Successful Facebook Engagement Hinges on Depth of Penetration
Real estate coach Joeann Fossland wonders why so many people are eager to be her friend without giving her a clue about who they are and why they are looking for friendship in her coachy quarters. She laments on Twitter this morning:
“Why do people you don’t know invite you to be friends on Facebook and have ALL their information hidden so you haven’t a clue who they are?”
I’ll bet that when Facebook was launched, members invited only people they knew personally to their inner circles of friendship. Remember. Facebook was built as a platform where members could share and collaborate. Commercial applications were hardly a twinkle in the developers’ eyes. Some people still draw their friendship circle with people they know personally and who are persons they like and trust.
Fast forward to 2009. Business people are charging social media like gold rush prospectors. Every Friend on Facebook, each Follower on Twitter, and each Connection on LinkedIn is tallied like a gold nugget and squirreled away until someone figures out what to do with all those little nuggets and convert them to negotiable currency.
Shallow Engagement Waters
Making a friend on Faceboo…k is the first step in building a relationship with that person here. Don’t take it too lightly.
Wham-bam-click-this-link-and-be-my-Facebook-friend is the most common approach among real estate agents and brokers. Lenny Lonesome surveys a list of a friend’s friends and starts to click links. He only clicks the Send Request link, and a plain vanilla friend invitation appears on that person’s Home Page.
Wham-bam-click-this-link-and-I’ll-accept-this-friend is most people’s response to a friend invitation. No words are exchanged beyond a solitary click.
Add a personal message to accept an invitation to become a Facebook Friend.
Differentiators Dive Into Deeper Waters
Here are options for more meaningful introductions on Facebook.
- Know some background about the person you are selecting as a friend. Why do people friend people if they don’t know who they are, what they do, or if there is a reason to engage in a relationship.
- Write a personal note with the invitation to be friends. It could be simple as, “I saw your thoughtful comment about foreclosures on the Women’s Council of Realtors Region 4 Fan Page. I would be honored to connect with you.”
- Write a personal note to someone who asks you to be a friend. Review the information available at the name link and consider the request. Sometimes it may be scarce … look for a point of commonality and respond accordingly. If this is a person you want in your inner circle of friends, accept the request. If this is a business contact, consider inviting that person to your Fan Page instead of your personal account.
One of my favorite friend requests came to my attention during a social media class this summer with a group of real estate brokers and I had an opportunity to demonstrate this lesson live. A real estate agent located in a distant state wanted to be a friend but her profile information was very scant. There was a note about her interests and pole dancing figured as a major point of attraction.
The class laughed. (Guess they did not consider that point of commonality with the lady at the keyboard.)
I responded with a note:
“Thank you for connecting with me on Facebook. It seems we share a love of dance. Sadly, I confess, I am the only middle-age Polish woman in the world who cannot Polka. Have a great day!”
Measure your engagement at the start of your friendship and Go Deep!
(Frances Flynn Thorsen will speak at the Social Media Mastermind Live Conference in Sedona January 15-16, 2009.)
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