Social Media Marketing Connections

Are you struggling with your social media marketing?

Do you need to start connecting and automating your efforts to save time and reach more people?

Social Media Connections: Organize, Connect, Integrate and Automate

Once you get rolling with social media marketing campaigns, you will have numerous daily and weekly tasks which will clog your schedule and distract you from your other important marketing and business-building projects and tasks. There are four ways to avoid social media overwhelm and manage your social media to maximize your ROI, your return on the investment of your time and effort.

Organize

Believe me [voice of experience] when I say: “You’ll save yourself weeks, days and hours of time…and thousands of calories of comfort food, if you organize your social media marketing data.” Really.

I do two things: 1) keep an Excel workbook up-to-date with my “web data” and 2) use a password organizer, LastPass.

Social Media Marketing Data Tracking

Big gift with red wrapping paper and gold bow, just for your social media marketing organization:

SocialMediaMarketing_WebData_TrackingSheet

LastPass

Let the video tell you all about this handy dandy free tool.

Connect

Facebook Like Box

At your website, you can [and should! ] make it easy for your visitors to connect to you through social media–and easy to share your content with their social networks.

Use social media icons linked to your social networking sites to give your visitors the chance to keep in touch with you in other ways. You can also place badges, buttons and boxes on your website (for example, the Facebook LIKE box). In some cases, your website visitors will be able to LIKE your Facebook business page or follow you on Twitter without leaving your website.

Here’s an example from Social Biz Local Biz: –>

Social bookmarking is another way to enable easy sharing of your content and ideas. There are websites dedicated to facilitating the collection and sharing of bookmarks. There are many bookmarking sites but the “Big Three” that have the most potential to drive traffic to your website are StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicious.

StumbleUpon

Digg

Delicious

Integrate

Your website is your social media marketing hub. It’s the home base for your internet business and marketing efforts. Your primary social media marketing goal is to send all traffic from social networking and social bookmarking sites to your website for full access to your information, your blog  posts and articles. Your website is where your visitors will encounter your offers of products and/or services and where they’ll look for information that helps them make a buying decision.

One way to ensure your social networks see and follow your content back to your website is to integrate your blog with your social media sites. For instance, at Facebook and LinkedIn you can make sure that blog post excerpts show up with links back to full content. Each site has a different mechanism for integrating your blog. Two applications Daryl and I have used are SocialRSS and NetworkedBlogs. [In our Social Connections Intensive, we take you through the steps to integrate your blog with your Facebook business page and with your LinkedIn account. And if you don't have a Facebook page or LinkedIn account yet, we'll take you through those steps, too.]

See our Events Schedule for the next Social Connections Intensive.

Automate

The fourth way to save time and reach more people with your social media marketing is to automate some of your social media tasks. You can synchronize and schedule your status updates for social media sites using social media tools like Ping.fm and HootSuite.

To synchronize status updates across all your social media sites with Ping.fm you will initially input all your login information from each of your social media sites. [I told you your Social Media Marketing -- Web Data spreadsheet would come in handy! ] Then, when you have an important message to send out across your social media sites, you can do so with just one click.

Scheduling your status updates is the answer to taking control of your time and posting regularly across time and time zones, keeping the stream of information fresh and updated. You’ll be able to spend both business and personal time unharnessed from your electronic tools while your messages continue to flow into the stream. Working in the HootSuite dashboard, I post messages to multiple accounts; re-tweet across accounts; and schedule in bulk. HootSuite has some other exciting features which we will cover in later posts, tutorials and workshops.

Learn More about Social Media Connections and Get It Done!

Social Media Connections Webinar

In this fr*ee short webinar, you will learn:

– The 4 ways for you to work smarter and save time while you reach more people with your social media marketing.
– How to make it easy to connect with you and share with others.
–Handy tools to synchronize and schedule status updates at your social networks.
– How to post from anywhere … to anywhere

Click the link to register for the free webinar, Social Media Connections.

