10 Reasons to Use Facebook For Business
By Mari Smith

Social networking websites, especially Facebook, have significant implications for business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs. To keep your business current, you should at least be familiar with the latest conversational marketing techniques and viral technologies, including Facebook and its array of powerful features.

Here are ten reasons to be active on Facebook:

1. Meet your peers.Facebook is not just for college kids anymore. Members are typically older and more mature than on other sites, and there are more white collar users.
2. Find business contacts.With more than 100 million active users, and predicted to be 500 million by 2011, not only are your friends on Facebook, so are your prospects, your customers, your JV partners… and, of course, your competitors. You need to be on too.
3. Instant gate opener.Facebook members are open to connecting. You can easily begin a dialog with highly successful–even famous–people who were previously otherwise unreachable.
4. Build relationships.By engaging in conversations with your prospects and customers, you can better adapt your marketing and business services to meet their needs.
5. Raise visibility.By consistently showing up, posting relevant information, and being a thought leader, you can increase visibility and credibility as an expert in your area.
6. Develop your personal brand.The lines between business and personal have become blurred. You can reveal as much or as little about yourself as you wish, allowing you to personalize your brand.
7. Target your niche.Users volunteer vast amounts of information about themselves that you can readily access. These kinds of demographics, psychographics, and technographics would previously have cost fortunes to access. Author, John Battelle, calls Facebook a “database of intentions.”
8. Get rapid top Google placement.Create a Page for your business and “push” information to your “fans.” Pages (for business) and Profiles (for personal) are indexed for optimal search engine positioning. Facebook has a page rank of #5 according to Alexa.
9. Place targeted ads.With Facebook Social Ads, you can test out extremely targeted advertising for minimal cost.
10. Free marketing.Aside from paid ads, Facebook is totally free to use and with regular activity you’ll end up with more traffic, more subscribers, and more paying clients.

Visit Mari’s blogs for two free e-courses: 21 Keys To Profitable Relationships at MariSmith.com and 7-Day Facebook Marketing Tips at WhyFacebook.com

Mari Smith is a Relationship Marketing Specialist and Facebook Business Coach. She helps entrepreneurs to accelerate their business growth using an integrated social marketing strategy, with particular focus on Facebook. Mari is passionate about showing professionals how to develop powerful profitable relationships.

Article Reprinted from Ezine Articles

Let me know which of these 10 reasons is your biggest reason for using Facebook.

Bob Jenkins

p.s. Mari’s best training on Facebook is at FacebookPodclass.com.

And of course, more Facebook for business tips can be found inside the DSN 201 lessons at DiscoverSocialNetworking.com.

p.p.s. Sept. 29 update: Would you like a webinar on using Facebook OR Twitter for business? And if so, what would be a fair price for such a webinar (approx. 90 minutes). Post your answer as a comment below…

More specifically, I got to show my parents how they could use it to promote their Ellicott City Maryland Bed & Breakfast for increased reservations of their awesome rooms as well as their new conference room that we used for the workshop.

In a matter of minutes, @WaysideInn was Twittering away and connecting with new people around the world.

Here’s what I taught them…
First, you need to get a Twitter account. They’re free at Twitter.com.

Second, you should get to know how to use social networking in general. For example, what should your username be? What should you put in your profile?  All of this is explained for free in my Discover Social Networking Part 1.

Third, you should connect with people who have similar interests and markets as you do. For example, for my parents, they should connect with travelers, event planners, wedding planners, and other B&Bs around the world.

To do this, Twitter has a nifty search feature at the top of the page. Just type in the best keywords for your market, and see who has those terms in their profile.

On Twitter, you’ll see a Follow button next to that person’s name to the right. Click it once, and you are now following them.

The cool thing is they get an email automatically from Twitter letting them know that you are following them – with a link back to your Twitter profile so they can follow you back.

The fourth thing you need to do to get to 1000 followers on Twitter is to avoid annoying all your followers. Send out too many promo links or useless info and they’ll unfollow you fast! So don’t use every Tweet as a chance to promote your business or an affiliate link directly. Contribute to the conversation and share relevant links when it really counts.

Follow these steps and you’ll be on your way to 1000 before you know it!

Bob Jenkins

p.s. For more Twitter tips, and lessons on how to use Facebook, Ning and other social networks to promote your business, head over to Discover Social Networking where you’ll find audio and print resources to
help you out.

p.p.s. If you post a comment below, please include your http://Twitter.com/username linked so we can start following you, too!

Would you like to know how to get better results with social networking? Start with your profile.

In a moment, you will learn 3 simple ways you can capture viewers attention, and magnetically attract clients and partners to your business with your profile.

But first, make sure you understand why this is so important to your success.

Like Your Business Card, Your Profile Creates The First Impression

All social networking sites work on the premise of connecting people together who can mutually benefit. To help with this, the user profile is a standard feature.

