Facebook has made some SERIOUS changes to the functionality and the user interface that can work in your favor. However, if you are a spammer, it works even more against you now.

How?

Facebook is even more transparent now. Part of what makes Facebook unique is it's transparency - you get to see what your friends are doing. Now, you get to see even more of what your friends are doing - and vice versa!

If you're using Facebook for marketing, that's a very good thing, if you have a strategy. Know what to say, how to say it, and sometimes more importantly, WHERE to say it. These tactics will be outlined here soon - make this lens a favorite and receive updates when we add new info :-)

Understanding Facebook

The more I use Facebook, the more I realize that most users simply don't understand it. It's not calculus, but at the same time, the interface does not really appeal to most people's instincts. You can easily find yourself just staring at your home page thinking, "What in the world is all of this stuff?"

It takes a little deciphering and some trial and error before you really get into the groove of what's going on. So, take a deep sigh of relief. You're not an idiot; it really is kind of hard to figure out.

So, you are determined to make this Facebook thing work for you, just like thousands of other insightful business people. We're all there, doing what we know to do, but for many Facebookers that isn't much more than entering status updates and posting on walls every now and then. However, in order to create a constant stream of interest from members of the Facebook community, you have to be able to use all of the tools together with strategic balance. It's not as difficult as it seems; you just have to understand the heart of Facebook so that you can understand what you need to do there to grow.

Facebook was designed to be a web adaptation of the 'facebooks' distributed by many American colleges to their campus communities. These directories serve to provide faculty, students, and staff with a way to get to know one another by helping individuals place names with faces. The original program was developed at Harvard for Harvard students only. Soon, other U.S. colleges were included; then colleges in other countries, then high schools. Facebook was launched on February 14, 2004, but by 2006, its worldwide popularity had all but forced the founders to open Facebook to anyone over the age of 13 with a valid email address. Now there are more than 64 million active users worldwide.

WOW...

Facebook began as an exclusive Ivy League social networking site. Facebook's allure was in its exclusivity. It was social networking for America's future leaders. Although it is open to any and everybody now, it works the same way. All of Facebook's functions are designed to give you an opportunity to draw attention to yourself and how great you are. You share your snapshots of different events, travel experiences, and friends. You update your status in real time so that everyone can know exactly what you are doing. The news feed lets all your friends know who you hobnob with. The point is to be someone that everyone else wants to know!

...

Now that we understand what Facebook is designed to do, we can begin to explore the toolkit and determine how to use each feature to maximize your online presence...

WITHOUT having to spam people with our pitch for products, services, or opportunities.




What You Can Realistically Expect Facebook to Do For You

Facebook has excellent potential for online social networking, but it's not magic. You can only get out of it as much as you put into it. That doesn't mean that you will have to give your life over to Facebook in order to be successful, but you will have to invest some time in building your Facebook presence and your network. You will have to cultivate your image and your network connections as well. So, the only way for you to achieve your marketing goals without compromising your bottom line is to have a strategic plan that is goal oriented. There is always wiggle room to experiment and augment the original blueprint, but if you don't approach your Facebook marketing campaign with highly specified goals and clear plans on how to achieve them, you will end up wasting a lot of precious time...and time is money.

Before you can design a real strategy, you need to know what tools you have at your disposal:

Profile - Your Facebook hub of sorts. All of your public information is displayed on your profile, and it is also a means of communication by way of a bulletin board type feature called "The Wall."

Status Updates - Your space to share what you are doing and how you feel - in real time.

Friends - Your network of contacts on Facebook.

Network - Your physical locale and/or institutions that you are affiliated with.

Inbox - Your Facebook utility for receiving private messages.

News Feed - An (almost) real time updates on the activity of your friends.

Applications - Add-on features and plug-ins that personalize your Facebook profile and enrich your interactive experience.

Video - Video upload application.

Photos - Photo upload application that enables you to catalog your photos into albums and share them via news feed or sharing functions. You can also "tag" (identify) other Facebook users who appear in particular photos.

Groups - Interest groups created by Facebook users. Most are open for anyone to join, however, some are private.

Events - Application that allows you to announce events that you are hosting and invite other Facebook members to attend.

Marketplace - Free Facebook classified advertisement section.

Posted Items - Application that allows you to share important web links with your friends. The webpage title, description, and thumbnail image (when available) appear automatically with the link when you post it in this application.

Notes - A blog style application that allows you to create content or import blog entries from an external blog.

Learn more about all of these tools at http://www.facebook.com/help.php




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Other Facebook Marketing Articles:


Facebook Marketing Strategies - Part One

Facebook Marketing Strategies - Part Two: Your Profile

Social Media Marketing: Are You Missing The Point?

Learn more about how to market your business on Facebook by learning the ins and outs of Facebook Networking!