Many people look to Facebook create new connections and relationships. In this post I’m going to give tips on how to get that process started.
You will find it helpful if you are simply wanting to reconnect with an old friend, make some new friends or network as a professional.
Many online marketers and entrepreneurs go the way of relationship marketing because people buy from those whom they trust. It would be unwise to only stick with the people who already know and trust us because that would limit the sphere of influence greatly.
The Importance of Connections
Your Uncle Frank may think that you are the greatest thing since sliced bread but will he want to go into business with you or buy your latest ebook on social media domination? Probably not!
That is why it is so important to get out there and build relationships as an entrepreneur. As entrepreneurs we need to widen our sphere of influence or else we won’t be able to quit our day job – or pay the bills if we’ve already quit the day job.
Of course building relationships goes beyond just trying to make a sale. That is not a relationship to begin with and it will become apparent quickly to the “friend” who is being sold to.
Have you ever made friends with someone on Facebook and then all of a sudden they send you a message – or worse post on your wall! – some spiel about why you need to join their company. It is such a turn off and they will probably find themselves unfriended!
Hint – you don’t want to be that person!
One reason that many marketers go into blogging is because it is a great way to build relationships with other like minded people and it helps to establish trust. If you and I are friends we may choose to purchase each other’s products or we may even decide to go into business together on some venture.
Where to Find Connections
Facebook is a great place to meet other like minded people as well. It’s easy enough to find them on groups and pages. There are plenty of Facebook courses, webinars, and the like out there so I’m not going to go into that now.
Many of the Facebook classes teach you where to find people and even how to draw them to your business, blog, page or whatever else you are marketing.
But not too many of them go into how it is you take someone that you don’t know and begin a meaningful relationship with them. At least that hasn’t generally been my experience!
Start with the Friends You Already Have
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel by going out and getting all new friends on Facebook so that you can start creating meaningful connections with people who could be your friend and possibly a business partner.
First you want to create a relationship with someone and provide value for their life. Once you get to know them you will be able to feel out whether or not they might be open to your business. If not, no big deal! It could happen at a later time but in the meantime you have a new friend and we all need friends!
Relationship marketing for entrepreneurs is definitely not a “get rich quick” scheme. It’s about making connections and providing value first of all. If you need to make some money right now then you will need to go out and use other methods.
It makes sense to start with the people who are already in your friends list. Look for someone that you haven’t connected with in a long time.
Reconnect
Go to your friends list and look for some people that you haven’t connected with in a long time and start connecting with them. There are several ways that you can go about this based on how you feel they would best respond.
Indirect
In some cases you will want to slowly ease into reconnecting with someone. In these cases go to their profile and leave some friendly comments on status updates and pictures.
Comment on how cute their pets or kids are, say how you’ve missed them, etc. Look for the clues on the wall posts that they have up.
It’s a great way to slowly reconnect with someone and brighten someone’s day.
Direct
Send the person a private message – do not send out a mass message, just one person at a time and don’t copy and paste! Make it personal to the person that you are “talking” to.
You can take one of two approaches or even a combination of the two. You can either start by looking around their profile to get an idea of what they are up to and then send them a message about things that you see in their profile.
An example of this might be:
“Hey Melinda! How are you doing these days? I see that you’ve got a couple kids now – they are so cute and the older one looks just like you did at that age! I also noticed that you’re into making jewelry, you’ve got some creative stuff there! Is that just for fun or are you selling it? I look forward to hearing from you! -Me”
Or if you have a strong history with them you might want to send them a message starting with that. You might write something along the lines of:
“Hi Tony! How’s it going? It’s been so long since we’ve hung out! What have you been up to? Probably nothing like we used to do, it’s amazing that we ever survived back then! Talk soon, Me”
Also depending on whether they are local or not you should set up a time to meet in person or talk on the phone. From there ask questions about them and their life. Look for clues of what their needs are and how you can help them.
Look for Part Two where we will discuss creating meaningful connections with brand new people on Facebook.
Have you found Facebook to be a valuable place to make connections? What has been your experience?
To Your Success,
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Thank you for reading! I'm Stacy, the owner of this blog. You can learn more about me here.
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Hi Stacy,
So true, and I always love your posts and what you share. Good stuff that just makes sense.
Aloha to you, my friend!
Nelly
Nelly Paekukui invites you to read… Communication Differences: Agree To Disagree Respectfully
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Hi Nelly,
Thank you very much!
Have a great weekend!
Stacy
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Hi Stacy,
I’m a first timer here. I love making connections on facebook. It has probably attributed to 50% percent or more of my success online.
However, I think regular facebook users and business owners use FB a bit differently. Making connections with people you maybe met in person versus FB Fans who like your fan page, requires two different strategies.
But I agree, I don’t like it when people I add start sending me spam (big turn off).