Your profile includes your username, your photo, and a very concise description of you (typically 40 words or less).

The information you put in your profile is going to turn people on to you or turn people off from you. You don’t want to make them say, “Ah, that’s not really somebody worth knowing”. So you need to make sure your profile is something you’re going to spend a lot of time tweaking.

The better the profile is the more likely you will get people to be attracted to what you’re doing.

Now let’s turn to the 3 steps to creating a powerful profile, and get you the results you are looking for.

• Use The Same, Brandable Username For All Social Networking Profiles
• Create An Action-Based Description In Your Profile
• Put Your Best Face Forward With The Profile Photo

Brand Yourself With An Obvious Username
When you first create your accounts on social networks, you have to come up with a username. This is something you can’t change later within an account, so get it right the first time.

Your username must have these characteristics:

• It’s obviously you
• It’s easy to spell
• It’s easy to remember

Your own name is the best username to have if it’s still available because it’s what people who know you already will search for. If your name is hard to spell or is too common, though, you’ll want to get a second account that fits the characteristics above.

For example, my friend Scott’s initial Twitter account was ScottTousignant which is not the easiest thing to spell. So he has started to use “thefitb” as his Twitter user name instead.

Same thing with Bob Jenkins. There are so many Bob Jenkinses out there that I came up with BobtheTeacher quite a long time ago for my username on a forum. In fact, it’s been so effective as a username, many people don’t know my real last name!

Whatever your name is just make sure that you’re branding yourself as that name. Don’t use some adjective that doesn’t really hone into what you’re really all about.

Use the same username for all of the social networking sites because some people will find you on Twitter or Facebook or MySpace, and they’ll say, “Well, I’m not really on one of those sites. I wonder if they have a Twitter account or a Facebook account.” If they then just go randomly over to that other site and type in your name and somebody else has it, then you have confused your audience.

In the social networking game, your username is your brand – so grab yours at all the sites you can, even if you simply point the profiles to your main marketing hub and never use the account again.

Create An Action-Based Description In Your Profile

Most people quit social networking sites because they feel they are a waste of time. This is usually due to a poor profile description that attracts the wrong people.

When people see your profile, they want to know what you can do for them. So tell them, very succinctly, what you provide.

This is not a popularity contest, but an opportunity to brand yourself as the expert you are in your specialty area so you attract potential clients and partners – not a bunch of friends who are going to spam you with chaim mail, jokes, and crappy YouTube videos.

So provide a short 1-2 sentence benefit-focused description of what you do for others. This is traditionally called your USP – unique selling position – or what separates you from the rest of the pack.

You must also include a link to your marketing hub – your central location online. This should be your blog, but it can be any website you control and have a specific domain URL for. (If you don’t have a blog or website yet, then link all your profiles to the same Squidoo lensmaster page or profile page on your favorite social networking site until you get one.)

You need to make that link clickable so your visitors and new friends can go to your website when they want to find out more about you.

To do this, you need to type the full URL, such as http://DiscoverSocialNetworking.com. On most sites, simply typing DiscoverSocialNetworking.com will not create a clickable link.

After you create your profile, test the link to make sure it goes to the right page!

Put Your Best Face Forward With Your Profile Photo

To gain attention, trust, and referrals, you need to have a very good profile photo. A professional photo is always a good thing to have in business. But you don’t have to spend a hundred dollars for a half hour sitting or more right away. Keep in mind that social networking sites are not unlike a dating site. And fairly or unfairly, you will be judged by your picture.

Be sure your photo captures your energy shows off your personality. Typically a good profile photo is a head shot that shows you in a positive mood, and energized, looking directly at the viewer.

No matter what you look like, your charisma, personality, and energy are going to be what people are looking for. They’re not looking for a model. They’re looking for somebody who’s confident and who’s happy with their life. And even if you feel that’s a stretch for you to do, that’s the kind of picture that you want to try to have in your profile.

Improving Your Profile Will Improve Your Results

Implement the strategies you’ve just learned in the last few minutes and you will see improved results. And remember – unlike a business card you’re stuck with until you get rid of all 500 – you can change your profile at anytime.

You want your visitors to feel like they must get to know you – and perhaps that they already do in some way.

With a great username, clear mission statement linked to your blog, and an attractive photo, your profile will put you ahead of your competition in the social networking arena.

Bob Jenkins teaches business owners how to use internet marketing strategies effectively to attract more customers and get more sales – without spending a fortune on advertising. Discover more ways to power your business with social networking at www.DiscoverSocialNetworking.com.

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Please leave comments below, and include links to your Twitter and Facebook profiles.

You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Ning.

