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Distinguish Your Facebook Person And Persona
Ask yourself these two important questions: "Who am I as a person outside of my business on Facebook?" (This is your person.) "Who am I in the business world on Facebook?' (This is your persona.) Can you combine the two identities? Absolutely not!
If you already have a personal Facebook page that you use to keep up with your friends and family, then keep it personal. Don't mix your business contacts into that page.
Rather, build a new Facebook profile as the CEO, founder, business partner or salesperson with Company XYZ. This is your business persona page. On this page you'll put your corporate bio and other information that pertains to your role in the company. Then you can build a fan page off this profile that talks specifically about the business.
Mixing your personal and business pages is discrediting and unprofessional. And yes, it's perfectly fine to have two profiles on Facebook.
Name Your Accounts Wisely
While your individual posts on Facebook are not ranked in Google searches (at least not yet), your profile is ranked. Simply go to your settings tab in Facebook and elect to make your profile public. How you name your business persona page and fan page is critical for ranking purposes. While you'd certainly use your name for your individual business account and use your company name for your fan page, you'll want to tag some keywords onto each name.
For example, if you as the CEO wanted to be known as a leader in internet marketing, you might name your business profile John W. Smith, Internet Marketing Strategist. Similarly, you could name your fan page in such a way that there's no question what your company does, as in "Acme Corporation, Widget Supplier and Manufacturer."
Think of the keywords that apply to your business and work those words into your tagline or title. This strategy opens your profile open to the world and helps you go beyond just building a Facebook community of friends and fans. Now you're opening your company up to a bigger community outside of Facebook.
Source: Heather Lutze is the CEO of The Findability Group, formerly Lutze Consulting, a marketing firm that works with companies to attain maximum internet exposure. A nationally recognized speaker, she is the author of The FindAbility Formula: The Easy, Non-Technical Approach To Search Engine Marketing.
For more information on building your business using Facebook and other social media tools, check out PPAI Social Media Launchpad!-a social networking certificate program that begins Oct. 12. Click here for more information.
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