Social Media Connections Intensive

In this intensive one-day online workshop you will:

–Learn the elements of the Social Media Connections system and set up your accounts
–Set up your system to integrate your website and social media accounts
–Set up your system to synchronize and schedule your social status updates

In three webinar modules with work sessions between each module, you will put your new knowledge and skills to use immediately. You will always have help available to get over any technology hurdles. There is always a bonus Q & A call a few days after the intensive if you have any leftover questions or hiccups you run into after the workshop.

We have a Social Media Connections intensive workshop scheduled in August [2011] and you can check our Events Schedule to see when the next session will be. Get more details at the Social Media Connections intensive info. page.

To your great social media marketing success!

Kate

Related articles

• Scott Meis: Strategies to Use StumbleUpon Like a Pro | Position Blogging (positionblogging.com)
• How to Use StumbleUpon for Business (progressivemediaconcepts.com)
• How to Use Delicious: The King of Bookmarking (socialmediaexaminer.com)
• Social Bookmarking in Plain English (commoncraft.com)

Related posts:

• How to Do Internet Marketing
• 7 Ways to Build Your Home-Based Business with an Email Marketing Tool

Internet Marketing Strategies: A Simple Business Model for Your Business Online

Internet marketing strategies are powerful business success factors when they build on a simple business model and plan. There are three essential success factors for an internet marketing foundation for your business. They are the building blocks for establishing a successful online business enterprise:

1. Your Simple Business Model: how you’ll begin sharing your knowledge, experience and message–your Marketing Pipeline

2. Your Marketing Funnel: where your audience encounters your products, programs and/or services.

3. Your Business Development Plan: a blueprint and action plan for how you’ll build your business structure and your marketing and sales process over time.

Think of your business on the internet as needing a structure (like the framework of a new building or the shelving and equipment in a new retail store) and business processes (like the systems in a new home–plumbing, electrical, air conditioning). A simple business model is a blueprint for the start up of a new business and it includes the physical or technical requirements AND the processes and systems that operate the business, like marketing and sales and accounting (and more).

Your Internet Marketing Pipeline

Your business needs a blueprint for a simple business model to get started. You need to turn your internet marketing business ideas into a blueprint or map so you can see how people who don’t know about you and your business will:

• Find you.
• Get to know you and the information you offer.
• Be exposed to your offers.
• Convert to sales and become customers or clients.
• Refer new people to your services and/or products.

Illustration: Simple Business Model–A Marketing Pipeline

Internet Marketing Traffic Sources

One task of starting up an internet marketing business or system is to identify strategic sources of traffic by finding where your target market “hangs out” – the groups, communities, social networking sites, content sharing sites, blogs…where people in your target market go to find information and share with others online.

And don’t forget “offline” sources of traffic: your business networking meetings, paper marketing pieces like your business card and brochure that can send people to a web address, and  the sign-up sheet in your store where people sign up to get on your email list. Currently popular across generations is Facebook. If you have a traditional “bricks and mortar” business like a retail store, Facebook is a great place to reach people just like your current customers who aren’t living in your local area.

Internet Marketing Landing Page

A Landing Page is the place (or places) where you send traffic to opt in, enticing them with something you give away like free information (a DVD, a booklet, or a sample or your product or service), a Giveaway, in return for their contact information for your list. In the example above, where customers sign up on a list in a retail store, the Giveaway is the email sent to them containing information they want (e.g. sale notices or coupons). Your online marketing system should have web pages with forms where people sign up to receive something in return for their contact information. These sign up forms are called “opt in boxes” and are usually created in your email marketing program (AKA “autoresponder”) which automates the whole process of getting someone on your email list and sending out emails to everyone on your list.

List building is your highest priority internet marketing strategy to kick-start your Social Biz!

