I recently attended a Facebook for Enterprises seminar by the Montreal Girl Geeks, a non-profit organization in the city. The presentation addressed several concerns and assumptions that I encounter everyday – including the infamous question, “Isn’t your job just being on Facebook all day?” And with that question launching the presentation, I knew we were in good hands.

Mandy Poon, the topic presenter, walked us through the differences between social media for brands vs. people and explained why it’s necessary for companies to invest time (and gasp, money!) into social media. Let’s face it, it’s not going away anytime soon and to find a company without one single social media account nowadays is a rarity. Why a company should invest in social media is pretty straightforward – the platforms put you in direct contact with your target market! You can speak directly to your customers who can help spread the word about your brand and get them involved in your brand too.

Here are some key takeaways from Mandy’s presentation:

– If a company is just getting started in social media, you should ask yourselves what your main goal is. It’s not the place to advertise your company’s products and services 100% of the time – doing this will turn off your audience. What you should do is start conversations that your potential customers will be interested in that will add some kind of value to their lives.

– Establish a voice. Will you be funny? Serious? Informational? Mandy spoke about how difficult it is for brands to have a dialogue with customers – why? Because they are so used to traditional media being a one-way street where they are just talking about themselves!

– Be prepared. Companies have to be ready to respond to both positive and negative feedback because the biggest mistake a company can make is to ignore – or worse – delete a user comment. Another no-no is to post infrequently or disappear altogether after a few good posts.

I also strongly recommend investigating what your competitors are doing, as well as reading up on each social media platform’s policy (tip: no advertising on your Facebook cover photo!).

Other issues that came up:

–       The recent changes to the Facebook algorithm and how companies are struggling to show up in the newsfeed.

–       Should a company build a global, regional or local strategy? Mandy informed us that it usually depends on internal structure and the resources a company has available. Example: if the corporate office manages everything worldwide, there just might not be enough manpower to have an account specifically for Spain.

Check out the slides from Mandy Poon’s presentation here.

For more information, please visit the Montreal Girl Geeks Facebook page here.