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Facebook has been around for some time now and with 773 million users in over 200 countries around the world, it’s clearly a part of many lives. In Australia, Facebook has penetrated over 50% of the population, with 10.66 million users today (statistics sourced from socialbakers.com). Connecting with friends, school buddies and long lost family is one way to use Facebook. I’ve heard some great stories of families being reunited, friends who have drifted apart reconnecting, and I have even met a person who reconnected with “the one that got away”, their lost love, and they’ve gone on to be married. The personal relationships and connections on Facebook are fantastic and a great use of this free online community. However, for many of us running businesses, the social aspect of Facebook could be considered a waste of our precious time. And I would agree completely. This is the reason why many, many business owners are still wary of Facebook; avoiding it and believing it is a time waster. And with good reason. Facebook can make minutes and hours dissolve, it can be completely social (even nosey) … but it can be an extremely powerful networking, marketing and growth tool for business. Facebook comes with a series of challenges. Business owners must understand Facebook, the community and the technology. They have to get the set-up right, determine your business purpose and goals and support them with policies, develop an implementation strategy, and use Facebook consistently to build their community, their reputation and establish a presence, supported by the social proof of their network. If that sounds complicated, overwhelming or too much hard work .. then you should consider the alternative option, because continuing to ignore social media will ensure your business loses market share. Facebook does take time. There is a learning curve involved and an education process required for yourself and your employees but social media will produce a return on investment for your business for many, many years. If you are hesitant, don’t believe that businesses are using, or can benefit from social media, and you need further convincing then you could have a look at results of this Zoomerang survey. Their free report reveals 86% of SMB’s have a Facebook presence for their business and almost half of respondents use Facebook for marketing purposes.