Internet Marketing Hub

Every internet marketing business system needs a hub, a central place to send prospective customers for valuable, new and helpful information. For most businesses, this means a web site (with a blog).  For the internet marketing start up and the best search engine optimization results (more people finding you online), we recommend WordPress. Your WordPress web site becomes your internet marketing hub by becoming the “go to” place for your content (blog posts, office hours, product descriptions or recommendations). It’s the place you send people (every time) from your emails, from your business card, from your direct mail and from other content you post online (e.g. video you post on YouTube and links you post or share at Facebook).

If you already have a web site for your business but you don’t have a blog, it’s simple to add a blog. Blogging will make your web site easier to find on the Internet. Every time you post content in your blog search engines will “index” it as a new web page. If you are strategic in how you structure that information, your information will be seen by people already searching the Internet, ready to buy what you offer.

Internet Marketing and Sales Funnel

Your internet marketing and sales funnel is the “place” where people encounter your product offers:

Free offer(s): Free valuable information that helps people in your target market address immediate questions or problems.

Starter offers: could also be free or inexpensive, samples or products that make it easy to get started with you (e.g. low cost information products, “door openers” and “lost leaders”).

“Always have something to invite people to” offers: a regular, on-going event that makes it predictable for people to meet you, get to know you better, encounter samples of your products and services and easy for people to bring along or refer new people (e.g. a personal trainer who hosts a healthy cooking demo once a month or a social media strategist who hosts a coffee Meetup and min-workshop once a month).

Make it easy to switch offers: products or services that will replace others your prospective customers already use but they switch because yours are more valuable or more convenient or come with valuable extras (like your customer service and bonus offers).

Core offers: the primary product or service or package of products and services you market online.

Internet Marketing and Social Biz Startup Kit (An Example in Practice)

Traffic: We gather new people from Twitter and Facebook, articles we publish online, Yahoo and LinkedIn groups and various other social media and content marketing sources. (Please come tweet with us at Twitter and “Like” us at Facebook.)

Landing Page: We currently have 3 places where people can opt in or subscribe–our Facebook custom welcome page; our Social Biz Startup Kit landing page;and  our blog for Social Biz Startup Kit.

Marketing Hub: We send people to the Social Biz Startup Kit web site as our central marketing hub.

Marketing/Sales Funnel:

1. Our Giveaway is a Social Biz Quick Start Checklist and Guide. We also do free monthly webinars. People who opt-in receive a regular email newsletter published each time we create new content including checklists, how-to articles, videos, etc.

2. Our Starter Offer is our Social Biz Quick Start Membership for beginners or our Social Biz Intensives for intermediate and advanced internet marketing topics.

3. Our Core Product is our Social Biz Startup Kit. We have a Premium Offer which combines the Social Biz Start Up Kit online marketing training with a package of other training and coaching products and services over a 12 month period.

Our online marketing training for small business focuses on your simple business model, your internet marketing pipeline and internet marketing and sales funnel in Module 2 of the Social Biz Startup Kit.

If you’re just getting started with internet marketing, focus on developing your first marketing pipeline and build your list and your relationships with list subscribers and social networking members. If you’ve already established your list-building process, begin work on your first paid product or service and the web pages to pre-sell it to your list.

To your great internet marketing success!

Daryl Lozupone and Kate Williams

Related posts:

• How to Do Internet Marketing
• 4 List Building Elements for Your Social Biz Start
• 7 Ways to Build Your Home-Based Business with an Email Marketing Tool

How to Do Internet Marketing:  Get the Internet Basics Right from the Start

You don’t get these basics right by reading about them or even watching a video. You have to DO them–and sometimes you have to get help (teacher, trainer, coach) to take you through the DO-ing a time or two. Get the internet marketing basics right from the start with internet marketing training and practice applying those skills.

