Recently I held a call about the biggest myths of marketing on Facebook. One myth I mentioned I see discouraging small business owners is that "Facebook alone will get you clients and customers." This would be great if it was true of course.

Do people get clients and customers as a result of being on Facebook? Absolutely. But slapping up a profile and expecting the money to roll in is not going to happen. You might be surprised how many people end up discouraged because they've been on Facebook for a while and aren't getting results. This is usually because they don't understand how Facebook fits into their overall marketing picture.

It's about consumers consuming what it is you are putting out there-which essentially, is content. You are gradually and steadily building momentum through relationships, word of mouth and the "know, like and trust" factor-which leads to traffic, to subscribers and eventually to sales.
Facebook is excellent for establishing expertise and credibility, for exposing your brand, boosting your visibility in front of your target market and even for market research-finding out what people need and want so that you can then go create and package those solutions for them.

Honestly, there is no faster way to create brand recognition and credibility and quickly connect to hundreds of thousands of people who are looking for what it is you offer.

So what should be one of your biggest goals? Traffic. Before you even get on Facebook, you must have a website or blog to drive people to first. You need to be able to continue to build those relationships outside of Facebook. And the best way to do that is to have a way to get people on your email list.

People don't buy from you right off of Facebook. They also don't buy from you the first time they visit your website, right? You have to build up that trust. But Facebook is amazing for strengthening that familiarity and credibility and for driving people to your site so they can get to know even more about what it is that you do.

The next time you get frustrated with Facebook or social media results in general, remember that there is no such thing as overnight success. But stick with it and the seeds you plant now will result in business rewards before you know it.