By Michele Scism
The Results Lady
Today we are going to talk about three mistakes that I see business owners making on Facebook. These are mistakes that are all happening on personal profiles. Remember your personal profile is prime real estate on Facebook.
1. Not Linking Your Employment to Your Fan Page
On your personal profile one of the very first things someone sees on the page is your place of employment. You will also notice that it is a clickable link and I think it is extremely important that this links to your fan page. First, I guess I am making an assumption that you have a fan page (or business page, as they are also called). If you do not have a fan page yet then that is a whole different discussion that you and I need to have. In the image below you will see the location I am talking about.
You populate this field when you click on “edit profile” and then “education and work”. When you are typing in the name of your business Facebook should automatically offer to populate that field with your fan page. If it doesn't (and remember it is only a computer program and definitely has glitches) click here to read an article about how to get around that.
Remember what our goal is – Too Make It As Easy As Possible For Our Ideal Clients To Find Us!!
2. Not Having a Link to Your Fan Page and Website on Your Info Page
I am a curious person, curious – nosey what's the difference, and as such when I meet someone new I want to know everything I can about them. I find them on Facebook and I look at their info page to find their 1. fan page (because most of the time it isn't linked as their employment) and 2. website and then I go visit their website etc. Unfortunately for a lot of business owners when I go to their info page there is no information to tell me what their website address is.
If you notice in the picture I have several links listed. There are links to a few of my programs, a link to my fan page and a link to my main site. You can put a lot of links in this section but Facebook will only display the first six so be sure they are the most important ones.
3. Not Expanding Your Network
At least once a week I have a discussion with someone who is concerned about using their personal profile to connect with clients and potential clients. This is a personal decision but I will tell you that I see Facebook as a profitable and powerful connection tool and as such I want to use it to it's fullest potential. So let me ask you a question – Do you have 5000 personal friends? Do you know anyone who has 5000 personal friends and family members (ok that they know)?
I think that Facebook gave us the ability to connect with 5000 people and we should do our best to make that happen. This is a social networking site – get out and network.
To those of you who argue that you want to keep this personal and private for your friends and family I say “sorry”. Whatever you put on Facebook is public information. Even if you try your hardest to keep your clients from seeing your personal profile there are ways to do it. Your posts are searchable on Google – what makes you think that's private.
Would you like to know more about how to use Facebook to promote your business and get more paying clients? How about how to use LinkedIn to get new clients? Click here to find out more!
Excellent article Michele.
Thanks Leanne and Cheryl – How are things going at WAHM Solutions? :))
Hey Roberta – How have you been? It has been a little while since we last talked. Oh by the way – I loved your last blog post – Our Service Sucks – We are stuck. LOL Great title and that is half the battle to getting people to read your blog. Thanks for stopping by. Michele
These are great tips, Michele. They are good reminders (I’ve one out of three!) for us to get cracking!
WooHoo Jeanette – You are awesome and definitely leading the way for others. :))
Great tips Michele. Especially liked what you said about the personal profile. I get that question a lot as well, for me I never worried about my friends because I was always very clear that I was using Facebook for business. And, honestly, most of my non-business-owner friends aren’t even using Facebook. I’ve often thought you need to decide how you’re using these social networking tools — if you want to use it for business, then use it for business and don’t worry so much about the personal side. And actually, how personal do you really want to get if you’re also using these tools for business and potential clients can see them?
Hey Thanks for stopping by Michele. I think it is one of those decisions that we as business owners must make. The potential business benefits well out weigh the personal sacrifice. I also think it is a discussion we will be having for a long time to come. LOL Whether it is with people who are just getting into social media for business or with some of those who have been around a while but just don’t see the potential. Thanks again and talk to you soon, Michele
Great article! I just double checked my personal profile and couldn’t believe I had left off the URL for my Facebook page. Doh! Thanks for the reminder.
Awesome Gloria – It is so easy to forget some really simple things. I was just watching a video from a so called “Social Media Guru” and when I went to his Facebook profile I couldn’t find a link to his fan page. Oh well. LOL Thanks, Michele
Michelle- great information. Simply put and to the point! I have been back and forth on the # of friends thing and choose to grow my business page first. If someone asks to connect with me I ask them to join my business page and I will join theirs. That way we can get to know one another. If they do not want to do this chances are they are not a good prospect for me. 🙂
I will re post on my Facebook Fan Page @ http://facebook.com/gettingmoreclients.
Hey Kathryn – Thanks for commenting on the post. You will always find that I like things simple and to the point. 🙂 I am going to go check out your fan page right now. Thanks, Michele
Your last comment made me laugh — isn’t that so typical of social media “gurus” making obvious social media gaffes? I don’t know what it is about social media but for some reason everyone who figures out how to open a Twitter account suddenly is an “expert” in social media. And the thing about social media — it’s the details that ALWAYS trip you up. With the constantly evolving platforms it’s tougher than it looks to actually be an expert and stay on top of what’s happening.
Your right Michele! Things are constantly changing and I just don’t know how someone can know it all. LOL
Michele, what a fabulous find I made when I came upon your blog! Scrambling to read some of your past posts which are so essential to me.
Great tips and insight.
Now I’m off to check out my own page and make sure everything is in order.
btw.. if more people would check and edit their own comments, blogs writings…{perfection, perfection..} they might be much more easily unserstood.
Thank you so much!
~Deborah
Hey Deborah – It’s really great to have you join us. I am glad you are enjoying the blog posts. :)) Michele