personal profile, there are several key networking components. The most popular is arguably the Wall, which is essentially a virtual bulletin board. Messages left on a member's Wall can be text, video or photos. Another popular component is the virtual Photo Album. Photos can be uploaded from the desktop or directly from a smartphone camera. There is no limitation on quantity, but Facebook staff will remove inappropriate or copyrighted images. An interactive album feature allows the member's contacts (who are generically called "friends") to comment on each other's photos and identify (tag) people in the photos. Another popular profile component is status updates, a microblogging feature that allows members to broadcast short Twitter-like announcements to their friends. All interactions are published in a news feed, which is distributed in real-time to the member's friends.
Do you have a Facebook profile? Do you use it strictly for personal communications? Facebook personal pages are usually used that way, personally. If that’s the case with you, it’s wise to limit who can see that profile to your close friends and family. Be cautious about who you include in your list of accepted friends. Take advantage of Facebook’s Privacy Settings and consider the setting where only the friends you have accepted can see your posts. Or, create separate lists of your contacts and use Facebook’s list feature to determine who sees which postings.
If you are in a type of business where you do business with friends or the typical demographic of people on Facebook, this may not be an issue for you. If it is, but you do want to communicate with potential and existing clients via Facebook, consider setting up a Fan Page separate from your personal page. Fan pages can be a better option for businesses, brands, and organizations. It’s not a bad idea to keep your personal posts personal but keep a separate presence on Facebook for business purposes. After all, when you have a powerful, positive presence online you do want to be found. If your company already has a Facebook Fan Page, learn the company’s policy on who can post and what can be posted there, and watch what’s posted there. There’s little worse than having a potential client ask you about a recent social media post and you not knowing what they’re talking about.
What would you post on your own Facebook Fan page?
Your company logo (if the company you work with is ok with that)
How to contact you directly and the hours you’re available
Pictures of your products
Photos of yourself in business settings
Interesting information about your industry
Fun facts about the benefits of your product
Testimonials from satisfied clients
New product information
Videos relating to your business or services
Special offers your business is running. Coupons, discounts, and so on.
Awards you or your products win
Personal accomplishments that apply such as if you represent health products and have achieved a personal health goal using them
Questions you would pose to existing clients to get and keep them talking positively about your company or products
Facebook allows room on a fan page for what they call a “cover photo.” This is where you’d want to show yourself or your product in action, or perhaps provide a great testimonial from a happy client over a professional photo. Creating something like this takes a bit of graphic design experience, and possibly the use of some graphic design or photo software. If you’re not confident in your skills, ask around. There are bound to be some people in your sphere of influence who can direct you or maybe even do it for you. There are online services such as Fiverr where designers offer services very economically and can complete projects quickly.
You would build your fan base through promotions and by invitation. Inviting existing clients to “Like” and “Follow” your fan page allows them to see the information you post in their home feeds. You might also create some promotions to capture the interest of potential clients and get them following your fan page as well. Look to the examples of big corporations in or related to your industry for other ideas of how to grow your fan base.
Who’s on Facebook?
According to Statista, as of January 2017, the distribution of Facebook users in the United States was as follows:
| Ages | Percent of Facebook Users in this Age Group |
| 13-17 | 1% - 2% |
| 18 – 24 | 9% |
| 25 – 34 | 13% |
| 35-44 | 9% - 10% |
| 45 – 54 | 7% - 9% |
| 55 – 64 | 2% - 5% |
| 65+ | 4% - 6% |
If your ideal client is in that 25 – 34 age range, you may find them, or get their attention there.
One of the great features of Facebook advertising is the ability to define your demographic. In Tom’s case, an example of that might be 25-to-34-year-old Entrepreneurial men a specific geographical area where he holds training, whose primary language is English, and who have an interest in Sales. The result using the city of Phoenix, Arizona as an example is approximately 45,000. Depending on who you are and how large your business is, that might seem to be an extremely large number. However, the quick search we did narrowed Facebook’s approximate 1.73 billion users down quite a bit, didn’t it?
2. Twitter
Again, referring to WhatIs.com: Twitter is a free social networking microblogging service that allows registered members to broadcast short posts called tweets. Twitter members can broadcast tweets and follow other users' tweets by using multiple platforms and devices.
When you set up a Twitter account, you give yourself a name which is called a “handle.” In the cases of your authors they are: @TomHopkinsSales and @DanPortik. If your name is common, it may already be taken as a Twitter handle by someone else. You may have to add a number or identifier, as Tom did, in order to establish your place in the world of Twitter.
Millions of people rely on the instantaneous nature of Twitter for news and updates on people and causes they care about. If, among your group of friends on Twitter, you enjoy sharing commentaries, be aware that the default settings for Twitter are public. Your comments about religion, politics, and sometimes sports could be viewed negatively by clients. Granted, you’re entitled to your opinion and to express it. Just decide whether you’d speak what you tweet if you were in a room with your ideal clients. If you have strong feelings that might alienate potential clients, consider having a separate Twitter account where only your close friends who share the same feelings know and use that Twitter handle when they reference you.
Regarding photos, Twitter offers space for both a profile photo and what they call a “header photo.” The “header” is like Facebook’s “cover photo” mentioned above. However, they require high resolution images in specific dimensions. You’ll need to comply with their specifications or your photos won’t upload.
Twitter also has options for reaching your audience demographic. Once you establish a pattern of following
