Seven Rules to Becoming a Facebook Tastemaker
Guest Blog Post
Bestselling Author and Internet Entrepreneur Evan Bailyn Shares Facebook Business Secrets
Author: Evan Bailyn, search engine optimization, social media, and crisis management expert
Why is social data so valuable? Simply put, the more Google and Facebook know about who influences you, the more they can use that understanding to tailor their approach. Although Facebook has always been a personalized experience, it will soon be making more and more sophisticated suggestions: who to be friends with, what products to buy, which movies to watch, even which doctors to see. All these recommendations will come from what Facebook has learned about you and your friends, particularly the tastemakers among them – the people your online circle whose opinions matter the most to you. Tastemakers are trendsetters, those people in the know whose actions and ideas draw followers.
Here are seven tips to becoming a Facebook Tastemaker:
Rule #1: Be genuine.
As anyone who tried to imitate their way into popularity in high school knows, insincerity is always easy to spot. The best way to show sincerity and passion is to talk about a topic that is truly important to you, and that you are excited to engage with others about.
Rule #2: Make the right friends.
The next step is to build an initial base of fans. An easy way to get started is to suggest your page to the friends you already have. The most valuable friends will be those who have a lot of friends themselves – the tastemakers of your group.
Rule #3: Project an image.
Facebook's Timeline feature with its large cover image is the perfect place to showcase photos and graphics that reflect the spirit of your business. And while Facebook replaced the landing tab feature, you can still drive traffic to custom tabs via Facebook ads, and from outside Facebook on your website, blog, and other social profiles. It’s your page, so make sure it projects the image you want!
Rule #4: Leverage social capital.
Launch a message-writing campaign using Facebook and e-mail in which you offer to mention other tastemakers (those with a large following) on your page if they will mention you on theirs. A message writing campaign can be a lot of work, but it’s the barrier that keeps out almost everyone else. If you can stick with it for a few months, you are likely to be the rare person who gains a large, active following.
Rule #5: Don’t over-commercialize.
While this is a business page, keep in mind that many people are more likely to agree to a status update exchange if your page is noncommercial. Therefore, it is best to build a fan base around something genuine before commercializing to avoid turning potential fans off.
Rule #6: Be entertaining.
The most popular kid doesn’t just know all the latest news – he or she also has something funny, original or interesting to say. Beyond just being a gossip feed, Facebook is also a daily digital newspaper with an incredible number of readers who tune into their news feeds daily. No matter your profession, if you create a daily entertaining status update that relates to your industry that’s good enough, people will begin looking forward to it, commenting, sharing and liking it abundantly each day. Facebook takes note of pages with high-engagement status updates and rewards them with top placement on people’s News Feeds. The end result -- not only will your fun updates get a lot of attention, but so will your promotional updates.
Rule #7: Play it cool.
You’re slowly but surely becoming more popular, so don’t run the risk of overexposure. It can be tempting to post constantly, but you don’t want to post so often that people hide your updates on their feeds – twice a day is the most recommended.
About Evan
Evan Bailyn is an internet entrepreneur, bestselling author, and child advocate. He is primarily known as a search engine optimization expert, having used his ability to rank at the top of Google to build and sell five businesses, including one of the largest children's websites online. His first book, Outsmarting Google, debuted to rave reviews in mid-2011. Its sequel, Outsmarting Social Media, comes out in early 2012.
Evan is the founder of The Evan Bailyn Foundation, which promotes emotional awareness in children. His Facebook page, which encourages people to be true to themselves, gained over 100,000 fans in a year, making it one of the most popular non-celebrity pages on Facebook.
Currently, he offers marketing services through his companies, First Page Sage and Good Media Co. Under his tutelage, clients have established the predominant websites in their industries, become New York Times bestselling authors, and grown multimillion dollar product lines. His voice can be found on the social media pages of celebrities worldwide.
Evan has been interviewed on ABC and Fox News and featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The International Business Times, and Crain's. He is a frequent speaker, having keynoted numerous social media conferences, including Digital Hollywood and Social Media For Nonprofits.
t
Xiaomeng Li earned her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, with Honors in Mass Communication and Fine Arts at Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA. She is now a Master of Arts candidate for New Arts Journalism program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Born in Wuhan, China, Li came to the United States in 2007. Her passion lies in popular culture, cross-cultural communication, and the relationship between the Chinese government, mass media and the civil society. Li is also an aspiring photographer who likes portraiture and the traditional darkroom experience.