All social media relies on social interaction, but when you have a website you are on-line, therefore you need to be able to do this via a website. Whenever you see a social netwokring site that asks for a photo - Add it!

To effectively utilise these strategies and tools we need to know how to work with them.

Utilising the profile photo
With the profile photo that you use it should be consistent across all social networks so you can build a consistent Social Brand. The photo also should include you, preferably not a photo of a car or house, so they can see the person behind the profile. Also try and let them see your eyes (e.g. not wearing sunnies!) and your whole face so they can associate with you.

Utilising the Profile Information – Social networking sites have standard spaces for you to write about yourself. On facebook there is more space for telling people about you then other sites such as twitter. The more you put into your profile information the more likely someone is to interact with your profile. It will also attract more qualified and targeted people to your profile.

So when setting up your profile ensure that you upload photos of yourself, your family, your friends and some of your social activities.

Now the old saying - size matters is very true when it comes to social media. The size of your facebook network on is measured by the amount of friends you have, fans you have and also groups that you control. As well as size you also have to think about the type of friends you are adding.

You have to ensure that you understand your objective before you start with adding friends. Do you want them to be targeted friends or business acquaintances or do you want people to buy your product? You don’t want to just add friends and family if they are not going to be targeted buyers and this is your overall aim with facebook.

You could end up having 5000 friends on Facebook very quickly but none of them may be interested in what you are talking about, none of them may visit your site and none may buy from you. You need friends added who react to your information.

Friend building strategies
* Friend Poaching: This is a widely used strategy, especially by people who are new to internet marketing and Facebook. Friend poaching is simply where you find a competitor in your industry and go through his/her friend list and add them as friends of your Facebook account.

* Friend Group Activity: One of the major ways to build targeted friends is by joining groups that are relevant to your topic/industry. As well as joining the group you must be active in the group, write on the wall, comment on topics and regularly visit the group. This way people joining the group will notice your activity, and then add you as a friend as they feel you have value to give.

* Friend Group Building: This strategy is where you start the group and invite your friends to join the group. Then your friends invite their friends to join the group. As an administrator of the group you are able to promote to the members of that group via Facebook email and also have your profile in the news feed. This can result in a quick growth in friends

Love life, not just the weekends. You only have one life, Live It! @ www.NicciAndLee.com

Tags: facebook, social media

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 3:39 pm and is filed under internet marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.