PLATFORM: Facebook

Current Friends/Followers to date: 0!

One of the major ways we use social media today is with Facebook. Almost everyone is on it these days, and so much goes through it that I should have started an account earlier. But I didn’t! So I’m starting one now.

I decided to start a profile rather than a page because I agreed with the advice Jane Friedman gives in her post 5 Reasons to Use Facebook Profiles to Build a Platform. I’ve started by liking some of my favorite authors and favorite pages and will next focus on getting organic friends and followers (rather than fake ones). I also added the link on my Twitter account. So now you can find my profile and friend or follow me!

Here are my take on Guy’s tips for posting on FB:

• Be aware that because of FB’s algorithm not everyone will see what you post. But, if people re-share it, more people will see it.
• Use video whenever possible, specifically video uploaded to FB. Because Youtube is owned by FB’s rival, Google, FB has more incentive to post videos in its own media server, so these videos will be more heavily promoted by FB.
• Add a link and FB will bring in the picture. Instead of uploading a picture, FB will insert it for you if you just paste the link in the text box (Me-Then you can delete the link so you don’t have a clunky URL distracting everyone in the text!). You can also change the picture if you like.
• Use Facebook Insights for analytics on who you are serving and how to serve them better.
• Pages interacting with other pages (like regular people) make your pages more powerful and popular. Pages are the business version of profiles or walls. But, they can “interact” with people or other pages just like you interact with your FB friends.

Some DON’TS

• Don’t buy likes. You want personal engagement from people who actually like what you’re doing. Not masses of anonymous likes that don’t actually mean anything.
• Don’t ask for re-shares or likes. No one wants to be your friend when you have to beg. They want to be your friend when you demonstrate value added. Remember the weird kid on the playground who asked everyone if they could be best friends? Don’t be that kid (even if you once were.)
• Don’t ask why someone unfollows you. Same as above, no one wants to be grilled on why they unfollowed someone. This makes me think of those creepy boyfriend who demand a legitimate reason for being dumped. Just because! Ugh!
• Don’t overly promote yourself or your product. Guy says the ratio should be 1:20. 20 items of value added to 1 item of selling/promoting something. Speaking for myself, I couldn’t agree more! I hate feeling like I’m being sold to when I’m just trying to catch up on my friend gossip via a FB scroll.
• Don’t overly focus on likes or friend numbers. This one is my tip. Yes, you are there to increase exposure and gain popularity so you can make a living. But don’t make it your reason for living. So what if that one post didn’t get enough likes? Does that mean you lost value as a person? No! Just like in the first tip, you want engagement from people who actually care. If you start off small but strong, and are adding value to the conversation, you’re creating a lifelong circle of fans.