Facebook Questions: A New Opportunity for Small Business?

Facebook has joined the likes of Yahoo and LinkedInwith the rollout of a new Q&A product called Facebook Questions. While the Q&A format is nothing new on the web, Facebook’s more than 500 million users add an interesting twist to the space, and potentially, create an opportunity for small businesses as the feature evolves.

Questions is still in beta, but if you have it enabled, you can see that Facebook wants to make it a major part of the site. “Ask Question” is now a feature of the Publisher, meaning Facebook places it on the same level as status updates, posting photos and sharing links. It’s also integrated on Facebook Pages, where a new “Questions” tab lets users ask questions directly on the Page that can be answered by Page admins or fans.

Much like LinkedIn Answers, where providing answers to questions that are relevant to your business can be a great way to connect with new people, Facebook Questions also has the makings of a killer networking and lead generation tool. Click on the “Questions” link that now appears in the left-hand navigation of Facebook and you’ll see questions relating to your interests as well as those asked by friends and friends of friends.
To give yourself the best shot at seeing relevant questions here, you’ll want to make sure you list interests in your personal profile that align with the business’s industry and core competencies. There are a few other ways to find questions too, including manually entering in a topic, or choosing from suggested topics or trending topics.