Facebook is one of the most popular social media sites in the world.  As of this writing, Facebook has over 300 million users, an Alexa ranking of 4 and a PageRank (PR) of 8. Research shows over 50% of the 20 to 30 year olds in the United States have Facebook accounts. If you think Facebook is just for kids and college students, you are wrong. Over 40% of Facebook’s audience is age 35 and older.

Did you know the average user is on Facebook for 19 minutes a day? Your prospective customers are on Facebook, learn how to find them and make the sale.

Facebook is much more than just a social network, but a new communication platform. Facebook is a phenomenal way to meet great people and build relationships with your target market.  Interacting with people on Facebook is similar to interacting with people in the real world. You aren’t going to just go up to your friends and start harassing them about your new product or service. You are going to fit it into the conversation in a casual real way.

Once you create your Facebook profile you will want to get friends. Who’s your target audience? My target audience is Internet marketers, business owners, and entrepreneurs. Facebook has a group for virtually anything you can think of. To connect with my target audience I have joined the following groups: Internet Marketing and Web 2.0 (Entrepreneurs). If you add people they will generally ad you. What you are doing is creating a large network of in my case, Internet marketers and entrepreneurs.

***Go to my Facebook page www.facebook.com/Josh.Fuller.Guru and connect with me today!

For Facebook to be an effective marketing tool you should to ask around 25-50 people a day to become your “FRIENDS.” It will only take you about 15 minutes to do and after a month you could have 1500 friends. Make sure while you are sending “FRIEND REQUESTS” to add a “PERSONAL MESSAGE.” I copy-paste: “I just joined your group Web 2.0 (Entrepreneurs), I’m looking to connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs and learn how to build my online business –CHEERS”

Once you have a network, you need to start interacting. You can write on people’s wall, post videos, ask questions, update what you are doing, the possibilities are endless. In everything you do, be interesting. If you are boring, no one will want to learn more about you or visit your site. Over time you will build relationships that you can eventually start marketing your product or service to. Remember business is about relationships and communication, quality will always be much more important than quantity.

Here are the Top 30 Facebook Secrets to Promote Any Business:

1. Use the 6.7 degrees of separation technique. Search for someone who already attracts your target market and make friends with them. This will open you up to their network of friends. In offline social situations, this is how we meet people. You make friends with someone and as your relationship develops, they introduce you to their circle of friends and you introduce them to yours.
2. Never sell anything on Facebook. Use Facebook to drive traffic to your website or blog. Find a natural way to refer to your products along with a link to your site. You could show pictures of you traveling and write “I am so glad I have a home-based business so I can travel during the week,” then provide a link to your business opportunity. This is the #1 mistake most businesses make on Facebook.
3. Have 2 Facebook accounts, one for personal and one for business. Here is the URL to create a business page http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php.  For some reason it’s impossible to find.
4. Put your keywords in your URL. Since I’m branding “Josh Fuller,” I put “Josh Fuller” in the title URL, www.facebook.com/Josh.Fuller.Guru  
5. First be a normal person, don’t be a company. Most people don’t want to connect to Billionaire By Thirty Inc., they are more inclined to connect with Josh Fuller, a 26 year old entrepreneur from Newport Beach, who is looking to bounce ideas off of other like-minded people.
6. Learn from Twitter and update your status regularly. The search engines index Facebook pages. Use your keywords in the update. For example, I just wrote ““Tell me thy company, and I will tell thee what thou art.” If you want to be a drunk go to a bar. If you want to be fit, go to the gym. If you want to be successful, hang out with successful people- Josh Fuller www.billionairebythirty.com.””
7. Use your keywords throughout your Facebook profile as much as possible. As a marketing consultant, I use Facebook to brand myself; as a result one of my keywords is “Josh Fuller.” I use “Josh Fuller” in all categories as much as possible. Remember the search engines index Facebook pages.
8. Add your articles to Facebook’s Notes application blogging feature. The search engines index Facebook pages and will direct traffic to your site. Every article I write for my site www.billionairebythirty.com, I add to Facebook’s Notes application.
9. Don’t send out too many friend requests. Facebook only lets you have 5,000 friends on your profile. Sending out too many friend requests can be viewed as spam and is a great way to get banned. Don’t send out more than 50 friends requests daily.
10. Start a business page or group so people can interact and post questions and comments about your business. There is no limit on how many followers you can have on a business page or group.
11. Don’t just request to be someone’s friends. You need to send a short message along with your friend request. Almost no one can resist reading a personal message written to them. If you have been genuine with your message, that person will write back to you and approve you as a friend. I have had success with the following  “I just joined your group Web 2.0 (Entrepreneurs), I’m looking to connect with entrepreneurs and learn how to build my online business –CHEERS.”
12. Add applications to enhance your profile. Here are a couple applications top businesses on Facebook use: Twitter, Mirror Blog, Marketplace, SlideShare, My Lists, We Read, Events.
13. Keep your page simple. Don’t use too many applications, clutter is confusing and not user friendly
14. Every time you change something on your profile, your list of friends sees an alert telling them about the latest changes you made on your Facebook profile. Every time you put up a new picture, article, update, etc. all of your contacts will see a preview of it on their profile page.
15. Always keep your page updated and answer any posts, requests, or messages sent to you. Success on Facebook depends on communication and relationships.
16. Use a good picture. A picture is worth a thousand words. If possible, let your pictures convey your marketing message. Use professionally taken, high resolution photos. I use a picture of me in my H2 Hummer and me vacationing in tropical destinations.
17. Add videos/slideshows to your profile. You want the 300 million users to like you and become your friend. Show them yourself. Don’t hide behind your profile. If you are truly offering value to the customer, why are you afraid to be the seen?  Once they get to know and trust you, you will have an easier time converting them into paying consumers. Videos/ slideshows are a wonderful way to accomplish this.
18. Keep your profile professional. Create a profile that is fun and cool, but make sure it’s professional. Don’t put pictures of any lude conduct or offensive behavior. You are on Facebook to build relationships in order to make money, not to get arrested.
19. Be patient. The reason 99% of people will never make a cent online is because they are not patient. Just like in real life, it takes time for people to get to know, like and trust you. They don’t have to know, like and trust you a lot, just a little.
20. Stay consistent. To build a large network, you must get involved in the community. This should be done consistently. Consistent effort yields consistent results.
21. Connect with your friends and family first. It’s must easier to build a network of 1000 friends and family, than a network of 1000 strangers. Focus on friends of friends and family. If someone writes me “Hey Josh, I’m friends with your brother Jared, looking to connect with other cool people, thanks,” then I will accept almost 100% of the time.
22. Social media is just like real life, you need to be nice, interesting, funny and helpful. The more you can communicate these traits, the more popular you will become.
23. Spend your time on Facebook complimenting people. It’s hard to not feel flattered with a genuine compliment.
24. Spend your time on Facebook asking questions? I was once told, “It’s better to be interested, than interesting.” This is a fact! People like to talk about themselves, let them.
25. Remember the global audience. You can connect with prospects from all over the world. Think big!
26. Sell anything you want. It doesn’t matter how expensive or inexpensive your product/service is. As long as you focus on connecting with others first, you will have an opportunity to present your marketing message to your prospective customers.
27. Do something controversial or unusual. Richard Branson once rode down Time Square, New York in a tank to celebrate his Virgin Cola product launch. Dennis Rodman used to dye his hair a variety of different colors. On my website, the title is Billionaire By Thirty. Don’t be afraid to be shocking.
28. What is the point? Have an end objective before you get started on Facebook. What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to drive traffic to your blog? Do you want to drive traffic to a YouTube video that sells your e-book? Different goals will have different pages.
29. Get started today. Life will always be 80% take, 20% ask. Don’t wait; life is much too short, take action!
30. Have fun. If you aren’t having fun, you’re doing something wrong.

Facebook is a wonderful free platform ideal for marketing any business. Smart marketers that recognize this fact have already made fortunes, have you? Start a page today and remember to have fun with it. 

Live Well,

Josh “Billionaire By Thirty” Fuller

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