Internet Marketing Success

Internet Marketing Basics

It is essential that you learn how to:

• Buy a domain
• Buy hosting
• Connect your hosting to your domain
• Upload your files to the Internet
• Get and use your email program
• Do some basic HTML editing
• Install and use WordPress
• Get started with PayPal
• Choose and then operate a Shopping Cart
• Use free tools at Google or Adwords to do keyword research
• Set up, operate and optimize social media marketing using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

Practice Your Internet Marketing Skills

Here’s some “grandmotherly” advice you’ve heard before: Practice Makes Perfect. Why not leap over the hurdles that keep you from getting started or stall your online business success? Why not get a hosting account (that allows unlimited domains) and put up a practice web site. Get into the c-panel and play around just for the practice, without the pressure to make money online now?

Getting Started with Internet Marketing

You will need to set up a few key pieces of your internet marketing system to get started with internet marketing:

• A product or a service
• A web site and/or a blog
  • A landing page
  • A sales page
  • A thank-you page (and/or download page if delivering an information product file)
• An email program auto-responder
• A payment system (starting with PayPal and then adding a shopping cart later, if needed)
• Traffic strategies

Internet Marketing Training

Internet Marketing Training

If you are looking for some orderly, step-by-step help to get started with setting up the basic systems for internet marketing (or to get started AGAIN with better results), sign up for our mailing list to get our fr*ee guide: Social Biz Quick Start Guide. You’ll also get monthly follow up tips, checklists and internet marketing and social media marketing strategies and plans to add to your small business plan and action steps.

Signed up? Great! Now take a look at our Social Biz Quick Start Membership. You will be amazed at the help you’ll get for an incredible low price (just $9.00 a month). This is a great value:  An additional monthly newsletter and a training call, a forum where you can interact with other members and Kate and Daryl, access to a monthly all-clients Q & A call, and lots and lots of practical guidance. Get everything you need to get started without breaking the bank.

There’s more if you explore the site here. If you are ready for a lot more training and a lot more support, check out our Social Biz Startup Kit information page and take a look at our schedule of intensives for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

To your success with internet marketing!

Take Payments Online

To make money online, you have to be able to take money online.

One of the most important aspects of your business is the payment process. Let’s face it, we are all in business to make money! To make money, you need a product or service and a way for your customer or client to pay you–a way to take payments online.

Without a clear, well-defined payment process, you will be missing out on sales.

The Elements of the Payment Process

The payment process has the following elements:

1. Sales Page
2. Upsell/Downsell Page (optional)
3. Payment Processor
4. Post Sale Page

Let’s take a look at each one individually.

The Sales Page

The sales page is arguably the most important part of this system. This is where your customers make the final decision to part with their hard-earned money for your products and services. It includes a product description, a clear call to action, and pricing information at the bare minimum. There are many types of sales pages that you can use, depending upon the nature of your business.

If you sell scooter parts, then a shopping cart program is your best bet. You are going to have numerous products available, and creating individual sales pages for each item will be time prohibitive. The shopping cart software will allow you to enter products, pricing, descriptions, etc., and the cart will take care of dynamically creating the pages for the individual items based on one overall template.

If you are selling just one product, such as an information product, then a single sales page is all you will need. There are many forms this can take, from the long form sales letter with testimonials and in-depth product descriptions all the way to a simple page with just a product name, price, and “Buy Now” button.

The Upsell/Downsell Page

“Do you want to super-size that?” is the classic example of the Upsell process. It is where you add profit to your business while the customer is already spending money with you. You simply suggest other products you offer that enhance the current purchase. For example: if you sell group coaching packages, you could offer an upsell of individual sessions in addition to the group sessions.

The reason this is optional is twofold. One, you may not have other offerings to use in an upsell. Two, many consumers find this to be a turn-off. When used properly, it can be very effective.

Simply have one page that describes the upsell, with a clear “Yes, I want the Deluxe package” purchase link and a “No, thanks” link for the original item. Then take them to the payment processor.

The Payment Processor

This is where the purchaser actually transfers funds to you in exchange for your products and services. There are many online payment processors available for your use. Your choice depends upon a number of factors related to your business model and the nature of your products and services.

