Facebook Tips and Tricks

July 11, 2010 - PRLog -- Facebook and other social media sites are incredibly popular for networking and connecting people together who have the same interests, business lines or to learn new tips and techniques in any calling.  It is a great platform to enhance your own business in terms of marketing and it is fast.
There are some necessary elements to put into place when setting your profile up on one or more of these sites.

1.   Be clear on your intention for using the site.  What is it for?  A business, a personal site for you and your friends to connect or is it to promote yourself in your chosen passion or field i.e. musicians, artists, life coaches, personal trainer, singer, cooking show etc.  This way you can be clear on the “theme” or information you want to share and set up your profile properly right from the start.

2.   Set up your profile.  The more interesting and eye catching the better.  No need to lie about yourself, just create and write about yourself or your vocation with a smile!

3.   Add a photo.  Of course if it is a great photo of yourself rather than one of your favorite car, people will relate to you more effectively.  An authentic natural photo is appealing.  If you put yourself on show and the photo looks like a mug shot, it will not be very appealing.  You can also load your business logo if it is intended for your business, but as a general rule, a photo of you better promotes your business anyway!

4.   Make friends! In the search box at the top of the page you can search for a topic or niche you are interested in e.g. cooking or searches for individual people you may know already.  You will see that there will be a selection of groups and people in these niches, so join them and then start sending out “friend invitations”.   Make friends with 50 people or less, otherwise Facebook will put a stop to your activities.

5.   Be active in your communities and groups.  View other people’s posts, make comments, share stories etc.  Be an active member and others will be active back on your posts and profile.  This is a platform for sharing and networking.  About 5-10 comments a day is great and no negative ones of course.

6.   Quality relationships, not quantity.  Building a network that will enhance your online credibility and value, rather than annoyance amongst people is the key here.  So focus your networking on building quality relationships.  They also have valuable resources and may help you out too.

7.   Quality original content.  Post information and comments that can link back to a blog or some other website that will provide useful and original information others may like.  This is especially true if you “friend” other people in niche markets or topic areas you are interested in.  Videos are great, pictures or links to these other sites are interactive and appealing.  People like to be inspired so lead the way.

8.   Capture their information.  If you looking to build your business then you can also create a blog or a website that has a capture form on it so that people can leave their details there.  These people will then be able to receive additional information from you maybe in the form of a newsletter, videos, e-book or 7 day boot-camp of benefits.

9.   Birthday wishes! Whenever you notice that someone is having a birthday-and Facebook usually notifies you of this and it is also posted on the right hand side of your page- send them a Birthday wish!  It takes all of 2 seconds and they will be grateful for the acknowledgement.  It is also a great way to build that relationship

10. Make a “Thank you” video. Create a short-20 second-thank you video to send to all of the friends that accept your friendship request.  It is a personal token of thanks that will also enable people to know your authenticity and it is a personal touch.

Remember, avoid spamming and hassling people with your “opportunity” or business.  If you have a central website or blog that you can link back to, they will organically get to know more about it there.  Make your posts curious, fun and interesting and that is where you benefit from  great relationships and self promotion so that promotion of your business is a follow on from that.

# # #

Briony Pettigrew is the author of this article and is Business Owner, Keynote Speaker, Mumpreneur and Media/TV Presenter, harnessing her qualifications, skills and experience to contribute positive change and difference while building her future and showing others how to do the same. For more information go to;
http://www.BrionyPettigrew.com