As with many other ‘Web 2.0 sites’, Facebook can be utilised well or it can be used badly (and eat up your time). Used well, it can transform your design business! So let’s look at the top 5 ways to maximize your success with Facebook.

100% Your Profile

As with any social media site, people want to get to know you. Top Sales professionals will tell you that “people buy from people”. By completing your profile, your contacts have an opportunity to build a better picture of you. You’ll come across as a more rounded individual and not someone who’s just there to sell something.

Add Loooooooads of Value

As you build up a network of “friends” on Facebook, bear in mind that they’ll see what you’re doing in their news feed whenever and wherever they login. If they always see useful stuff from you, they’ll start to feel an affinity to you and be more likely to use you when the time is right.

Be a bit creative about how you add value. Sometimes it’ll be through a simple link to your blog or your portfolio. You might create a useful video or slideshow or other presentation of your work.

Use Stacks of Photos

Use a good photo of yourself in your profile. Illustrative ones can be humerous but i’m convinced that people want to know the real you. Facebook also allows you to create photo albums to share your photos. Use these albums to share both business and personal photos as this again helps you to seem human and to make your friends seem part of your inner circle. Check out Matt Bacak on Facebook to see how a real Facebook master does this!

Use The News

You’ll notice on your Facebook homepage, you have a news feed from all your friends. Don’t ignore this. It can be incredibly valuable for finding ways to add value! Maybe you see something from one of your friends that you can share with the rest of your network. Possibly there’s something there that you can learn from (if so, remember to say “thanks”) More often, there’s simply something in there where you feel you can add value through a comment.

Which brings us finally and neatly onto…

Comment Often and Lots (and often)

Comments are a great way to interact without needing to come up with something new all the time. Which is difficult for us designer types. It tells the person that you’re commenting on that you care enough about them to read their stuff, and it exposes you to their network of friends! If you always strive to add value through comments, this can be a great way to increase your network.

So there you go. Food for thought no doubt. But these tips only scratch the surface of using Facebook for business. Once you start using them, you’ll have a strong foundation for your marketing efforts that you can build upon with more advanced strategies. Good look getting more design work.