Social networking sites were originally formed with the intention of building friendships and networks of like minded social contacts. However, there is no avoiding the fact that these same websites also offer businesses the opportunity to improve their exposure and increase their search engine rankings. Many of the big search engines treat links from these social networking sites as being powerful links and they form a very strong link profile for any business related website. One of the key aspects of any social media optimization strategy is to genuinely get involved and not just needlessly and ineffectively spam the sites.



Be Ethical

Spam is a problem in virtually every aspect of the Internet. As well as being a major problem for regular email users, forum spam, blog spam, and MySpace spam have become increasingly common and infuriatingly frustrating. Users of social sites have become near experts in ignoring the irrelevant comments because they use social sites in order to find relevant information and talk to like minded people. The key to success with Facebook, like any social networking site, is to provide what the users want ? relevant information.

Building A List Of Targeted leads

Finding targeted leads is the most profitable method of building a powerful network. Facebook offers access to a large number of topic related groups that you can access and join. Find the topisc that are most relevant to your business where you can become an active community member. Generally speaking, the more targeted the group and the more active you are, the better you will fare in your promotional efforts.

Your Profile Page

Set up your profile so that it helps to promote your business in a positive manner. Having a profile opens up various useful features in Facebook but above all else it will be the one page that other users visit if they want to find out more about you or your service. By all means include a link or a small number of links to your sites but don't get carried away.

Keep Your Network Updated Regularly

Once you have a network of feeds you can contact them all by updating your Facebook notes. These updates will appear in your friend's RSS feeds. Do be careful when using this feature, though, because while it is a genuinely useful way to gain a direct line to potential leads, the posting of too many sales based or irrelevant posts can quickly deplete your network.

Sell Products On The Facebook Marketplace

The Facebook marketplace is particularly beneficial for those businesses that sell tangible products. If you are primarily an Ebay business, or you run an ecommerce store, you can promote your items for free in the marketplace giving you greater exposure and potentially improving your sales figures and profit levels.

Create A Facebook Application To Promote Your Brand

By creating a Facebook application you promote your business in several ways. First, other users will be more inclined to add you as a friend if your application is useful. They may also send details of your application to their own network ? this style of viral marketing can generate a lot of interest for very little money. Users will also build a greater degree of trust in your service because you have offered them something genuinely useful. They will remember your name, the name of your service, and they will instinctively know how to find you online ? you can pay thousands of dollars for a branding campaign this effective but Facebook offers the same advantage for free.

Why Use Facebook To Promote Your Business?

Facebook has grown in popularity very quickly. Many of the users are young adults and professionally minded people, rather than the predominantly teenage crowd that frequent MySpace. More businesses get actively involved in the Facebook community too. Facebook also offers tools and features that are more in tune with the business than some of the other big social networking sites.