Social networking has been evolving over last 5 years and is now a major part of doing business online. One service that has continued to grow in popularity is Facebook. You can sign-up for a free Facebook account online at www.facebook.com or download the app.
Companies have the option of creating a PAGE and/or a GROUP. Each service has slightly different features. In my opinion, a page is more beneficial when it comes to cultivating long-term relationships with your customers, while a group is best for initiating discussions with active participants.
One key feature of a Facebook page is the fact that pages are public, while information displayed to your group is limited only to members of the group. This means that your Facebook page may show up in Google, Yahoo and Bing search results, so you need to make sure you can appropriately handle any comments that are posted on the page (this could be viewed as labor intensive if your page becomes popular). Additionally, if a user becomes a fan of your Facebook page, the link to your page will appear on their individual profile, where it is easily viewed by their friends, while group memberships are less obvious.
FaceBook for Business is Here to Stay
The bottom line is that with a page, you get everything a group does plus a simple page URL, visitor statistics, extra applications, and the ability to promote with social ads. Furthermore, Facebook pages make it easier for people to find you on both Facebook and on search engines, and that is what is most important today on the web.