MARCH 4, 2009

Can Facebook Help Your Business?

The woman at the helm of marketing for Dell shares success secrets, including the use of Facebook to promote your company.
 
By Nichole Nichols

 
It took you long enough to get on the Facebook train (hey, it was for kids, right?), but if you're still using it just to keep in touch with bosom buddies from college or keep track of your secretive teen, you're missing out on a world of possibilities – for your business. Whether you're a company owner or trying to take your career to the next level, the world of online social networking offers a treasure trove of free marketing opportunities and shared success strategies, says Karen Quintos, vice president of marketing for the global public business unit at Dell, which has both a Facebook presence and its own online community called Idea Storm.

"It's very well-documented that businesses that focus on marketing during these tough financial times can actually improve," she says. "The recession is challenging the way we market and forcing us to be more creative to get the message out." Case in point: President Obama, whose innovative use of social networking sites helped him win the election.

Quintos on marketing during difficult times: She calls the Internet "a way to reach large numbers of customers, especially for small businesses with small budgets. It's a low-cost way to get the product out to customers." Consider this: Wiggly Wigglers, a British garden supply company that won the 2008 Global Small Business Excellence Award (sponsored by Dell), has used social media including a Facebook page and a weekly podcast to reach its 90,000 customers worldwide.
 
Click here for more of our exclusive interview – including Quintos's five tips on how to use social networking to benefit your business!>>

Gadget She Can't Live Without: Her BlackBerry Bold. "I love it because it's a cell phone, a camera, e-mail, Internet access, everything. It's important to me to be connected to my family." And her Dell Latitude E4300.>>

Quintos's Favorite Business Book: The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (Picador, 2007). "It's about how quickly the world is becoming global.">>

Bonus PINK Link: Here are 15 tactics to ensure that your online networking efforts create some real-life results.>>