It was exhilarating!

It was even a smidgen naughty!

......My first time on social media!!

Ewwww! What did you think was talking about?

Back in '08, I was a social media virgin and I was eager yet nervous about the online world. I worried that my privacy would be lost, that my safety could be compromised and that I would do it wrong! AND NOW... I'm insatiable!

I LOVE that Facebook lets me stay in touch with old friends, I LOVE that Facebook lets me follow cool brands, I LOVE that I can enter contests and I LOVE that I can get news from multiple sources! (icymi, I'm a news junky)

BUT....

There's always a but....

I also see how people can abuse it and even perhaps unintentionally create problems for themselves personally as well as professionally by not using the platform in the proper way.

As a service to LOVERS of Facebook everywhere, here are my tips to using Facebook.

"3 P's: Privacy, Permission, and Politics" for personal use of Facebook

Privacy: For your own safety and as service to your family and your friends, set your profile to private and have your default setting on your posts set to post only so friends can see your posts.
Permission: If you are posting about other people, only do so with their permission. Even if you think that behind the shower curtain photo is hilarious, chances are they don't!
Politics: In general, it's wise to not post inflammatory content and in particular political posts, religious doctrines or posts of polarizing topics can lead to unintended consequences both online and in real life.

For Pro's, business owners and those managing business pages

The 3 P's apply here too so refer to the first list!
Stay on topic. If you have a page related to your business, it is best practice to keep your content professional and relevant to your business. Personal posts should be on your personal page only.
Promote within the rules. Facebook has a long list of rules on how to promote products, events and contests on their site. Read them, know them and follow them.
Post frequently. Organic reach on Facebook is all but gone away now and only a handful of your audience will actually see your posts. In order to grow your organic reach you need to engage your audience with every post and in order to engage your audience you should be posting several times per day. Ask readers of your posts to help spread the love for you. When Facebook sees this happen it will expand the audience size for that particular post.
Use Insights. Facebook offers great reporting and analytics so you can see who makes up your audience, what posts they are seeing, when they are online and in turn that information will allow you to customize your posts to your ideal demographic and also the best time of day to reach them.
Use Graph Search. This is a great way to find resources, competitors, media and potential clients.
Use Targeting. You can customize who gets your posts by location and language. If you are paying to promote your page or posts, you can also target your messaging to specific demographics, interests and buying habits to give you the best possible return on investment for ad dollars spent.

As my infatuation grows for other social media platforms, I'll put together some tips and tricks for those too! XOXO If you find this post or any of my posts helpful, useful or simply entertaining please feel free to like, comment and/or share the love!