12 Guidelines for Using Facebook to Build Business without Losing Your Friends

Being invited to visit someone’s Facebook page as a ‘Friend’ is no different than being invited into their living room, or meeting them at a party.  Behavior that would be inappropriate in social settings face to face, is inappropriate on Facebook and other social marketing sites as well.  On the other hand, behaviors that are suitable for establishing new friendships and deepening relationships one on one should make for healthy social media site behavior.

So here are 12 rules for using Facebook to build and strengthen your business without losing your friends:

1) Practice conversation starters. How would you get to know someone at a party? You would ask questions so that you can get to know other people, and you would invite people to ask you questions. You would be interesting. You would be appropriate (and not scary). You would be relevant and you would try to find common ground. Here are a few business-relevant questions you can ask to break the ice and (hopefully!) get some two-way dialogue going:

• What’s your favorite… (product, service, style, product color, etc.)
• What’s the most challenging… (skin condition, hair condition, style, etc.)
• Are you using an outdated…
• Is your hair… (limp, fine, curly, straight, gray, damaged, thinning, outdated, etc.)
• What’s the best… (hair style, makeup look, haircut, etc.) you have seen?
• What product (did you use to use, that was taken off the market, that you cannot find anymore, that you have not used in a long time, etc.) do you miss the most?
• If you had the ability to wave a magic wand and create a product, what problem would it solve?
• If you had to give up every product but one, what would it be? (Or service, etc.)

2) Don’t talk smack about other people, even the competition.

3) Don’t air your dirty laundry. Don’t allude to problem employees, problem customers or problem vendors.

4) Be generous. Be thankful. Congratulate and (honestly) compliment others. Be appreciative.

5) Be responsive.

6) Reconnect with old friends, acquaintances and colleagues.

7) Don’t tell stories and don’t post pictures that you wouldn’t want your mother and grandmother to read and see (because, chances are, they will). And don’t post pictures or tell stories about other people that they might not want their mom to read or see. When in doubt? Don’t.

8) Come dressed appropriately, and make touch ups from time to time. Meaning, don’t allow your professional page to become a free for all. Delete posts that don’t need to be there so that your most important status updates, links, and conversations are what your ‘friends’ will find on your page, and nothing else.

9) Be a real person. Facebook is a social site, not a substitute option for a business web site. Businesses don’t socialize, people do.

10) Weigh in without being overbearing. You can comment and even express opinions on other individuals Facebook pages, but don’t argue with the friends of your friends on your friends pages; not about business, not about politics, not about anything!

11) Take that lampshade off your head. You wouldn’t go to work impaired (I hope!) so if you are engaging in libation, take a break from your business, and that goes for Facebook too. We don’t want to hear from you when you are finally drunk enough to tell us what you really think, and we don’t really want to hear from you on the morning after (unless you owe us an apology!)

12) Don’t be afraid to ‘uninvite’ people who behave inappropriately, from the party. You are not obligated to accept everyone as a ‘friend’ who asks, and if people behave badly on your Facebook page, it’s fine to ‘unfriend’ or even block those individuals. Examples of people who have been uninvited to my Facebook page include business pages that posted ads on my Wall, or began sending me unwanted sales messages.

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