The Post-Sale Page

Once the financial transaction has taken place, you should take your customers to a page that tells them the next step. The nature of this page once again depends upon what you have just sold to your customer. The most important function this page performs is to set your customer’s expectations as to how the sales process will be completed.

If you are selling coaching, you should take them to a page where they can sign up for a session time. For an information product, you should either take them to a page where they can download the product or (if you are emailing it to them for example) tell them that they will be receiving an email with instructions to get the product.

Video Presentation: Start Collecting Payments Online

Webinar Audio for Download

Start Collecting Payments Online

Webinar Slides

Start Collecting Payments Online – Webinar Slides (PDF)

Please enjoy the recordings and pick up a copy of the slides. If you would like to spend the day with us, Friday, June 3, in our Intensive, an online workshop, here’s some information about what you will know and be able to do–click here: Start Collecting Payments Online (with PayPal).

Putting It All Together

With a clear idea of each of the elements and how they work together, all that’s left is the mechanics. The first, easiest place to get started and take payments online is to start with PayPal.

Daryl Lozupone will be presenting a Virtual Intensive, a workshop that will take you A-Z of how to take payments online. Get started started selling your products online!

For more information about the Intensive, click  –> Start Collecting Payments Online.

And please, share this information in your favorite places to bookmark or share with others on social sites.

Related posts:

• Three Essential Elements for a Social Biz Foundation
• 4 List Building Elements for Your Social Biz Start

Successful Small Business Marketing: Three Essential Elements for a Social Biz Foundation

Whether you are a small business owner, solo entrepreneur working, or internet marketer, there are three essential success factors, the elements for establishing a successful online presence and business enterprise:

1. You: your knowledge, experience and message.
2. Your audience: your target market
3. Your solutions: your products, programs and/or services

Your highest priority task is to identify (or review) your story and message, the market that is the audience for your message, the problems your market is seeking solutions for, and what you offer as solutions for your market.

Target Market or Niche?

Don’t let semantics get in the way of the real work to do here: defining the Who, What, When, Why and How for your business enterprise. Whether you can explain the concepts—target market or niche—is not very important. Answering these questions is important:

What essential knowledge, experience and message do I bring to my new business?
Who will benefit most from my knowledge, experience and message?
If my aim is to reach and influence as many people as possible with the benefits I bring to my market, which specific group of people sit in the center of my marketing bulls eye? What do I know about them?
Why are the people in my target market going to choose me and my business? My products? My services? What distinguishes my business from others?
How am I going to reach people in my target market? How will I follow up? How will people buy from my business? How will I provide customer service and support?

Business Stability

Business stability is the primary result of a well-built Social Biz foundation. Your initial “three-legged stool” will provide the foundation for all the other layers of your business. You’ll put the pieces into place and then launch into marketing and sales, repeating what works over and over to generate business development income. Once you establish one stable “always on” income stream, you’ll be able to move on to the next….and as many new income streams as you have the time and energy for in your business future.

Social Biz Startup

In Module 1 of our Social Biz Startup Kit, we address Your Social Biz Foundation. You will focus your attention and action to:

• Choose a business focus for one income stream.
• Define who you will serve in this enterprise.
• Discover their problems.
• Create solutions in the form of product, service or program.
• Put up a web site that adds value, captures leads and makes money.
• Incorporate social media in your marketing plan.
• Identify partners for marketing and cross-promotion.
• Focus on business excellence and service.

We hope you’ll join us to build a stable foundation for your Social Biz. (For more information about how our Social Biz Startup Kit provides you with the process and tools to establish a stable income stream and small business startup foundation, see our info page….)

Related posts:

• 4 List Building Elements for Your Social Biz Start

Facebook “Friendship”: The Facebook Song

Facebook Etiquette: Facebook Manners and You

Facebook Privacy: Facebook Fever!

