1. Update your status at least once a day. This goes out to your news feed. To get good content, set up Google alerts in your area of expertise or interest and get them delivered via email or RSS feed. Want to see what topics are trending online? Go to www.Alltop.com or http://popurls.com and share the ones you like. Chances are they will get shared again and you’ll get comments on your post. Copy the link and attach it on your status update and comment on it.
2. Scan through the feed (the wall) and comment on things you like that your friends have posted. Your comments will be shown on your friend’s page, which is a great way to grow your friends organically. Facebook splits the feed into live feed and most recent, so toggle back and forth. Facebook decides who they show on your feed so you might want to take a look at my previous entry to select and allow which friends will be seen on your feed.
3. While scanning through your feed, see what postings you can share on your wall. Don't forget to thank your friend for posting the particular item.
4. Create different friends lists to be more targeted and keep organized. To create a list, click on Account, Edit Friends. Then create your list and add people to it. You can share certain postings with certain friends depending on how you organized them.
5. Look at birthdays and wish your friends “Happy Birthday”. Think of the friends you are really trying to build relationships with.
6. Look at events your friends have posted or are attending to see what you might be interested in. You can also share the event with your friends. Let the organizer know you are sharing the event - another way of being social on Facebook.
You'll see three icons next to "facebook" at the top of the page. The first one are your friend requests, second one are your direct messages and the third one are notifications. When they are highlighted, you know you need to respond.
7. So, first look at your “Friend Requests” and accept the ones you’d like to. Pay attention to how you know them. Did they send you a personal message or do they have a picture? Do you have friends in common? Do they have a name or just a business name? Make sure they are “real” people. When you invite people to be friends with you, tell them how you know them: "I see we have a lot of friends in common" or "Just saw you on my friend’s page and liked what you said" or "It was great meeting you last night at the Denver Divas event."
8. The second icon is your inbox where you have received direct messages. Don't forget to answer any personal messages.
9. The third icon are your notifications where someone has commented on one of your posts or has responded to a post that you have commented on. So, click to follow the conversation and respond back if you need to.
10. Most of all, have fun. Even though I use Facebook for branding my social media marketing company, I really try to engage and get to know others by following conversations. After all, it's all about being social and that should always be fun.
Here's a great video on doing Facebook in only five minutes a day created by one of my favorite Facebook social media friends, Kyle Griffith and the inspiration for this blog post.
Social Media and Traditional Marketing Consultant 