I came across this article via a twitter friend, and just had to share it!  It colorfully points out the ways you can offend others using Facebook.  The point of the story is all things in moderation.  It’s ok to do some of the things pointed out some times, but mix it up a bit.  And most importantly, be genuine!

So check out this article from CNN and let me know what you think! Enjoy…

Facebook has rocked the social media world upside down over the past couple months by offering vanity URLs.  Facebook URLs are notoriously long and ugly and not suitable for use as a destination URL.

At first glance, it was exciting news for fan page owners, until they realized that they had to have at least 1,000 members already to qualify.  Then something exciting happened, Facebook opened it up a month later to smaller fan pages as well.  Well, that’s not exactly true.  Only pages with 100 or more fans.

For many businesses with Facebook fan pages, they felt betrayed a second time.

But what’s the big deal?  Facebook’s hype blurred the line between technology and strategy. There is nothing magical about a vanity URL that you can’t accomplish with a domain name. If your strategy includes using a Facebook page as a destination link, you can do this with a subdomain and a redirect.

For example, I set up http://facebook.homedigz.com for the HOMEdigz.com fan page.  Ironically, because there were over 100 fans, I also was able to secure http://facebook.com/HOMEdigz from Facebook.  Both work equally fine – tomato vs tomahto.

Here’s a secret – it’s easier than you think to do this yourself.  To walk you through it, I’ll show you how I set up a subdomain with a redirect to make it easier to link to Facebook’s Networked Blog application for Rooms That Work LLC’s “Your home, only better.” blog.

First, I went to the Contol Panel for the Rooms That Work website.  Under “Domains” I clicked on “subdomains“ and set up a subdomain for facebook.  For example:

Next I entered “facebook” in the subdomain box, and clicked “create”.

Voila!

Next I set up the redirect by copy and pasting the looooong Facebook URL, then clicked “save.”

There you have it.

Care to try it out?  Go to http://facebook.roomsthatwork.com and see where you end up.

As I mentioned before, be careful not to confuse the technology with the strategy.  This is not limited to Facebook applications.  If you have various applications at different places online, you can use subdomains to simplify your links.

So don’t get caught up in the pretty URL hype.  You have everything you need to help your customers navigate with ease with your domain name.  It’s all about how you use what you already have.  Remember, technology is a facilitator, not the objective.

A Facebook Fan Page is an easy and effective way to extend your brand online. Here are 3 very compelling reasons why:

• It is visible outside the Facebook Network, which means you can reach more people AND the search engines index it
• You’re not limited to 5,000 “friends” (go ahead, think big!)
• There are a couple ways you can communicate with your fans. Your “status updates” show up in your fans news feeds AND You can target message updates by location, gender and age. But note that it shows up as a “Notice” and not in their coveted “Inbox”

Bottom line, it’s a great way to build relationships between your brand and your target market. But like anything else, it’s one spoke in the marketing wheel. It works best in concert with blogging and other social networks (think Twitter).

How are you using Facebook? What questions do you have about using it for business?

Social Media is powerful.  Not only in the results you can achieve, but in it’s innate ability to suck you in and steal precious time from your already time-limited day.  I know some business owners who sense this and are wary to start something they can’t keep up with. 

So, to help out, here are a few tips to help you get your social media groove on while maintaining your daily schedule.  Feel free to print these out and tape them next to your computer in case you feel the social media pull too great to resist.

Twitter

• Twitter is like a river. You can’t monitor the water running by, but you can dip your toe in it 3 times a day and tweet, retweet and reply appropriately. 
• Turn off the notices (under settings) so you don’t get an email every time someone follows you or send a DM (which is mostly auto-crap). 
• Take those moments to find new followers and follow back those who follow you on a daily basis.  Just click on “followers” and follow those you aren’t already.
• Friday’s are a great day to find new folks to follow because of the weekly #followfriday event. 
• Tweetdeck is a great way to organize your tweet data, but don’t keep it open all day, unless you don’t have anything else you need to get done.

Facebook

• Facebook has the benefit of threading the conversations, so you can tune in once per day and still be relevant in the conversations.
• No time?  You can set up your tweets to go directly to Facebook. The benefit is that those who reply to your tweets in Facebook end up as a thread you can follow.

LinkedIn

• LinkedIn has a nice weekly email they can send you with updates.  Very easy to respond to. 
• If you’re involved in groups (and you should be – that’s where you meet new people), don’t opt for daily digest updates, they’ll drive you nuts.  Just periodically check in with the groups you follow and chime in with your two cents.

Now I must provide a disclaimer here…do as I suggest, not as I do.  Remember, I follow this stuff for a living, so I’m not a “normal” user.  But rest assured I will keep up with what’s new and report back here so you don’t have to.

What is it that you have to offer?  What makes YOU unique?  Chances are, there are other companies who offer the same products or services you do.  How can you use Social Media to differentiate yourself?  By BEING yourself!

Don’t be afraid to blur the lines between work and life in your tweets and posts.  Today’s generation has an automatic “brochure speak” filter that dismisses anything that appears less than real or personal.  It’s back to the “people do business with people, not businesses” principle.

So go ahead, trust your instincts and have a little fun out there!