Visa launched its Facebook application, a network inside a network called “Visa Business Network“. It aims to help small businesses grow, connect with businesses and consumers, and get information to manage their business.
I quickly signed up with Visa Business Network; as you can see in the screenshot above, the Facebook application interface consists of 4 tabs:
- My Back Office
- Resource Center
- Business Finder
- My Messages
You can refer to this post to find out more features of this Visa Facebook application. Basically, if you are a small business owner, you can
Use The Visa Business Network to grow your customer base with targeted Facebook ads and your own business profile page. Connect with other small business owners to share ideas, opinions, information, and knowledge. And visit the Resource Center to find relevant and up-to-date content to help you manage your business better.
I reckon you sign up, get a feeling about this application, and share with us what you learn. This is what I think you should learn in social media marketing from Visa:
- Understand well what your target audience is. I still often hear people say, “I want as much traffic as possible” said some marketers. When you want to get everything, you often end up getting nothing. Make sure you know who you target and have it well defined.
- Create an application that adds value. The “value” could be simply fun, a story Facebook users can share with his/her friends. The value “Visa” delivers to small business owners include resources, connections, and networking opportunities.
- Engagement, not traffic. I’ve seen many applications aiming to take social media users to their own website; they simply take social media as an extra channel to generate traffic. Remember: social media marketing is about engagement. Visa Business Network engages users through helping their find business contacts and network with people.
To get started in social media marketing, simply remember: target, value, engagement.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Chinesealbumart // Jun 25, 2008 at 12:57 am
Wow. Thanks for this great tip. I registered and got a $100 coupon for advertising.
AMAZING !!!!!!!
2 Kristoff // Jun 27, 2008 at 12:33 am
Let’s be realistic, this is a social networking site for”big people”. While all of these contacts are nice they don’t mean anything to your bottom line. Why would you pay to be able to directly contact someone who you don’t really know? Services such as http://www.referralkey.com/ require that you invite real-world associates to your network however the result is a thriving network with qualified business leads being exchanged daily.
I’m a small business professional and I don’t need to pay to message 500 strangers. I need qualified and timely referrals.
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