Ways to leverage your Facebook network

Note: If you’re a regular reader, this post might be old hat for you. It’s one of several tutorials arising from a session I did recently on social meda.

The first concept in using Facebook (or any social media for that matter) is to stay top-of-mind with your friends/network. You do that subtly by showing up in their news feed and more overtly by sending various invitations.

Concept 1: Stay top-of-mind in your network

There are a lot of different ways to show up in your friend’s news feeds. Here are a few:

• use status updates as a way to broadcast what’s new with you. Announce an event, a launch, something that interests you, or simply how you feel that day.
• import blog posts, shared RSS items, social bookmarks, etc. automatically into your profile. This also lets your network know about things that interest you.
• post photos of your life, work, events, etc.
• tag other’s photos
• seek your friends’ wisdom: ask questions with the “My Questions” app.

Concept 2: Expand your network

As well as reconnecting/staying in touch with people you already know, social media is a good way to make new connections. Here are a few ways to do that:

• join your Neighbourhood to meet people around you
• join a group that interests you, or start a new one and invite others to join. There’s bound to be a group that interests you.
• create an event on Facebook for a real-world event. You can send invitations and get RSVPs.
• set up a page for your business, product or organization. Invite your friends to become a fan of it. When they do, their friends will see “Jane Smith became a fan of…” in their news feeds.

I think with all social media it’s important to be authentic. If you share information or do activities that feel right for you then your friends are likely to accept it and may be interested in it. But if you post really pushy messages or do stuff that is clearly selling, you might push people away — into filtering your news out of their feed.

If you want to learn more about Facebook and marketing through social media, here are some good places to start:

• Capulet’s social media eBook – these guys know their stuff.
• 12 Ways to use Facebook Professionally
• 24 Ways to market in Facebook
• 6 Ways to promote your cause in Facebook
• How Non-profits can use Facebook

Other posts in this series:

• Blogging 101: Intro to Blogging
• Blogging 201: 5 Simple Blog Promotion Ideas
• Introduction to Social Media
• Introduction to Facebook