Related posts:

• Balancing Personal & Professional: Using Lists at Facebook

It’s not always easy to keep clear boundaries between professional, personal and private at Facebook.

One way to ensure you keep some balance and boundaries is to use Lists, or Friend Lists as they’re sometimes called.

Creating and using Lists will help you: 1) reduce clutter/noise on your screen (see video for details); 2) keep you up to date with your primary contacts (better than using your News Feed); and 4) help you post status updates that reach particular lists rather than posting everything for everybody to see and read.

Choosing Who Sees What by Using Lists at Facebook

What are Friend Lists, and how do I create them?
Friend Lists are a way to organize your list of friends on Facebook and to target privacy settings.
You can also filter your view of each list’s stream of activity separately on the home page.

To create and customize your own Friend Lists, please follow these steps:
1. Go to the Friends page. Click the Account drop-down at the top of any page, and then click on “Edit Friends.” (Or at your Home page, click on Friends in left hand side bar menu.)

2. Click the Create New List button at the top of the page to create a new list, or type the name of a friend in the left-side search field to add a friend to an existing list. You can also click on an existing Friend List on the the left-side of the page, and then click on the Edit List button.

How to “Share” Facebook Content with a List

To delete a Friend List, first select the list from the Friends page. After making your selection, the “Delete List” option will appear at the top of the page.

How many Friend Lists can I have?
You can have up to 100 Friend Lists.

How do I add someone to a Friend List when I send a friend request?
You can add someone to a Friend List when you send him or her a friend request. That way, if they confirm your request, they will be automatically placed into the designated Friend List and will follow all of the privacy settings you have set for the Friend List.

To add someone to a Friend List when you send a friend request, please follow the steps below:

1. Click “Add to Friends.”

2. Select “Add to List.”

3. Use the Drop-down menu to select a Friend List that you have already created or select “Creat List…” if you want to make a new Friend List for this person.

4. Click “Send Request.”

To prevent users on this list from seeing certain content, please follow the steps below:

1. Click the “privacy Settings” option in the Settings drop-down menu at the top of any Facebook page.

2. Go to the Profile Information section.

3. Select any Profile privacy setting and click “Customize.”

4. Enter the name of your limited profile friend list in the “Hide this from these people” section to restrict these users from viewing the profile content you selected.

The Q & A above is from Facebook’s Help pages. For more just like this: Go to Facebook’s Help Center — or type “Help” into the search box at Facebook.

Related articles

• How to Combine Your Facebook Profile for Both Business and Pleasure (e1evation.com)
• Facebook 101 Business Guide | Social Media Examiner (socialmediaexaminer.com)

Related posts:

• Facebook and Your Social Biz
• Shake ‘n’ Bake a Spicy Social Profile
• 4 List Building Elements for Your Social Biz Start

Getting Started

When starting a website, one of the fundamental questions is what platform to use. Do you want to build a website from scratch, or are you looking for a content management system (CMS) that will handle a lot of the technical issues and allow you to focus on creating content?

Most people choose the CMS approach. It allows them to get up and running more quickly than building a website from scratch (or contracting someone to build it for them).

The question then becomes which CMS should you use. There are many out there. But my answer is always, unequivocally, WordPress.

Why WordPress?

There’s a multitude of reasons why WordPress is your best choice. But they can be summarized into three main points:

1. Resources and Support

According to trends.builtwith.com, WordPress is currently used on approximately 82% of all websites powered by blogging software. Because of this, there are a huge number of addons (called plugins) and themes available for WordPress. Want to show video on your site? Add a plugin. Want to integrate with your autoresponder? There is most likely a plugin for that. Want to change the look and layout of your site? Find a different theme.

With so many websites out there using WordPress, you can rest assured someone has tried to do what you want to do and has a solution you can incorporate into your site.

2. Ease of use

Creating websites, whether a blog or more traditional website, is easy  with WordPress. Simply configure a few settings (we recommend the WordPress Beginner’s Checklist to guide you), write content, and market your website address.

