The Socialbees Guide to Saving Face on Facebook

The DOs and DON’Ts that can make or break your image online

Do:

1. Fill out your profile completely and accurately.
2. Add a photo of yourself, but keep it real–this isn’t the place for glamour shots!
3. Use your privacy & account settings. Facebook has the most advanced privacy customization of any social network!
4. Tag your friends in photos. They’ll thank you for it.
5. Mind your manners.
6. Try to be a good member of the community.
7. Be AUTHENTIC, transparent and true to yourself.
8. Stay current on your news feed; it’s a window into the lives of people you care about.
9. Poke friends – it’s fun!
10. Add to your virtual network by reaching out to people with common interests.
11. Share nicely – Facebook is all about discovering & sharing quality content.*
12. Respect the inbox. Facebook is just like email, but even more personal.
13. Join a network, but remember that Facebook is not everything. Know your network in person.
14. Find your friends.
15. Attract quality traffic and treat them like royalty. Practice your best customer service!
16. Invite your friends. The more REAL friends you have on Facebook, the more effective it becomes.
17. Know when to send a private message. Walls aren’t for sharing personal details.
18. Proudly “Fan” causes and businesses you genuinely care about.
19. Use Facebook’s targeted ad system to acquire fans.
20. Have FUN!

Don’t:

1. Hold out and leave your profile blank.
2. Show or tell anything you wouldn’t want your granny to see… or a future client, partner or employer!
3. Complain about Facebook because you failed to take advantage of the privacy settings.
4. Upload embarrassing photos of friends. They’ll hate you for it.
5. Be a jerk.**
6. Try to be the center of the universe.
7. Do anything you wouldn’t do in REAL life.
8. Be an island and let life pass you by. Isolationism never ends well…
9. Poke strangers – it’s creepy.
10. Friend people without having a two-way dialogue first. You wouldn’t assume a stranger on the street was your friend. Don’t do it online.
11. Flood friends with too many updates or requests in a short period of time – stick to one fan page or group update every 2 weeks.
12. Message people you don’t know and ask them to become fans/members of your group, etc. That’s spam.
13. Add random coworkers/people from your network. Just because you share a network, doesn’t make you friends.
14. Friend strangers.
15. Be fooled by short-term gains… trash traffic does not convert into $$.
16. Ignore hints. If someone doesn’t respond to your request, it’s his/her polite way of saying no!
17. Be a wallflower. Constant lurking is no way to make friends.
18. Be a groupie. It’s great to support a cause, but be sure you actually know what it is – “fanning” everything dilutes your personal brand.
19. Spam for fans.
20. NEVER break the rules of etiquette!

*Quality Content: Facebook users frequently share content they find meaningful: photos of friends, news stories, cool videos, interesting websites, etc. (It’s okay to share your own content, but just don’t do it too often or you’ll look like you’re bragging or spamming, neither of which are particularly appealing!)

**Jerk: A person who sends out meaningless messages to strangers, adds noise pollution to the online world, demands that you become a fan – or sends mass messages out telling friends to become a fan of their page, posts their URL on other people/group/businesses walls, excessively pokes, sends wall posts on every occasion, adds every application and invites 20 friends to join, posts too much information, copies too many people who don’t know each other on direct messages, responds to direct message when strangers are copied – resulting in including them on un-needed messages – or otherwise, disrespects the inbox.