(Attention bloggers and ezine publishers: You have full reprint rights to this article: just be sure to include the entire article as is, and include the resource box at the end with live links)

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Five Ways You Can Build Your Reputation With Social Networking
By Bob Jenkins

Are you using social networks to build your reputation online? Whether you already are or you are just getting started with sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Ning, building your online reputation is your biggest responsibility.

Here are five ways to make sure you do it right.

#1: Be Proud Of Being You

The first thing is, you have to be yourself. You have to be who you are. Because although you can get away with being fake for a little while, as soon as one person realizes that you’re not who you say you are, your reputation is destroyed almost instantly because of the power of social networking.

So be yourself. And don’t be afraid of being yourself. Realize that you have some gifts and some knowledge that people need to know about, and those that want to learn from you are going to gravitate towards you. Those that don’t think you’re worth listening to are basically going to ignore you. And it’s at their peril, so don’t worry about them.

#2: Transparency – Never Hide From Your Audience

The second thing about your reputation is you should try to be transparent at all times. This means you keep everything real with your audience.

For example, over the last year, I used social media to show you my move from Maryland to North Carolina, including drama with the movers, picking the house, and getting it set up. I also pulled back the curtain to show what it takes to run a product launch.

When I did my last product launch, I was Twittering every day what I was doing to get ready for this site. Most of the gurus out there would keep everything under lock and key, and I was being very clear, saying, “This is what I’m doing to get ready for this launch.” It actually helped me have a better launch, even though I told everybody exactly what I was going to be doing.

They didn’t think that they had some surprise or whatever like most people teach; they just were excited to be part of it and part of the story. So be transparent. Let people know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, and they’re going to learn how to trust you.

#3: Be Positive For Positive Results

The third way to build your reputation is to be positive.

There are folks out there who generally can do a good job of being negative. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find that to be a very long-term profitable strategy.

It may get you some attention at first and spark some controversy, but that’s not the way to go. Be looking forward to the optimistic of your industry, of your business and what the results are going to be.

It would be easy for you to go onto Twitter or onto Facebook and talk about how you’re having a bad day or this product sucks or this week sucks or this relationship sucks. But you’re not really there for a support network, per se.

You’ll find some of that. If you have something bad happen in your life, sharing it with your followers will be very therapeutic for you and you will get a lot of support back. But when you’re just blasting negative things out, you’re going to get negative things in return, usually.

So try to be positive as much as possible and look for the opportunities that are out there and look at them from that positive perspective.

#4: Build Your Reputation And They Will Come

The fourth thing you must do is to be patient. This is because, initially, your reputation is going to be built only by yourself and the first initial people who get to know you. But as time goes on and you get more followers and you build a larger network of friends and peers, your reputation will solidify to allow your business to grow.

Once it hits a tipping point, your reputation and business accelerates at a very quick pace.

So be patient and let it happen. Don’t try this stuff out for a week and then come back to me next week and say, “Well, it didn’t really work. I didn’t really get any results yet.” You’ve got to let social networking play out over a few weeks and then a couple months and so on. A year from now your business is going to be tremendously different compared to where it is right now.

#5: Contribute To The Conversation – Every Day!

The fifth thing about your reputation is you need to be someone that people look to as a contributor, not as a leech, not as a mooch, as a contributor.

You have to be willing to be involved in the conversation, and you have to be willing to give as much or even more than what you’re going to get in return. The people who do that are growing so fast it makes my head spin.

I feel that I’m a pretty giving person but I see some other folks out there that just keep on giving, giving, giving and they just build up a huge following and that social capital is a real asset to your business. So you need to make sure that you’re contributing as much as possible to the conversation.

I don’t mean that as just go around randomly and try to help people. Within your specific task, your specific industry, the things you know well, you need to be at the forefront of letting people know how to do what you know how to do without charging them money at first.

They’ll come and find your site and your products and they’ll pay you for that as time goes on and their needs grow. With social networking you need to be building your reputation up first.

If somebody has a question, you should be one of the first people who answers and you need to answer without reservation not just, “Oh, I answered that in my eBook; go buy it”. They’re going to find your eBook if you just talk to them and give them solutions to the problem they are struggling with at that moment.

Give people your input, your encouragement for them to get better at what they are trying to do.

Any little quick free advice you can give, give it.

Actively Build Your Reputation With Social Networking And Reap The Rewards

You’ve got to be in this for the reason of having fun and really building that relationship. Dollars will come, there’s no doubt about that. But first, connect with people and really help them out. Understand that they’ll become loyal followers of what you do and see you for who you are.

Follow these 5 steps to building your reputation online and you’ll not only beat your competition, you’ll have more fun doing it!

Bob Jenkins teaches business owners how to use internet marketing strategies effectively to attract more customers and get more sales – without spending a fortune on advertising. Discover more ways to power your business with social networking at www.DiscoverSocialNetworking.com.

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Please leave comments below, and include links to your Twitter and Facebook profiles.

You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Ning.

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