Building a Network of Friends and Colleagues on Facebook is Easy!

For marketing and networking purposes, Facebook is an effective and easy tool to use.  Why? Because the site offers its members the opportunity to connect with others using not only personal, but professional profiling as well. 

The whole idea behind social marketing is to get connected with others. Your goal, however, is to get connected with the *right* people and one of the best ways to do that is to focus on your profile. Make sure you fill out every single box in your profile so that you have the maximum number of ‘intersection’ points possible.

For instance, if you say you are interested in photography, that’s fine, but expand your reach by talking about your love for chocolate chip cookies, your passion for horseback riding, your appreciation of French cuisine and your desire to learn to crotchet.  Any--or all--of these could attract others to you.  By limiting yourself to just one or two areas, you are limiting the number of people that may want to contact you.

The beauty of FB is that you can easily access your friend’s friends, and the friends of your friend’s friends, by simply writing on their walls or asking probing questions about an area you are passionate about.  Before too long, you will have collected an entire set of contacts who, like you, adore mountain climbing. Or French cooking. Or skiing. The possibilities are endless.

You will also want to find several groups to join. Alternatively, you may want to create you own community by sharing information about the housing market, offering tips on keeping your computers virus-free, traveling in Europe, publishing an e-book and so on. If you are able to connect with a group (or groups) of individuals who share similar interests, chances are that you will establish a relationship with at least several members. And once you have a dialogue going, you can let people know that you are looking for a position as a software developer. Or a marketing specialist, or……

But, be careful not to make it all about you.  Ask questions of others, solicit their advice and feedback and show them that you care.  Remember the saying: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care! Apply this to your social networking efforts, and you’ll soon realize the benefits.