Local businesses use Facebook to gather clients, increase traffic

Stephanie Backus/FULTON SUN photo: Kristen Zeimet, Kingdom of Callaway Chamber of Commerce PR and Membership coordinator, updates the Chamber's Facebook page on Thursday. Local businesses are relying on Facebook business pages to reach a new audience. __________________________________________________________________________________

By Don Norfleet

Friday, January 7, 2011

Lydia Schuster believes in Facebook.

The photographer, and owner of Studio Seven, started her business solely on the belief Facebook would work for her.

“I decided to use Facebook because I had to,” Schuster said. “I was looking at my friends list and I had 600-some friends. I’ve always gotten a lot of really good feedback from any photos I posted on Facebook on my personal page, so I talked to my husband and decided to take it to the next level.”

The next level was the decision to start her Facebook business page.
“I started to do little incentives here and there, like the first person responding getting a free sitting fee,” she said. “As soon as I put ‘free’ in anything, people responded.”

A baby contest really got Schuster’s business going, though.
“I probably had 700 fans on my page when I started the contest,” she said. “I don’t even know how many I have now. It’s well over 1,000. I had 75 baby entries and thousands of votes.

“That was overwhelming — just an overwhelming response with all that.”

Facebook is not only a way for Schuster to grow her business, but it’s her portfolio.

“Facebook is personable enough to where people are really nice when they are on your page,” she said. “But it’s impersonable enough for where people don’t have a problem going to the page and looking at your photos.”

Schuster said she thinks people look at Facebook pages for photographers now instead of their websites.

“It’s definitely worth my time and effort,” she said. “I have a website, but I don’t update it. I don’t update it ever. I set it up originally where a portion of my pictures were there, but with Facebook, it’s so nice to upload and post to my wall, and then everybody looks at it.

“If it wasn’t for Facebook, I would have probably an eighth of the business I have now.”

Schuster isn’t the only one in Fulton using Facebook to grow business. She’s just one of many who are using the social networking tool. Businesses and organizations from churches to not-for-profits to restaurants are using the site.
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