If you have used a word-processor before, this is a breeze. And if you have not, you will still be creating posts and pages in no time.

3. Open Source

WordPress is open source software. What that means is the software is free (as in money) to use and free to modify to your heart’s content. There is no fee to use the software (although you will most likely have to pay web hosting fees to have a place to house your website). And you get access to the actual source code used to make the software work.

That second point may seem irrelevant if you are not inclined to be a programmer, but it has implications for you. Open Source software (where source code is available to everyone) tends to be much more secure than closed source alternatives. The reason is that security vulnerabilities are found much more quickly simply because there are so many people examining the code. And the WordPress developers are very quick to respond to fix any holes that are found.

WordPress is a no-brainer

With WordPress’ wide community support, the abundance of themes and plugins available, and strong security, choosing WordPress to power your internet hub is the easiest decision you will have to make in your business.

See Section 4 of the “Social Biz Quick Start Guide for Network Marketing Entrepreneurs” . What, don’t have the Quick Start Guide yet? Just sign up under the red arrow at the top right part of our Home page!

And, if you enjoyed this article, please use the buttons at the top to share with others. Thanks!

Your Social Biz and Facebook

Facebook has over 500 million members (as of this writing, Oct. 2010). It’s not only a great place to connect with family and friends, it’s a “destination” networking site for people to share information and engage with companies and brands.  Think of Facebook as the temporary apartment you move to in the same neighborhood where you are building a house (your WordPress blog). And when your house/blog becomes the central hub for your marketing, Facebook shifts to become an “outpost” or “embassy” in your marketing world.

“Facebook is a platform, a medium, and a killer app. It’s contagious, infectious, and viral–but in the best meaning of those words.” –Elliot Schrage, Facebook.com

CAUTION: Facebook might not be yours forever.

Facebook is a tool. Use it to attract people and connect with people, but always direct people to your own web site.

You can’t trust that Facebook is “forever”. What if your Facebook account is banned (it happens)? What if your account disappears (for days or weeks–it has happened)? Your own web site is the only web real estate that is your own. Don’t run the risk of being stranded and permanently separated from your network.

Start with a Facebook Profile

Your Facebook profile is where all your social networking begins. You present yourself with your own unique profile. A Facebook profile is meant for individuals only. When you sign up for a Facebook account, your profile is automatically created. Your profile is never shared with another person and no business or other entity should have a profile.

You can’t do anything else at Facebook–join groups, manage a business page, promote events, etc.–without setting up a Facebook account as a first step.

To get started at Facebook:

1. create an account;
2. start to add a variety of content to your Facebook profile: your picture, information at your Info tab, photos, videos, and frequent posts to your Wall;
3. find new people to connect with; and
4. engage people in conversation.

Create a Facebook personal profile and later add a Facebook Page for your business. Use your Facebook profile to connect with friends and practice interacting online with your “warm market”.  Add new contacts (Facebook friends) and learn how to engage them in conversation.

The primary business purpose of developing a Facebook profile is to attract people and get them interested enough to visit your web site. Share information and showcase your expertise. Show up as authentically and uniquely you. Find ways to get into conversation with people, on your Wall, through private messaging and eventually using Skype or the telephone to have a conversation.

A Facebook Page is for Business

Facebook pages used to be called fan pages and they were created by Facebook to give businesses a space so they wouldn’t create profiles, which Facebook reserves for individual people.

Keep your profile personal and create a page for your business.

Facebook pages are indexed by Google and they are public. If someone searches for your business or for the search terms/keywords that you use on your Facebook business page, your page will show up in Google search results.

Set up and fill out a Facebook page with an appropriate page name, your logo as the photo for the page and business information. Sprinkle with your business keywords/search terms. Add some content (posts to your Wall, video, photos, etc.). Then, promote your page and engage your customers and fans/friends (people will “like” your page in current Facebook language).

