Like practically everybody nowadays, you probably already have a FaceBook account. And if you have some type of online business, you may have already given thought to using FaceBook to help drum up some business and connect with peers and potential customers. But one thing you may not have considered is setting up friend lists.

Friend lists are one of the most helpful FaceBook features, and they allow you to categorize your friends for easy organization and to make managing access easier. A common usage is for grouping your contacts into different categories, so you can limit certain people’s access to specific sections of your FaceBook pages. And this is one particular feature that can be of tremendous value with regard to your social media marketing efforts.

Now you may be thinking that you can achieve pretty much the same goals simply by creating different FaceBook profiles. It sounds good in theory, but this solution actually has a number of significant drawbacks. For one thing, FaceBook explicitly states that setting up multiple profiles is not allowed, and doing so may result in your FaceBook account being disabled.

Even if FaceBook did allow you to set up different profiles, you would still have to deal with the difficulty of managing all those different accounts and organizing your contacts in each one. A far better solution would then be to stick to a single account and set up your friend list for better organization and efficiency. This presents a number of benefits in terms of social media marketing, among them allowing only certain people to your news feed and status updates, and to limit the people who see you in the FaceBook chat.

Here’s how to set up lists:
1. Click on the “Account” item on the top right of the main FaceBook page.
2. Click on the “Edit Friends” option.
3. Select the “Create A List” option.
4. Assign a name to your list. (No one other than you will see the name of this list)
5. Add friends to the list.

Now you can set up as many lists as you like. You can set up a list according to location for example, or you can set up a list for regular customers, suppliers, and so on. Now here is where it gets interesting. From your FaceBook Home page, you can filter out news feeds from all people in certain lists. By clicking on the arrow next to the “Most Recent” tab, you can specify which feeds from which lists appear on your wall. Conversely, you can also specify which list gets to see your status updates. Click on the blue arrow beside the “Share” button and click the “customize” option, and you will be able to block certain lists from seeing your updates. Finally, you will also be able to perform the same filtering functions in FaceBook chat.

As you can imagine, this feature can have numerous benefits for helping you manage your contacts more effectively. If you are interested in utilizing FaceBook as a social media marketing tool, making use of the Friend list feature is absolutely essential.

Facebook has received a large amount of feedback about their pages and how accessible and full of features they are.  Facebook’s response was simple enough giving an upgrade to the pages and providing some newer features which are beneficial to users of pages.

One of the major changes is the ability for page administrators to take control of their Facebook pages and log into them.  This allows the administrators to respond as if they were the page instead of having to control it with their personal account.  They can also engage in a variety of different activities within Facebook while using the pages as well.

The changes to the Facebook pages will allow users to separate their personal Profiles from their professional ones through the use of a page.  Users who wanted to have separate profiles for their professional and personal lives had to resort to creating two accounts which is actually against the terms of service for the site.

Facebook pages also allow the use of the same picture bar that has been implemented in late 2010 for Facebook Profiles.  The picture bar shows the 5 most recent photos that have been added by users to the page wall.  Administrators have the ability to post images to the photo bar – however users do not, directly anyways. If an administrator tags a photo for the Facebook Page, it will show up in the bar, however if not the photo will just show up in the feed.

Page administrators will also be able to like other pages as well and create a custom news feed which can be shown on the page to all of the administrators.  The ability to promote the “staff” of the page is also implemented allowing for staffers to be associated with the page if they want to.  All administrators also have the ability to subscribe to email notifications from the page as well as having an increased ability to track user engagement with notifications.

Fans of the pages will be able to increase their exposure as well.  This is possible through the default page wall to show everyone’s posts.  Alongside this development, other pages that are liked by the main page will also be promoted for greater exposure under a “likes” category listing with cycling pages (if the page has several liked pages).  All users benefit from the changes made to the pages in the upgrade.

Also, you can join my page on Facebook to keep up to date on changes happening at http://facebook.com/socialmediagal

Social Media Marketing for business using Facebook can build relationships and provide value to those within your Facebook network. Facebook allows you to be real, get to know other people with similar interests while building credibility and trust. In this article, we’ll discuss five simple steps to getting started on Facebook.

