The social media community has become a living entity that breathes and smells spam and generally has no tolerance for quick hit-and-run tactics. If you are loyal to your business and intend to be around for a while, the only way to build lasting relationships and your reputation at the same time is to add value.
Those who give without expecting anything in return have a much better chance of long-term success.
Here are some ideas that can help you leverage your Facebook engagement and help build credibility for your personal brand.
- Consider starting a group and moderating on a topic that you have direct knowledge of and passion for. By being the leader of the group, you immediately establish credibility and can start building relationships with those who find you or are invited to join. As the group is being built, provide quality feedback to those who are participating. This will improve their experience and hopefully encourage your users to invite others with the same interests.
- When you “friend” someone, send a personal message along with the invitation. Go through their profile and try to invite people with similar interests to you to become friends. This little extra will increase your chances of getting accepted and will help you build a quality list over a long period of time, increasing your chances of success.
- If you have an existing email list, start inviting each member of your list one by one to become your Facebook friend (if they aren’t already). This should help build your personal brand with these people while gaining additional exposure through another media outlet.
Sometimes it’s the little things that go a long way in establishing your personal brand credibility and help build your online reputation. This should give you the right to market to your readers, friends, and subscribers because you will be seen as an authority rather than a spammer.