week! Just as your web site is tailored to a specific audience, you should likewise tailor your Facebook Brand page or your Twitter account. Besides giving me the relevant information I seek, remember to do it on a somewhat regular basis. That may just be once a week or several times a week. Just don’t post something to post something. Remember, just like you, I’m busy (except for when I’m playing Farmville on Facebook!)

Like most people watching the World Cup I was frustrated to see that two goals the USA scored were not allowed.  Video replay clearly showed that there were no offsides in one case and no foul to be seen in the other. I had to wonder why, in the case of a goal scored or disallowed, video replay isn’t used? In the US, we have replay review for football in the NFL; likewise, the NHL allows for every goal in hockey to be reviewed.

During the recent German vs England elimination match, a goal by England (that would have tied the score up at 2-2) was disallowed! Watching the footage, it can clearly be seen to have been a legitimate goal by several feet.

FIFA continues to pull the actual video from Youtube so the recreation above will have to do for now

You do not have to be a ref to see from the video that the ball crossed the goal line.  Now, it is not like lots of goals are scored in soccer.  How much time would it take to review a goal (or disallowed goal) in a match?  The answer: not all that much.  Isn’t it worth making those calls right?  Heck, the refs could have looked at the stadium monitors to make the call on that goal!

What am I getting at?  Don’t be like FIFA and refuse to use proven technology that is widely available.  I’m talking about Facebook, Twitter, and Google Product Search.  Facebook has over 400 million users, Twitter has over 75 million, and Google Product Search is the top comparison shopping engine online.  Best of all, there is currently no fee to use any of these services!

The effort to use Facebook and Twitter is minimal.  All you would need to do is give your fans and followers a weekly post with a coupon, product special, or just an announcement of a new product you were carrying.  Likewise, Google Product Search is integrated into ShopSite Manager and Pro so you can quickly list your products with Google.  If you are using ShopSite Starter you can manually list the handful of products that you are carrying.

Some of you might ask, “What about blogging?” Good question! A blog is a great marketing tool, but it comes with a rather important caveat – it takes a lot of work. For many people, it can be difficult to come up with useful content just once every week.  But, if you have a knack for writing (and a wealth of relevant information for your blog readers), then you should definitely blog. That being said, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Product Search really are the low hanging fruit that anybody can (and should) grab.

Sometimes like FIFA we can get stuck in a rut and forget that we need to continue to improve on the products and services that we offer.  Like using the instant replay of goals to make better calls, it is a no brainer to utilize Facebook, Twitter, and Google Product search to drive more shoppers to your store.