Facebook is in

Not long ago I saw a question about utilizing MySpace for promoting a website. The trend is that MySpace is out & Facebook is in. These statistics are from Jeremiah O’s blog:

• Over 150,000 registrants daily.
• Average visitor stays 20 minutes.
• Most growth is among people over age 25.

Each post in this series will give you an overview of using these sites followed by marketing ideas.

Facebook used to be limited to college students, but since they’ve opened it up to everyone, it’s being flooded. Professionals are using it to network in addition to people just connecting informally. Exchanging messages there is easier than email because they’re displayed in a logical way.

So after that background info, let’s get started!

Registration is easy & you can provide as much or as little info as you want.

There are two main pages that I use:

Profile Page

• wall - where people can leave you public messages that everyone sees
• friends list - click on a friend to send them a private message
• groups list - shows which groups that you belong to
• You’ll see that on my profile I also feed in our blog.

Home Page

News Feed - these list what your friends have done at Facebook

• you can see if they’ve joined new groups, updated their profile, added applications, etc
• Requests & Notifications are also here on right - these are things that people have invited you to do requiring action on your part
  • I don’t really get into the applications - so I tend them (like Ninja, Mardi Gras, etc)

*tip for finding people that you know: Once you have someone that you know as a friend, look at their friend list. Invite mutual friend’s to be your friend. This works well in Facebook & LinkedIn. Or if you see someone in a group that you’d like to befriend (due to the views they express), then invite them & add a personal note as to why you’re inviting them. Personally, I enjoy meeting new people & when people that I don’t know invite me I view it as an adventure. I haven’t had any trouble in Facebook with ‘yucky’ people or being harassed.

Feel free to add me as a friend - Connie Bensen

Facebook allows you to exchange public & private messages with friends. But the true value are the many groups that you can join. For example, I created an ACDSee group. Donna Pelletier created a Scrap Outside of the Box group. There are digiscrapping groups. So if you own a site - you could create your own. There is a field for News with live links, and a Discussion Board where threads can be started & people can contribute. There is also a wall where people can post messages.

Here is what the ACDSee group looks like. Under related groups, you can see digiscrapping groups & Donna’s Scrap Outside the Box group.

So, you may be asking why do this in Facebook when digiland has so many forums? As I mentioned above, it’s all about networking with people you know & those you don’t. It’s another place to connect people with your business too. And it’s fun!

Feel free to join the ACDSee group (whether you use the software or not). Browse thru my groups & see if there are any you’re interested in & click on them to join.

For additional reading - Jeremiah O’s post on Facebook

Leave a comment if you use Facebook or have more ideas on how to use it for promoting your business. I’d like this series to generate ideas that everyone can use.

Edited - Here’s a list of DigiScrapping groups at Facebook - I’ll add yours when you create it!

• Scrap Outside the Box
• Scrapbook-Bytes
  
• ACDSee
• Nuts4Digi
• Photo Walking with Hummie
• Butternug Squash Designs
• Ztampfans
• Missouri Digital Scrapbookers
• Minnesota Digital Scrapbookers - and area states
• Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild
• Dallas Digiscrappers
• Digi S4O - For people who digitally scrapbook for other people.
• Launch Pads Fanclub

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