Facebook can be an unwieldy and confusing platform for salespeople who want to take advantage of the opportunity to connect with over a billion people who have Facebook accounts. In this post, I’ll help you understand how you can use Facebook for business in 5 simple steps and I’ll share with you what you should be doing on a daily basis to build your business. 

Step 1: Like your clients’ Facebook business pages

In the search bar in the top left of your Facebook page, type the names of your client companies one at a time and “like” those pages when you find them. This is a great way to stay on top of what those businesses are talking about in public, which can help you understand what they are trying to accomplish. If they post something interesting, you can share it and possibly build up your profile with them. If you haven’t already done this, make sure to like your own company’s Facebook business page.

Step 2: Organize your Facebook friends into custom lists

Create a list for current customers and clients that you are already connected to in Facebook. Create a second list of potential customers and clients. Creating these lists allows you to isolate the posts from the people you put on these lists and quickly add your voice to the conversations they are having on FB by commenting on posts or sharing their posts. Of course, because FB is where people share what is happening in their personal lives, you’ll learn a lot about your partners and be able have more personal conversations than you would otherwise.

Step 3: Try out a search using Facebook graph

Did you know that you can find out which of your friends work at a certain company? Or even if they have friends who work for that company? Imagine the possibilities. Right now, go to your Facebook page and in the top left, next to the Facebook logo where you search, type in “My friends who have friends that work at Company X” where Company X is a fairly well known company in your field and see what turns up.

When the search results are presented, you’ll also see a box in the lower part of the right column where you can refine your search. Play around with that too if you think it could be useful.

 When you do come across some people that your friends know that you’d like to meet, you can ask them to make an introduction. I suggest making this request in a private forum, like Facebook chat, email or perhaps through LinkedIn’s introduction request system.

Step 4: Post something related to your work

As long as your keep 80% of your posts personal in nature, you can do some posting about what’s happening at your work. Of course, keep things positive and remember we’re doing this with some amount of business purpose. Some ideas: 

1. You can “humblebrag”, which is when you talk about an accomplishment using a modest/humble tone. “Feeling great! I just closed the biggest deal of the year…of course it’s only January.” Getting the back pats in the form of “likes” on your post is nice.
2. Post of picture of your co-workers from a recent company get together and talk about how much you enjoy working with them. Tag the people in the photo so that they see the image.
3. Share one of your company’s posts (you did like the Company page already right?)

 Step 5: Like some media pages related to your work

Search for the business pages of some of the media companies in your area of business as well as some general media companies. This sets you up to be able to share useful content with your Facebook network. It’s easy to add in some commentary on what you think about the article you’re sharing and see if others share your view.

Day-to-Day Use of Facebook

It’s easy to lose track of time on Facebook precisely because there is so much personal information being shared, so make sure to use Facebook with a mission when on the platform during designated work time. The best way to do this is to time a quick session in the morning and/or afternoon. Here’s what you should do during these sessions:

Check your lists. See what your clients and prospects are up to and comment if that seems appropriate. Be mindful that if you are always commenting on a prospect’s activity and your relationship isn’t that close, it could be perceived as creepy. Don’t be creepy. 

Scan for any interesting content to share. It could be something that you saw from one of the media companies you followed or from someone in your network. Offer your clever commentary if you’re inspired.

Write a fresh post. Make sure that the post is “clean,” meaning feel free to be personal and funny or write about your work, but don’t write something that could be offensive. Remember to keep your own business-related posts to 20% or less.

Even your business partners want to know the “real you” and believe it or not, they will enjoy seeing photos of your kids, pets, hobbies and such and they’ll probably like you more for it.

People like to do business with people they like. Be yourself. Be like-able but maintain your professionalism. If you have some other tips for how salespeople can use Facebook for business, share them below.

About the author

Alice Myerhoff is author of the new e-book “Social Media for Salespeople: A Step-by-Step Guide to Increasing your Leads and Sales” and a business development/sales/marketing/management executive with over 18 years of experience in industries ranging from online games, educational technology and Social business to online news media, real estate & mortgage. She has worked at EdSurge, Electronic Arts, Inman News, Pivot Conference, Philips Professional Publishing, Countrywide, Princeton Capital, and the Tomorrow Project. Her party trick is being able to count to 10 in 6 languages and she is fluent in German and French. Connecto her at @motodot, www.alicemyerhoff.com and www.linkedin.com/in/alicemyerhoff.

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