As Facebook has changed it’s algorithms drastically, Facebook pages are getting less traction, and personal accounts are getting even more notice than before.
So, depending on your business, you could leverage your personal network to promote or market… but you want to be careful!

Facebook is a little like church. If you stand up in the middle of the service and invite everyone to stop by your grocery store, you’ll get some dirty looks… because it feels a little, well… dirty.

I know my business survives on personal connections. Most of my business comes from a friend of a friend who saw my blog posts or facebook posts, and they referred people to me because of that. You CAN turn your friends into a referral marketing machine… but you want to do it carefully, or else you will turn them off.

So let me give you some simple advice for using your PERSONAL facebook to promote your business….

1. Don’t be a idiot.
Remember that everything you post matters. I shouldn’t HAVE to say that Saturday Night Drunken Selfies, and personal and family drama will hurt your public reputation, but it’s true. It can hurt your chances at landing jobs, getting into schools, and in promoting your business.  Potential clients and customers WILL remember the things you posted on facebook.

2. Politics and Religion.
I won’t say that you CAN’T discuss these things publicly, but understand, that these discussions DO influence your friends opinions about you. If you are going to discuss them, do it with reason and compassion. Don’t bash or hate. And don’t post things that could be misconstrued as bashing or hating.  Check your sources, and make sure you back up your claims with reasonable arguments… and that leads us to our next point…

3. Be NICE.
Take the time to say THANK YOU on facebook when someone does or says something nice. Send thank you notes, either privately or publicly(where appropriate) for things that happen OFFLINE as well.

Be sure to offer complements, encouragement, and hope.

4. Be authentic.
It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to express your feelings. It’s okay to BE who you are… but you want to make sure that your expressions are NOT overwhelming.
If you make a mistake, own up to it.
Be sure to demonstrate that you ARE a good person without tooting your own horn. And if you have to toot your own horn… you might want to spend some time working on the person that you are… so that you ARE a nice person… and not just pretending….

5. Josh’s Rule of Thumb.
You have five fingers, and one of them is a thumb. If you are going to use your personal account to promote your business… imagine your thumb is your business post (a “thumbtack” if you will) and your other fingers are real life stuff.

You should post a minimum of four or five real life posts (pics of your cat, inspirational quotes, and interesting discussions) for every one business promotion.

Some say this number should be closer to 1:7… and that might be more accurate… just make sure you don’t go past 1:4. If you do… your personal page starts to feel “spammy” and uncomfortable.

6. Be a good friend.
This should go along with being nice… but there’s a great blog post here that describes proper facebook friend ettiquete. It’s a great read.
http://mashable.com/2013/08/04/facebook-friend-etiquette/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

7. Don’t overdo event and group invitations.
You can invite people to events… but you’ll want to be sure NOT to be too annoying with it.

As far as inviting people to groups… especially a group where you are going to market products to them… do it sparingly. It’s best to ask them first.

8. Be careful with tags.
NO ONE likes to get tagged in a photo they are not in. Unless it’s a photo of their grandkids….

but I don’t want to get a notification and then have a picture on my profile of your discount sneakers flyer. No one does. So tag people in photos they are in… don’t tag them just to make sure they see it.

9. Wall Posts – use sparingly.
You can share your blog posts directly on the walls of friends that you KNOW want to read it. Your mutual friends will see it too…  but I would do it sparingly. Try to do it if they are already interested in what you are sharing…

10. Relationships are golden.
Remember the girl scout song? Make New friends, but keep the old… one is silver and the other gold.

If you have an existing relationship with someone… you want to do whatever you can to make that relationship stay. Tick them off with too much marketing, and you lose a friend.
You wouldn’t wear your sandwich board to their house for dinner… so make sure that your communication is NOT JUST about your business.

11. Don’t be afraid to invite your contacts.
When you meet someone in real life, get their business card, and look them up on facebook. Send them a friend request. Don’t be offended if they don’t accept… but adding them to your personal network can be a GOOD thing!

12. Don’t send game requests.
People hate them. ‘Nuff Said.
Besides… if you are working on your business, you shouldn’t have time for Farmville.

13. Do Post Often.
And do comment and engage on your friends pictures and posts.
A fresh post on your personal profile daily would be a minimum.

14. Klout
Facebook PAGES has insights to track and measure your engagement. But there isn’t an internal feature to track and measure how well you are using your personal page to connect.

I recommend signing up for Klout.com, which gives you some good metrics. You can use Klout to track a Facebook Page or a Facebook Profile, but at this time… it can only do one or the other.

Don’t get too hung up on your klout score… but you CAN use it to see how people are engaging with your content.