How to FACEBOOK - Yes a Verb!

For a long time I was a Facebook hold out.  Ok, well I guess it would be better said that I was a social networking hold out.  I thought spending time on the computer talking to my friends and family was lame (I know several of you just deleted me from your friends list).  But now that I am a convert I must apologize to all those I made fun of before I had "THE KNOWLEDGE".

Since my social media birth in June I have had the extreme pleasure of meeting so many new like-minded people on Twitter and Facebook and other sites as well.  But I keep getting questions about how I use these sites.  Recently I had someone tell me that after she gets on and looks at her inbox and updates she doesn't know what to do - seems to her like a waste of her time.  I have to say I completely understand since I used to share that point of view.  So let me take you through a few things that I love about Facebook.

1.  There is nothing wrong with having fun on Facebook.  I'll admit it - I am a farmer.  I have a farm in Farm Town and Farmville (more partial to Farmville).  I like to collect hearts from iHeart (as a matter of fact I have a heart page on my profile now to show off my hearts).  I like to take quizzes like the personality quiz from What's Your Personality Type (I am an INTJ).  However, what I don't do is post a lot of this to my feed - when it comes to the question that says "post to your profile or skip" I almost always skip.  I do this because I don't think that everyone wants to know that I just "collected a pink cow for my farm - which I did - Yahoo!"  My friends do give me a hard time about this but I have to tell you that I find it quite relaxing to take a little time to rest my brain.  I work hard and sometimes I need to play harder.  I do give myself a time limit though or I can get really into rearranging my farm.

2.  The connection I have with friends and family is quite different now.  Hi, My name is Michele and I am a workaholic.  I have been all of my life.  Therefore, I have not cultivated the relationships with friends and family that I feel I should have.  Facebook is bringing that back - all be it in a different way.  Think about it - you all have those family members that you only see at Christmas parties, weddings and funerals.  We all do but facebook is the great equalizer.  I have a lot more interaction with family members that live out of state and I hate to admit with some that live less than 5 miles from me.  So how do I connect, you ask?  

• I read all the updates on my feed.  I make a point to click the like button on the ones I like and comment on the ones I have a comment for.  I do a lot of this.
  
• I check my inbox.  Some of them prefer to talk privately through the inbox.
• I check my notifications.  In the bottom right corner of the facebook screen you will see a red flag when you have notifications.  It tells you if someone has commented on something you commented on or liked.  Then you can click on that to continue the conversation.  It actually notifies you of anything that happens in facebook that has to do with you.  For example, when my friends put a picture on their site and tag me in the picture it will tell me and I can go to their site to see it.
• I make a point to click on peoples names in my list to go to their wall to see what they have been up to.  Not everything they do shows up in your feed and it is great to see what they are interested in etc.  You can also look at their photos and info.

3.  Facebook is a great tool for connecting with other like-minded people.  I have gotten to know many many many new people through Facebook and Twitter.  I meet them through groups and pages on Facebook, I meet them through tele-courses I take and I am introduced to people by my other friends on a regular basis.  I also read lots of blogs and other information on the internet and now you will see the "Connect on Facebook or Connect on Twitter" buttons and guess what - I actually connect with them.   I have met some truly wonderful people and connect with them through comments and "likes" on their updates and supporting their fan pages and groups.  I love to tell my friends about other interesting people.

4. If you know me at all you knew I would get around to using Facebook for promoting your business.  I have to say, Wow!  The opportunities are endless for promoting yourself or your business on Facebook.  Let me start by saying that Facebook has lots of rules about this and they are very protective of their members - which is an awesome thing.  That is probably the reason that this does work so well.  If they think you are spamming their members at all they will kick you off - and I like that. 

I believe that to promote you must nurture the relationship.  Answer me this - Are you more likely to buy something from someone who takes the time to provide value to your life and has earned your trust or someone who just keeps pushing and pushing and pushing you?  Promotion in the world of social media is changing the way people think - it is truly about the relationship!  I could go on and on and on about this subject but I think I will save that for its own blog post.

I wanted to take a second to say that Facebook Fan Pages are amazing ways to get your vision across.  You can have a direct relationship with people who are interested in you and your product.  If you don't deliver value into their life they can easily "unfan" you.  That leaves the ball in your court to provide the type of information that makes people think, laugh, smile and love.  I make a point to be a fan of many pages (the most pages you can fan in facebook is 500) and I look at those that are successful to see how they are doing things.  Why reinvent the wheel - if it works just roll with it.

There are so many more things I could tell you about Facebook but I think I will stop here.  I hope you learned something new today.  If you have any questions just look me up on Facebook (the link is on the side bar of this blog).  Oh and be sure to check out my new fan page The Mompreneur Strategy.