Old Friends or New Fans?

You’ve been on Facebook for a little while and now that you have a wonderful new Facebook Business Page, suddenly you have questions.  How does this new Business Page effect your Peeps?

Congratulations!  You’re now separating your personal side from your professional side.  Yeah for you!  But what to do about all those past, present and future clients you added as a “Friend”?  It seemed like the right thing to do back then but now…? Now that you have the proper place for them, are they Friends, Fans or Members?  Can you move them or do they have to move themselves?  What about new peeps?  If they find me on Facebook and want to be a friend what should I do?  Questions, questions questions!

Let’s Start with your Existing Peeps

First of all, no you cannot move them.  They could move themselves but that’s highly unlikely.  Why not let them stay your Friend but also join your page as Fan.  A quick update in your status might do the trick.

Status Update

You could always un-friend them but why the hard feelings?  Simply put them all in one list  and then set the privacy high.  They won’t see wall posts and pictures from your family, and your family won’t see anything from them.

Facebook Privacy Settings

Here’s a side question I have for you…

As for these “fellow professionals” you added as Friends, do you really want them as Fans?  Are they your clients?  Just thinking…

Now for the New Peeps

You’ve changed the link on your sidebar to drive traffic to your Page instead of your Profile right?  Good. Added a link to your Page in your email signature?  Great. Bought and wrapped all 46 downtown metro busses with your smiling face, a for sale sign, and a great big “Fan Me Up On Facebook!”  No, Really?

Good for you for driving traffic to your new Page.  The question remains, if someone searches Google or Facebook for “Tom Jones Real Estate” what would they see?  Chances are they would see both you (personal profile) and your Business Page.

One of two things might happen next.

The Friend Option If they choose to be a Friend of yours, you have the option of accepting or declining.

Accept  - You could accept (like I do) and then also ask them to become a Fan as well.

Decline - Don’t be afraid of declining their friendship.

It’s a great opportunity to nicely explain why you have a Business Page on Facebook and would rather have them join you there instead.  Explain that they’ll get no spam from you by joining and that by becoming a Fan they’ll also not be sharing their “private information” like family pictures.  Most people don’t know about the personal privacy settings they have so this could be a big factor for them.

The Fan Option This is what we hope they choose

If they choose to be a Fan of yours, there’s no moderation and they are in.  Remember, they might not become actual “Fans” and they don’t have to in order to read all about you within your Business Page.

BONUS TIP: New viewers don’t have to hit your Page WALL.  Did you know you can predetermine which of your Tabs they are initially sent to within your Page.  For this reason maybe you should have a custom landing tab explaining right from the start:

  • The Privacy Aspect of Pages
  • Your Spam Policy
  • How you work
  • Maybe even a nice dialog (video?) about why they should get to know you better. 

Just thinking…

The catch?  To create a custom landing tab you’ll need a bit of Facebook FBML done.

Order your Custom Designed Facebook Business Page

 

are you following me? Are We Friends Yet? It's not just a Rolodex You've got to see this... Feed Your Reader
Like the Site? Tweet It!

 


This post brought to you courtesy of Mike Mueller.
Feel free to ReBlog or ReTweet as you like as long as you
credit the source (him).
Did you know?  He's for hire! He builds
Blogs, Graphic Images and Widgets and Facebook Pages and besides… He knows lots of really cool stuff.

Hire Mike (925) 456-4567

Twitter Facebook Foursquare LinkedIn Blog Flickr YouTube Email

Sample Facebook Pages:
View on Flickr

Sponsored Links: (check these guys out!)


RealBird does some great things!      Mike says the Thesis theme ROCKS!      

Did you know?

5 commentsMike Mueller • July 28 2009 08:40AM

Comments

Mike, I really haven't found the time to get to this part of Facebook. I think now it might be time for me to look into it. Thank you for the tips.

Posted by Connie Harvey Realtor Nashville TN Real Estate (Pilkerton Realtors) almost 3 years ago

Mike - didn't think of putting my Facebook address in my email signature - now that I have a vanity web URL, I shall do that now! Thanks for the informative post.

Posted by Kim Daugherty, d + b real estate McKinney, TX REALTOR Broker/Owner (www.RealFamilyRealEstate.com) almost 3 years ago

I have been thinking about cards lately... a twitter card... a facebook card...  Who knows...  I am thinking that Facebook is becoming a wave that is bigger than we think it will be...

Posted by Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy (Century 21 Results Realty) almost 3 years ago

Facebook has brought me actual business.

Posted by Janice Roosevelt,Ecobroker, ABR, e-PRO (Susan Manners Team, Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors) almost 3 years ago

Mike - The more I read about facebook, the more I realize I don't understand.  I need to get with the program, as I see many others already have.

Posted by Troy Erickson - Your Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek Realtor (Terra Solis Realty, LLC) almost 3 years ago

This blog does not allow anonymous comments