At every technology conference I've been to in the last year, I'm told that I HAVE to be on Facebook to promote my business and that I NEED to be friending every prospect in the world to have them follow me.
I'm not WRONG, I just have a different opinion of the mainstream. Facebook has been such a personally wonderful experience for me. I got on to re-connect with old friends. I was very shy about it for the first year, not posting my picture and not really ever updating it. But after losing my brother and my step dad last year, I found a new appreciation for how important friends and family are, and the need to connect with those that were important to me. So I added my picture and within weeks was re-connecting with family, and friends from middle and high school. What a great experience it has been!
Anyone who has been on Facebook for a while knows "that person" who does nothing but update about work. "Closed another deal today", "Have important meetings with important people because I am SO important", yadda yadda yadda. And what do we do with those people, we hit the ignore button.
Don't get me wrong, I completely understand the delicate balance of the need to post light on business and focus more on engaging others, and letting a little personality come through, but here's the thing. My best friends and my potential prospects are a completely different audience. Plus I have Twitter, LinkedIn, my blog, ning websites, my website, AND the real world for business.
Yes, I know you can create subgroups in Facebook, but that seems like such a hassle to me. Every time I post (and I post more from my phone then my PC) I have to remember what the groups are what and who's in what group, etc. Forget that.
Having said all that, I still "behave" on Facebook. I don't engage in anything that I wouldn't say or do at a face to face networking event. But I do post pictures of my kids on FB, and it's fun to announce your excitement about leaving town for vacation for a week. But if I don't *really* know you - do you need to know that my home will be empty for a week?
Here's another concern about Facebook that I don't have with any of the others. Anything my friends post on my wall can be seen by potential clients. (Once again, restrict with permissions - but I think we beat that horse already). Come football season, my buddies get a little colorful with their posts. I don't do this but my potential clients don't need to see it.
My solution is simple. I use Facebook for FUN and LinkedIn, Twitter, ning.com sites, my blog, my website, and the real world for business. Once you understand Twitter, you'll see that it's a better vehicle for business than Facebook away. The same goes for LinkedIn.
To those who say I HAVE to be pimping my wares on facebook to everyone who will friend me, isn't it enough to be using those other mediums for that, and just keep Facebook as a simple place to get away from it all?
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