Make your Facebook business page work together with your personal profile to raise “brand awareness.” Brand Awareness= who you are; your passions and interests; your values and strengths; and how your strengths, interests and passions express themselves in your business.

For your Facebook action plan, see Section 2 of the “Social Biz Quick Start Guide for Network Marketing Entrepreneurs” . What, don’t have the Quick Start Guide yet? Just sign up under the red arrow at the top right part of our Home page!

And, if you enjoyed this article, please use the buttons at the top to share with others. Thanks!

*Affiliate links are designated with *.

Related posts:

• Shake ‘n’ Bake a Spicy Social Profile
• 3 Things To Never Do With Your Social Networking Profile
• 4 List Building Elements for Your Social Biz Start

Your Social Biz Profile

Your profile is your representative on the web, an embassy with the purpose of introducing yourself to people and making an initial connection. It needs to be personable and warm and a tiny slice of the story of what your business offers prospective customers and business partners. It needs to be written in your “voice”, genuinely you. This is the beginning of building a relationship with people who need to know, like and trust you.

What’s Your Story?

What is the story (or stories) that will paint a picture of you for the visitors to your Social Biz profile or your About Me page of your web site? What can you tell them about the story of you leading up to your choice to start your business? What will you say about why you do the work you do?

Communicate your story in what you write in the Info part of your Facebook Profile and on the About Me or About Us part of your web site. See if you can add some of the spice that fiction writers use to capture their readers. People like to read a short lead in or introduction that captures their interest moving into a description of a conflict (a problem that needs a solution, a situation that needs to change) followed by a resolution.

Interest is King–Authenticity is Queen–Timing is the Joker

The purpose of telling your story is to establish a connection with your web page visitors so they begin the process of knowing, liking and trusting you. This is just the first step, so avoid the faux pas some marketers (TOO many) make by trying to sell something at this point. It would be like going to a party and jumping from greeting someone you’ve never met before to pulling out a megaphone and yelling into it, “Please buy something from me!” That’s why I said, “Timing is the joker.” It’s the Wild Card that can be worth top value, or lose you the game.

Ask your friends to read what you’ve written, grow a thick skin and let them tear it apart. Don’t let them pass with faint, vague praise. Make sure to ask them what they think sets you apart, makes you memorable and gives your perspectives a unique flavor. A fun and easy way to do this is to send five friends a funny or inspiring greeting card and ask them to send it back with a list of your five greatest strengths or unique/memorable qualities. Incorporate this feedback in your story.

You Snooze, You Lose

Do not put people to sleep with a boring story that reads like a resume with lists of facts. Engage your social media and web site visitors with compelling words and concise statements that reveal your passion for your business and let your personality and individual perspective shine through your words.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to please everyone. Think about this: Who are the RIGHT people, the kind of people you’d most like to join your network of friends and colleagues at social media sites? Who do you know that would be your ideal strategic ally or ideal client or customer?

Write your story for that person, just the one.

A Recipe

Here’s a Recipe for a Great Bio from the “never boring, always unique” Nancy S. Jeutten’s “Bye-Bye Boring Bio” Action Guide*:

• Stunning results
• Succinct stories
• Sassy soundbites
• Social information to help ideal clients connect with you

Tasks for You

Sketch out your story, the story of you and the events that shaped you and headed you in the direction you are headed in your business right now.

Create a long bio and a short bio that is short and focused on what you offer in the niche you have chosen (Your WHAT plus your WHY).

Choose a picture of you that is flattering and looks genuinely like you to load up at each site where you create a social media profile. (Use your picture on your Facebook Profile, your logo for your Facebook business page. More about this in a near future email.)

Is it time for a review? If you already have established social media profiles, maybe it’s time for a review to ensure you have a spicy, juicy profile/bio that connects with your ideal friend, strategic alliance partner, and client/customer.

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• 3 Things To Never Do With Your Social Networking Profile
• 4 List Building Elements for Your Social Biz Start