The face of social networking was changed forever when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg came up with the concept. No one may have paid him much notice during those early days, but there is no doubt that Facebook is the premier social networking web site today. Heck, there’s even a movie about his life (and Facebook, of course) that’s about to be released!
The beauty of Facebook is that it can be used not only for personal purposes, but for business as well. I don’t know the exact numbers, but one can easily realize just how many businesses are on Facebook. Web sites, blogs, services, and product manufacturers have all joined the Facebook fray and created their own pages.
Whether you’re using Facebook for personal purposes or with commercial intent, there is one thing that you are sure to be “obsessed” about: making more friends. We all know how more friends means more exposure, which is integral to getting the word out about your business or your personal goals/endeavors. Whatever your reason for needing more friends on Facebook, take a look at these effective tips to achieve your goal.
Pay attention to Facebook’s suggestions.
Some people take these suggestions for granted, but you can increase your network greatly simply by taking a look at what Facebook is saying. It is true that sometimes, the suggestions are far off the mark, but it does the job pretty well most of the time. How does Facebook come up with suggestions? It takes a look at the people you know (connected with on Facebook) and makes connections between them. Even if you do not personally know some of the people being suggested to you, you never know – you just might meet them in the near future! If networking is what you’re after, follow these suggestions! Of course, you should not simply send an add request. It is but polite to include a short introduction – how you found them and why you want to add them as friends.
Use Friend Finder.
You have probably noticed the ad for Friend Finder that shows up periodically on your profile (the right side). If you are serious about getting more Facebook friends, do not ignore this. It will ask you to access your e-mail address book so that you can check out your contacts who may have joined Facebook – contacts that you may not have added as friends yet.
Take a break. Play some games!
I am not suggesting this simply because I cannot get enough of Facebook games. Yeah, Zynga rocks! The fact of the matter is that you can take advantage of the games on Facebook. A LOT of people play these games, and perhaps 95% of these players are people you do not know. Can you see where I am going with this? Countless people on Facebook who like playing games. Countless people that you don’t know.
If you pick several games which you can “play” every now and then, you can actually make new friends. You might be surprised at how much this can help augment your Facebook friends list.
WORD OR WARNING: Don’t lose sight of your goal and get all addicted to the games. Remember that you are doing this for a purpose: to widen your network!
Be part of networks.
It is social networking after all, isn’t it? What I am talking about is the network feature that Facebook users can use to become part of certain groups. Take a look at the image below, so that you can find where to add networks.
Much like in real life, you can find so many like-minded people simply by joining networks. You may join networks that are based on the following: workplace, region, high school, or college.
“Like” other pages.
The concept is similar to joining networks as described in the previous section. The difference is that you actually search for businesses, causes, web sites, etc. which have Facebook pages. You can then click on the LIKE button found at the top of the page’s profile. Don’t stop there, though. Make sure that you actually like that page and that you interact with the other fans. Leave comments, like wall posts, and so on. This is simply another way of making your presence felt. Of course, don’t forget the end goal: to make new friends and add them to your Facebook list.
Provide incentives.
This is more applicable to business/web site pages on Facebook. What you can do to encourage more people to join your page is to hold contests. Post details on your wall, and ask your fans/friends to share the news with their own network of friends. Just imagine, if you have 20 friends and each of these can spread the word to 20 more, you’ll be increasing your friend count in no time. (That’s a very conservative estimate, as you can surmise.)
Customize your Facebook profile link.
Facebook automatically assigns a permanent link to your profile. This is usually made up of a combination of numbers and letters, which do not mean anything and do not have recall value. To make it easier on people to remember your profile name – as well as to make it easier for people to discover your profile by searching – change your profile name.
How to do this? Click on My Account and then Settings. Click on Username. This will give you the available options for your username. Make sure that you choose something that is closely associated with your brand.
Don’t limit yourself to Facebook.
Your goal is to get more people on your Facebook friends’ list, but that does not mean that you should forget outside sources. What you ought to do is announce to the whole world that you have a Facebook page and that you would like them to join. Add your Facebook link to your e-mail signature, to your web site or blog, and so on.