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When it comes to joining an online social network, quality not quantity is what you should aim for. There are some great quality websites like Facebook, Orkut, Linked In, and Friendster. However you should join the one that best suits your needs. When it comes to online social networking, keeping all your chickens in one basket may turn out to be a much better strategy as it keeps you from spreading yourself really thin.

Facebook has been the best of the lot and that has been because it meets my personal and professional needs.

It wasn’t really difficult for me to select Facebook, because all my friends are already there! You can see which site has the most of your friends and start off on that site too.

I am going to share some tips on how I was able to use Facebook successfully and I am sure you will agree that these are generic enough for you to use them to good effect. So read on.

1. Create a great Profile: Most people you encounter on Facebook do not have a complete profile and many don’t even have a picture! So when someone does, people take notice. This is the reason why your profile should be complete and easy to browse through. It should be professional but not too formal, include a nice picture and most importantly include your website and personal interests. Including personal interests lets other users connect to you in a personal way which is very important in order to make the most of social networking.

2. Create a big network: Once you are done with creating a great profile, next step is to create a great network. Start off by adding your friends and then look for their friends that have similar interests. The bigger your circle of friends, the greater will be your reach and the more effective you’re marketing efforts.

3. Talk to friends: You have a great profile, your network is building, and so what’s next? You have to start connecting with people now and the best way to do this is on Facebook. Start off by sending out messages to people. A lot of people are quite addicted to Facebook and check their messages very frequently. They also make a habit of responding to these messages. By sending messages you become an active member of the Facebook community and it helps you gain popularity.

4. Hand out some Gifts: One of my favorite things on Facebook is to receive gifts. What if they are virtual, it’s the thought that counts, right? Giving virtual gifts is a very cool feature of Facebook and who doesn’t enjoy being gifted? So show your appreciation and let others get that warm feeling too. Give out a few virtual gifts to your friends, appreciate and be appreciated.

5. Share applications on Facebook: Facebook has a large number of applications that you can use to listen to music, play games etc. Start using a few that you find interesting and then invite your friends to use the ones that you enjoy. This also helps you establish a connection with your friends like the virtual gifts.

6. Join groups in Facebook: There are hundreds of groups on Facebook and each of them is focused on a specific niche. You can join one that meets your interests and be assured that you will meet people with similar goals and interests which will further help you build a good network.

7. Create a group: When you are active on groups for a while you will find patterns like what makes a group tick? Groups that people are looking for but not finding elsewhere etc. Use this information to create a group of your own, make it a bit unique and fun. Invite friends to join in and in no time you will have a vibrant community.

8. Publicizing your Events through Facebook: If you have a good and large social network on Facebook, there is no better tool to introduce your new product or service than by creating an events page and inviting your friends to view it and even get feedback from them on the event! This helps spread the word of mouth for your new services and it can create quite a buzz sometimes.

9. Syndicate your Blog: Regular bloggers can use RSS to link their blogs to their Facebook profile. So every time you add an entry to your blog, it will start appearing on your profile page. This is a great way to keep your profile “fresh” and have your friends keep coming back to your profile over and over again.

10. Make a community: At the end of it all, you should get a feeling of being a part of a community and your friends should get the same feeling. You should be active, have a lot of comments on other’s pages and give feedback to them. Introduce people to each other and have a lot of fun.

So there you have it, a few tips for building a great brand and a great network of friends while at the same time promoting your products and services and having fun doing it. Use these tips wisely and with a little patience they will surely reward you.

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