The friend who sets that drunken picture of themselves lying in the road with a flower pot on their head as their Facebook default – we all know them. But what of those friends whose profiles are impeccably free of embarrassing shots, whose ‘about me’ reads like the cover of their autobiography, and who always seem to be doing so much better in their career than you are? Put the green eyed monster away, and start overhauling; social networking sites are the single biggest way to find your own opportunities online, and not taking advantage of the contacts that are ready to be made for your business is ignorant and bordering on foolish. Assuming that every person reading this uses at least one social networking site, let’s cover some basics for the two main offenders.
Myspace is arguably the best place to create a specifically business focused profile targeting your customers; it seems that the interest in using the site for personal profiles has fallen dramatically over the last year in favour of Facebook, which we’ll cover shortly, but if you do still use it for ‘fun’, build a separate page for work purposes, rather than mix the two. The biggest advantage of Myspace lies for musicians, who can take advantage of the separate style of profile available to them. The majority of artists now use Myspace as their calling card, and favour it on a par with, or even as a replacement to an official website. The other enticing bonus of Myspace is the provision of personalised urls, which can be given out to any you’d like to view your work.
Think carefully when you build your page; the biggest perk of Myspace is the ability to completely customise your profile, but many get it wrong. If you’re going for a predesigned ‘cut and paste the code’ style layout, browse as many sites as you can find before settling on the look that closest fits the style and ethos of your brand; write some key words of what you’d like your Myspace page to say about you or your business and think about the impression your flashing neon background with falling pink hearts is really giving to potential customers. If you’re looking to take the design more seriously, go for a div overlay; this is when the basic structure of the generic Myspace profile is replaced entirely by that created by a graphic designer or aspiring web coder. These are also widely available, and offer a much more professional finish to your page, but you will need some html knowledge in order to implement them correctly, and novices may find themselves screaming, weeping, or both. If you’re not sure, set up a test profile first, and try out everything there first; if on the other hand, you’re a computer whizz, you can even build your own div overlays, ensuring your business profile is completely personalised and in line with your branding. Tutorials are available online for all of these areas, I don’t need to tell you that in instances like this, Google is your best friend.
In comparison, Facebook is a Godsend for those not necessarily looking to connect with customers, but with fellow entrepreneurs and industry professionals. In generating work, consider your profile carefully; devote a portion of your About Me to stating what it is you do for a living, or dispense with the ‘I like pubbing, clubbing, seeing my friends…’ altogether, and just go for a professional pitch about your services. Enter your website and contact details, fill the Employment section, and create photo albums specifically for examples of your work; whilst it’s not necessary to remove all aforementioned flower pot photos, perhaps shift them into a personal photo album viewable by friends only, and be aware of which images you’re tagged in and the impression they give. At the risk of sounding like the Facebook branding police, if you’re keen to generate work there, realistically, photos of your bum on a weekend in Amsterdam aren’t going to sway it for you.
If it’s customers or a fan-base you’re after on Facebook, start a group or fan page. I’ve repeatedly found that groups are the better option across the board, having seen examples with 1500 members, yet the fan page created by the same person has 60 fans.
With both sites, for the purposes of work, keep your pages public, and become more open to accepting random friend requests. Clearly you are always going to receive a degree of perve interest on these sites, but you’ll soon become adept at spotting fellow moguls and useful contacts as opposed to those who will send you mail such as ‘My friend, your eye is a beauty piece of art, I wait for you in Lebanon no?’
I hope this simple introduction to social networking has given you a few pointers; in future editions I’ll be covering some more specific tips and other sites worth joining for various creative industries, so why not start by decluttering your Facebook now, ready to join me when we pick up this topic again soon? Happy social networking!
Facebook Fledgling: spotlight on Alice Wood, 23, Alice’s Boutique
If ever there was a business which stood as a testament to the power of social networking sites, it’s Alice’s Boutique. Starting life as a mere Facebook group, the bespoke dress making service found itself two thousand supporters better off within the month, leading to the launch of an official website to cater to demand. With shows and press coverage resulting from her online savvy, Alice stands as a shining (and multi coloured!) example to any young professional looking to break into their chosen field. Visit Alice’s Boutique to see her in action.
Hello, I took your advice and seperated my profiles, one to blog and PR and then my personal, it’s goin very well, all the higher profile Dubliners are responding very well, take a look, Dave