1. Create a profile in your real name

2. Connect with others

3. Communicate to others by wall posts

4. Update your status

5. Join and participate in FB groups

Create A Profile

When creating the perfect Facebook profile for social media marketing there are several things to keep in mind; like posting a great recent picture of you with a smile. People want to put a face with a name and posting a picture that does not include the whole current you doesn’t build credibility. Choose a tagline that grabs the readers’ attention while it explains who you are and what you do. Complete your profile by filing in personal information such as hobbies, favorite music, and maybe your goals and aspirations. Including personal information helps others want to get to know you better because you may have similar personal or business interests. Remember to be real, when you are fake, people can see right through you.

Connect With Others

Connecting with others is the reason Facebook was created in the first place. To get started, import your address book or search Facebook for people you may know or have done business with. You can also connect with new friends by viewing the friend list of your connections, you may find others that you would like to get to know better. Unlike Twitter were you can follow anyone, Facebook requires a friend to accept your friend request. When sending a friend request, send a personalized message with your request. There’s nothing like someone you do not know requesting to be your friend and not even introducing themselves. Include who you are and why you want to get to know the person, your chances of getting accepted will be much higher. Once accepted, you can view your new friends profile and they can view yours.

Communicate To Friends By A Wall Post

Start communicating with your friends by posting an interesting quote, asking a simple question or providing valuable information about your interests. You can post on a friends wall to say hello, give good wishes, or help friends find solutions to their business problems.

Update Your Status

Updating your status is similar to a wall post except it is where you post what you are up to, how your day is going and to encourage interaction between friends. This is how you develop and grow your credibility and contribute to your social media marketing. Friends will get to know and trust you. By contributing to the conversation and posting valuable information relevant to your niche or industry you will raise your trustworthiness and become a know expert.

Join And Participate In Facebook Groups

Joining and participating in Facebook Groups is a great way to expand your social media marketing and get in touch with others with similar interests. Simply type groups in the Facebook search and you will see a list that includes the groups that your friends belong to. You can also browse groups and sort them according to your interests. There are many groups to choose from and you can even start your own. Once you have joined a group, participate by adding to the conversation; this is the way you will make additional contacts. Don’t be shy, contribute to the conversation and introduce yourself.

Looking forward to connecting with you on Facebook!

To Connect with Urvi:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/urvimehta

Twitter: http://twitter.com/urvimehta

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/urvimehta

I get asked all the time, do I prefer Facebook or MySpace for social media marketing?
The most popular answer you might give depends on who you are and what you are looking for.

Originally created in 2004 for Harvard Law students, and giving MySpace a one year start, Facebook has grown to more than 175 million active social media marketing users, with their fastest growth occurring within the last twelve months. Facebook has emerged to make the race to be number one a real competition.

MySpace has been described as a site directed toward younger users and accepted by people in the music, arts and entertainment industries for their social media marketing, including celebrities like Kim Kardashian who according to ibtimes.com prefers MySpace over Facebook.

MySpace artists benefit from the exposure and promotion while creating a connection to fans using this type of social media marketing. Users can discover new music and become friends with artists they like to stay up to date on and keep up with information on those bands. The artists have found this version of social media marketing an inexpensive way to build a following often long before they even have a recording contract.

Fans of MySpace love the ability to fancy up their home page with flash, slide shows, pictures and sound. Many former users have said this feature was unappealing or confusing and complained of too much advertising and the flashy customization gets in the way of the intent of social media marketing for most non-entertainment oriented businesses.

In contrast, Facebook does not currently offer any homepage customization. The advertising is limited and the approach might be considered to be more developer or business oriented. For example, Facebook allows users to create their own applications and possibly center all of their other social media marketing around their Facebook page (ie. Twitter, Digg).

Regardless of the audience, both sites are growing very rapidly and the question remains which one is going to stay? Both sites have their raving fans and their detractors. Will their specific differences and user preferences sustain each social networking site or will one grow faster to become the biggest internet tribe as described by Seth Godin? Only time will tell if Facebook can become one big tribe (entire internet population) or will user’s specific preferences continue to drive both sites?

I believe the right question to ask is not which one will survive, but rather based on my social media marketing targets, which site should I be on? What are your thoughts?

Connect with me on Facebook: http://profile.to/urvimehta