Facebook Offers Tutorial for Businesses

Most likely feeling the pressure as a result of the launch of Google+, Facebook has created a new site aimed at helping small businesses more effectively market and advertise their products on the social network.

It's a wise decision, considering that it will be a couple more months before most businesses can enjoy the benefits of Google+, but the effort behind Facebook for Business appears to be a little half-hearted upon first glance.

The new site offers guidance on how best to use Facebook marketing tools such as Pages, Ads, Deals, Sponsored Stories, Platform and social plugins. While it may provide some useful basic information for new or beginning Facebook marketers, most businesses that have been using the social network to build their brands and audiences for any length of time might be hard-pressed to find new ideas much less new features and tools.

The site is positioned as a small business owner's guide to Facebook marketing, and the timing indicates that it is an attempt to lure businesses back to the social network after the initial hoopla about Google+. Google launched its own social network several weeks ago to much fanfare, but it has essentially told Web marketers to be patient while it prepares to roll out its business product and opens the doors for companies to create their business profiles sometime in the fall.

"We want to inspire small businesses by seeing how other businesses have found success on Facebook by sharing their stories," a Facebook spokesperson said about the new site.