Facebook for Business Launched

“The world has gone social. Be part of the conversation,” says Facebook as it pitches its new Facebook for Business site. The mantra’s about as fresh as the new features on the site.

Yes, that’s right. There are no new features on Facebook for Business. It’s just the stuff that you’re probably already using, or are at least well aware of: Facebook Pages, Facebook Ads, and Facebook Sponsored Stories, and Facebook Platform.

Did you know that you can advertise on Facebook? You can also create a space to interact with your fans!

Ok, perhaps I’m being a little too cynical here. It is smart for Facebook to make it as easy as possible for businesses to get up and running on its social network, particularly as they are champing at the bit to get on Google+. Most won’t be able to do so for months.

Facebook for Business may perhaps provide you with a few pointers that you hadn’t considered, as it does provide a fairly straight forward tutorial about how to use its business products. For the less savvy, it could certainly provide for some easy to understand, basic instruction.

While it’s hard to imagine that many businesses are not already using Facebook in some capacity, this may also serve to remind businesses just how valuable a tool Facebook has been for them, before they go getting too excited about Google+.

Facebook is not all Farmville and updates about what your friends are watching on TV. That may be a large part of it, but it’s not everything. People are still very much liking brands on Facebook, and a new white paper from comScore finds that the average fan of a brand has 50 other friends, which may potentially be opened up to your message.

Facebook is still integrated into much of the web’s own fabric through various integrations on countless sites, including through log-in.

Facebook for Business is basically about building a presence on the social network, telling you how to engage with your community, and getting the word out.