Tackling Facebook Again, Peppered with some Marketing

In this article, Linda goes into depth with some of the new Facebook changes, which may help you promote your business in a more efficient manner in this medium

More to the Issue Than I Thought

In the previous issue, I mentioned the fact that Facebook recently had made some significant changes in their format. Thinking these issue might be self-explanatory, I was kindly told by several people that I was, in fact, wrong. In fact, it seems that Facebook might be going through a phase of constant fluctuation, where you may or may not be able to connect with several of your top priorities (such as lists) or find a business Page at Facebook.

If you already have a Facebook account and a Fan Page, all the better...it seems that the changes have affected most of those who already have accounts. But, I also will spend a little time on marketing yourself and your clients – why it is important, and why it is not as scary as you think – at least as long as you know what you are doing.

The First Email Request

The first email request went like this:

Hi Linda, Thanks for your excellent articles - they're great [Thanks!]. I have been trying to follow your example in Facebook – setting up a Page for one of my clients (a restaurant) and getting their clients to become a fan. However I am slowly getting them to be my friend rather than fans and don't like asking them to become fans – not sure if this would be considered spamming by FB. Being a restaurant (they don't have any 'give aways' and the economic climate here is bad enough without eating into the profits). And I cannot think of any suitable 'apps' to get developed. So I'd appreciate a couple of tips please.

There are several issues in the email above, and I'll tackle them one at a time.

1.First, it is not "bad" to ask your friends to become fans. In fact, if you have a friend base, this is the best way to get fans. You can send a direct message to folks and personalize it, or you can announce that you want fans for your client through the "What's on your mind" box on your profile page. Don't keep bugging people, of course, because one announcement usually is enough. I'll tell you why in a moment.

2.Don't be shy about asking, secondly. While it is understandable to be shy about asking people to follow YOU, you cannot afford to be shy to ask people to follow your client. That said, it wasn't until I received a second email from this person that I was able to get the name of the Facebook account from her that needed some support. As soon as I discovered it, I became a fan of that page. Why? Because I like to support people. And, it's no skin off my nose to support a page, although I am sending a message to my friends that I have joined a page. This is part of the viral effect...I often check to see which pages my friends have joined, and I'll check them out. If I like the site, I'll join as well. And, my friends do the same with my choices.

3.The issue about spamming Facebook is, basically, a non-issue unless you truly are setting about spamming Facebook. Most people caught spamming have been caught by the people being spammed. Unless you have a friend who is lurking about, waiting for any excuse for you to screw up to report you to Facebook, do not worry about becoming a spammer.

This spamming issue goes a bit too far sometimes, I think. This past week, one of my friends was concerned about responding too many times to one of my post at Facebook, because she thought she might be banned for writing more than two paragraphs in response to me.

This is hogwash, to put it bluntly.

I'm not talking about the spam that has been increasing on Facebook, thanks to phishers who have targeted Facebook in general. You can read about these issues here:

• Facebook, social networks, increasing source of spam, cyber attacks: The Washington Post tech article states that "of 500 companies surveyed, 60 percent said Facebook – by far the largest social network internationally – posed the biggest security risk.

• Finally: Facebook Silences App Notification Spam: This Read, Write, Web article stated that Facebook "deprecated 'application notifications' and will require apps to use other, less intrusive methods of sending news to users." Trust me, developers...if we want your apps, we'll find out about them through our friends. Or, you can run an ad on Facebook. I, for one, am grateful that all these notifications have stopped, as they were busying up a page that already was too busy.

• Facebook Fights Social Spam with "Mark You Don't Know" Response to Friend Requests:  This new "I don't Know" feature that is similar to the one used at LinkedIn can help alert Facebook to friend requests that may, indeed, be spam friend requests.

• Facebook awarded $711 million in spam lawsuit: Ok, here's an article that will tell you whether you are spamming or not when you ask your friends to become fans of a Facebook page. That request isn't anywhere near what Sanford Wallace – also known as "Spamford" – does with his canned spam.

So, you see that Facebook is dealing with professionals when they fight spam. You, for the most part, dear readers, probably are not professional spammers. Therefore, you do not need to worry much about being "caught" for spamming.