The Idiot’s Guide To Marketing On Facebook: 7 Simple Steps To Help You Avoid “The Slap

Posted on | January 20, 2010 | No Comments

One of the greatest mis-uses of facebook is the incessant spamming…

Add a friend, and here it comes… the beast A.K.A the “endless stream of unsolicited offers”. These come often and unwanted, not unlike in-laws.

After that… they start sending you farmville requests, mafia war requests, and endless streams of useless, applications imaginable. I clean out my in-box every day of useless spam. And I refuse to impose “the beast” on others.

So, how can you make your time on facebook (or any other social networking site) efficient and profitable?

There are countless means and methods, and applications you can use that will make your mind swim. Here are some basics – the proven methods that don’t require re-invention of the wheel to get you started.

I’ll assume you’ve already set up your profile page with photos and info. This is what comes next.

1. The #1 Rule of engagement… don’t endlessly promote your business. Never, ever lead with your business opportunity. Your posts must give value that makes you stand out from the rest. Provide a 95% give away, and 5% take away. Give away valuable information, and then invite your readers to learn more by visiting your web-sites.

If your plan of facebook action is to endlessly push your ACN, or Trump Network, or MonaVie opportunity -or whatever other business you belong to, MLM or otherwise – you’ll get passed by, reported and likely slapped. Your lame attempts to build your MLM will be spit out before you see any return.

Realize this: People dont’ want to buy anything from you! They want a relationship – a face and a personality with whom they can build trust before they decide to buy anything.

2. It can be assumed you use facebook to network, and to that means you have to create a friend list. You don’t want to do this to aggressively – maybe 40-50 friend request per day. I’m not a big fan of automated programs like FriendBlasterPro. You can get flagged for too fast and/or too much activity, and repeat offenses lead to the slap.

Include a personal message in your friend requests. This slows the process down a little so you’re not as noticeable to facebook’s detection system. Copy and paste your messages, add the person’s first name, and ask them to respond on your profile page…

3. Where to find friends. As I work within network marketing, you might think the first place to seek friends is any group with a interest in network marketing. Wrong! Look for other entrepreneurial sites and fan pages. Less saturation there, and many of them are fellow networkers.

Find an author like Napoleon Hill’s fan page and begin there. Think of other books people with similar interests might like, and find a fan page, then follow step 2. Make a personal connection, build a relationship, and offer value in the way of education, training, words of wisdom, inspiration… it’s your call based on how you choose to brand yourself.

4. Video tagging. Not many people know how to use videos on facebook, but they are the most powerful means of creating a bond. If a picture is worth a thousand words, whats a video worth? Taking 30 seconds to introduce yourself and your personality makes you stand out in the crowd of people just typing messages. You want to be noticed, videos will do that.

5. Find your niche, build a group and invite people to join. The biggest advantages to managing your own group is that you are now in the position of marketing guru, and you can send messages to your entire group, instead of one at a time like the struggling masses you are emerging from.

This is a great place to advertise your affiliates from. Remember, as the leader of the group, you’re the one who knows the most. A lot of your suggestions will get noticed and you’ll find your affiliate commissions will increase significantly.

6. Market events. When you have webinars, and/or company webinars, you can send out event invitations to your group. If you’re using an auto-responder you’ll want to create a new campaign for events and have people sign up for those via that campaign opt-in form. This puts them into your lead funnel.

7. Keep committed. There is much to learn on marketing, and you must stay committed to the effort for several months before you start to see much response. Remember, you’re offering value, and building relationships. That will take time.

I’ve seen too many people start up, spend 2-3 weeks at it with little result and give up. If Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither will your marketing platform. Be prepared to work hard at your marketing for a minimum of 6 months – a year is better.

I purposely didn’t get into other facebook advertising methods, like connecting twitter to your facebook account to automate your tweets, using bookmarks, or paid advertising. Such methods are more advanced, and you need to learn to swim before you jump into the deep end. They’ll be there when you’re ready.

The basics will expand your following by generating your value in the eyes of your connections. Always keep in mind what facebook is for: creating and building relationships first. Be a resource, a sounding board and attract people to you.

Warren Smith uses low cost and free online advertising as a means of building his business, and helps others implement the same tools. You can access the his site and the same tools he uses for a 2 week trial period with 100% access, or visit his training blog for more articles on similar low cost marketing.

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