Part of the guide: Blog Traffic
Note: This Post Contains Outdated Links
Facebook is one of those phenomenon online that the smart marketers can’t ignore. It’s currently the #3 rated website online according to Alexa.com, and in the last month it has been ranked #2 (as of September 2009, when this post was written), right behind Google. The fact is, that the there is not a hotter social trend on the whole internet, and you should be taking advantage of it as much as possible. What I wanted to do is give you some tips and insights into how I personally use Facebook, as well as give you access to an exclusive training Webinar that was done by my friend, Jim Chao. (You can’t get this anywhere else unless you pay for it).
So what’s the guiding principle behind marketing successfully on Facebook? It’s simple, you just have to realize that social networks are there to do just that, socialize. People don’t want to be badgered by business offers on their Facebook accounts again and again. I’m constantly annoyed on Facebook by people who send me ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ messages, and you probably are, too. (If you’re doing that, stop it.)
So what you want to do is just be on Facebook to really connect with people, and to benefit them in some way if you can. So it’s fine to send out marketing messages, just make sure they’re beneficial to your friends, and not just trying to sell something. ADD VALUE before you do anything, and people will instinctively be attracted to looking at your business offers on their own.
Really, it’s a similar concept to networking at a Chamber of Commerce meeting or a Church of some kind. Have you ever been attacked by a business opportunity at Church? I have. It’s annoying, much in the same way as it is to be spammed on Facebook by offer after repetitive offer.
Before I get too far into this, I want to be clear. Facebook is not my main marketing strategy. However, I do use it in conjunction with my blogging and content marketing in a very specific way that I learned from Jim Chao. Essentially, when I get new subscribers to my traffic newsletter (see the video on the right), what I do is I find that person on Facebook (If I have time, sometimes I just have way too many leads to bother with all of it.)
So what I do is I add them as a friend, and send them a personal hello message. What I’ve found is this simple act of connecting increases the amount that my subscribers purchase from me by 200%. You see, everything I do is updated on Facebook, and so what happens is every time I release a training, do a blog entry, make a video, or have a prosperity message, they hear about it in their email first, and also on their Facebook account. Simple, isn’t it? Then I simply connect with the people who ask me questions. I don’t really go out of my way, I just respond to personal emails a few times per week.
Quite frankly, I don’t know why more people aren’t doing this. I’ve made a lot of great friends this way, and A LOT of money, without annoying a single person. Try it, and let me know how it works!
Look, I scored one for you here, because my friend Jim Chao is a MASTER at making money on Facebook while being socially groovy at the same time. (He get’s like 20-30 leads per day with barely ANY effort, and he is NEVER annoying). All you’ve got to do to watch the training is put in your name and email below. Don’t worry if you’re already subscribed (you won’t get double messages). You’ll be blown away my friends!
P.S. Be sure you check your email because if you’ve never checked it out, you’re also going to get access to my Free 8 Day Traffic Transformation Boot Camp. (See my video on the right). I’ll see you on the next page with Jim Chao!
P.P.S. Be sure to bookmark the page when you get there, that way you can go back as much as you want from now on to refresh yourself on the strategy!
P.P.P.S. Jim Chao agreed to do an EXCLUSIVE Facebook marketing interview for this blog, and I’ll have it up in a couple of days. Be sure to BOOKMARK this site because he’s going to reveal EVERYTHING he knows.
Comments
Ryan Biddulph, June 16, 2011, 05:27
Hi David,
Powerful tips here.
I’m new to the concept of EdgeRank on Facebook. Luv how the greatest emphasis is placed on engagement, improving the Facebook user experience.
The more you engage, the more you connect, the better it is for all on FB.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Soren Egstrup, June 16, 2011, 06:15
Like Ryan say, it better for all on FB.
David thanks for sharing this important information on News Feed Optimization.
~Soren
Melissa Jane, June 17, 2011, 08:45
This is such an eye-opener! I never realized how much EdgeRank could affect my business. Thank you, David, for breaking it down so clearly.
You have been paid late before
You have watched the number on the dashboard not match the number in your account. What is different now is simple: it settles on a public contract you can check yourself, not a dashboard I control.
Read the contract →Most participants earn little to nothing. No income is guaranteed. You can verify every payout on the public smart contract.
Jacob Smith, June 18, 2011, 14:30
Great insights on EdgeRank, David. I’m going to start applying these strategies to my Facebook marketing right away.
Laura Benitez, June 19, 2011, 12:20
Engagement really is key. I’ve seen a noticeable difference when I interact more with my followers. Thanks for the tips!
Kevin Davis, June 20, 2011, 09:55
I appreciate the detailed explanation of EdgeRank. This will definitely help me optimize my posts better. Cheers!
Alice Nguyen, June 21, 2011, 16:45
It’s interesting to see how similar Facebook’s algorithm is to Google’s. Thanks for the thorough breakdown, David!
Oscar Lee, June 22, 2011, 10:05
Never knew there were so many factors involved in EdgeRank. This post was really enlightening. Thanks, David!
Nina Brown, June 23, 2011, 11:40
This is exactly the kind of information I needed to step up my Facebook marketing game. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Adam Coleman, June 24, 2011, 14:55
I’m new to Facebook marketing and this post has been incredibly helpful. Can’t wait to implement these tips!
Three posts a day. One email a day.
Everything I publish, in one short daily email. Real numbers, no hype, unsubscribe in one click.
Get paid 100%, on-chain, the second the sale clears
Most affiliates earn little, and that is disclosed up front. The difference here is not a promise about what you will make. It is that you can verify every payout yourself, on a public contract, in about twelve seconds.
See how the payout works →Most participants earn little to nothing. No income is guaranteed. You can verify every payout on the public smart contract.
The core reframe here — add value before you ever ask for anything — is sound advice dressed up in 2009 Facebook language. Where it gets murky is the personal friend-request-plus-hello-message tactic right after. That’s not adding value, that’s a warm-up act before the pitch. Ask yourself: would you send that message if you had nothing at all to sell them?
Add value first. Ask second. Everybody knows the order. Nobody follows it.
Playing the strongest case for the friend-request tactic, since Simone’s version deserves a real answer: if the hello message genuinely has no ask attached, it’s indistinguishable from any other way people become acquaintances online. The problem isn’t the tactic itself, it’s that almost nobody executes the no-strings version the post is technically describing. Most execute the version with the ask baked in from message one.
Simone, one correction to the post itself — ‘increases purchases by 200%’ with no baseline stated is a meaningless figure. Two sales instead of one is a 200% increase. The number means nothing without the denominator.
Simone’s question lands different out here. Everyone I could friend request I already know from the feed store counter. There’s no cold audience to warm up with a hello message, just the same forty families I see every week regardless of what I post.
Sorry if this is basic, but is anyone actually still doing the personal-friend-request thing in 2011, or has this already gone out of style?
Bonnie, it went out of style because people got tired of strangers friending them right before the pitch arrived. The tactic didn’t age. The audience got wise to it.
I remember when a personal message from someone met at a conference felt like exactly that, personal. Reading this, I find myself wondering at what point a hello message sent as a matter of strategy to every new subscriber stops being a greeting and starts being a small, repeated performance of friendliness. I think, too, of the difference between a letter written to one person and a form letter addressed ‘Dear Friend’ — the words may be identical, yet something in the reader always senses which was written first and multiplied afterward, and which was written only once, for them alone. The post describes the second kind of message and asks us to receive it as the first. I do not say this to condemn the practice; I say only that a man of my age has seen enough form letters to recognise one, however warmly it is dressed.