'Facebook Queen' extols social media benefits

A WOKING woman is encouraging small businesses to embrace social media in order to help grow their companies in the tough economic climate.

Social media consultant, Beverley Ames-Rooks, who recently appeared on BBC2's Mark Zuckerberg: Inside Facebook programme, hopes to encourage small firms to latch onto the boom in Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

She said that by creating business profiles, companies could quickly increase their online visibility.

Adding that bosses had only recently been fully grasping the potential benefits, Beverley said: "Social media sites have really taken off, businesses are starting to understand the power of it.

"You can create an important, powerful strategy for businesses to get themselves seen. The biggest thing is engaging and interacting with customers.

"What you are looking for is your business to be shown on other people's profiles, otherwise nobody will know you exist."

Beverley, who lives in Old Woking, said social media was particularly useful in the tough financial times as it could be trialled for free without the need to pay up front. She said her company could help to "kickstart a campaign" for a business.

The 'Facebook Queen', as her colleagues at the Social Media Bureau call her, is passionate about her work and was delighted to be able to take part in the BBC2 documentary.

She said: "I was approached back in July, it was a fantastic thing to happen to me. We spent the whole day filming at my home and in Ripley with businesses there."

Beverley is keen to reinforce the point that Facebook and other social media sites are for everyone.

She said: "Facebook is not for just teenagers, it is about targeted advertising and businesses need to be made aware it is not frightening.

"Business often to now know how to utilise it and how to look professional, we hold their hand and kickstart their campaign."

Source: http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/business/s/2105375_facebook_queen_extols_social_media_benefits

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