Good info, please keep it coming!
Vic invites you to read… How to Feel Abundant in 10 Minutes or Less
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Hi Vic,
Nice to meet you. I agree that it definitely requires two different strategies. Though in both cases we are looking for people who are open to our business. Sometimes some of the open people are already on our friends list and we don’t even know it until we bring it up!
Stacy
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Stacy, I want to tell you that what you wrote makes sense, but it hasn’t worked that way for me. None of my friends are likely to be my clients. Some might benefit from some of the articles I post for my clients, but I haven’t seen it yet. Keep writing. I know others will be able to use this.
Ann invites you to read… Sandwich Generation Money Guide
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Hi Ann,
Thank you. In some cases targeted leads are the best route to take.
Stacy
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You’re right. I mean it’s really a turn off when my friends post messages on my wall trying to sell me a thing. I don’t get it and I feel offended sort of. The way for me is to first introduce the benefits of your products indirectly, a soft sell.
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Hi Mae,
That would definitely be better than spam. I think that a lot of people unintentionally spam friends because they don’t know better yet.
Stacy
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Stacy,
Good thing that you have mentioned here about creating a Facebook connections with friends. Some of my friends are interested to engage with online marketing too! I just hope that they will become my clients one day.
Kelsey87 invites you to read… What You Need To Give Your Arowana A Good Home
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Hi Kelsey,
You’re right, we never know who’s open which is why I think it’s good to start with our friends list.
Stacy
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I’ve noticed how helpful building truly relationships really is. For a long time I didn’t understand that about networking!
Kylie invites you to read… Stay On Top of The Changes at Facebook – $15 Timeline Design!
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Hi Kylie,
It’s not always easy to understand the importance of networking until we start to experience the results!
Stacy
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Hi Stacy
Great post with some good suggestions. I have been trying lately to expand my connections through Facebook. I am not really at a point where I am monetizing my blog but I do have some ideas that I am working on and I figure it is best to get myself out there as much as I can sooner than later. I recently started a Facebook page and have been interacting with people through there. It is enjoyable and I look forward to expanding my contacts.
kelli cooper invites you to read… Is the Law of Attraction Too Good to Be True?
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Hi Kelli,
You’re right – it’s better to start sooner than later. You’ll have more connections when you’re ready to get going and that’ll be a great advantage!
Stacy
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Agree with you Stacy!
Yes indeed, Facebook is the ideal place to make connections and carry forward your relationship building skill. It does work wonders if you have a Fan Page too, though for me, I never really tried it for business purposes as yet. I feel making a personalized connection first works better than making it a professional one.
Those sure were some interesting tips and tricks you shared about going about making new contacts or keeping connected with older ones too.
Thanks for sharing
Harleena Singh@Freelance Writer invites you to read… How Can I Be a Better Parent?
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Hi Harleena,
I’m pretty new to using Facebook for business, aside from my fanpage. I’m looking forward to seeing more great results!
Stacy
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Hey Stacy, I agree with much of what you say for sure.
You know making meaningful connections of Facebook is definitely possible but not, in my opinion easy.
The problem is people who wish to friend people on Facebook already have a business and many (most) are not at the point they are looking for a switch.
As you say, I suppose there are those who would like to joint venture so I know after a period of time there is occasionally an opportunity to do so.
With that said, I am pleased to say I have made some meaningful connection online… yours being one of them, but we didn’t meet on Facebook
… I find my meaningful connections have been made on other people’s blogs!!
Facebook is in my opinion mostly social… but it is a great place for organizing events, both locally and online so I do enjoy it and like to bring my friends together there.
BTW… I still think we should have a chat. We never did arrange a time to get together. You have my numbers and Skype ID and you are always welcome to use them!
Best
Jayne
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 20th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Hi Jayne,
It’s great to see you, thank you for stopping by!
I couldn’t agree more that blogs are a great way to create meaningful connections! 
We do still need to chat! I was thinking about that this morning!
Stacy
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Hi Stacy…You know, a lot of people built a strong relatioship through Social media especially the facebook accounts…And even to your clients, you will sure be always connected with them…
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 20th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
It seems like everyone is on FB so it’s a great way to connect with people!
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That is what all about facebook – making connection. Excellent tips indeed! I really love to learn from the well experience one. I will always keep that in mind..
Becca invites you to read… Hello world!
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 20th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
Thank you, Becca!
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Stacy!!! This one is pretty interesting concept. I experienced that when an individual is connected with too many people then in his/her downtime, these people can become immense helpful to them. That is the biggest advantage of getting into relationship with others.
Love your posts. You every time come up with new ideas and I start reading it desperately. The moment I read this post, I searched you on Facebook and liked your page.
Zain Munawari invites you to read… 8 Reasons Your Blog Should Always Be Active
[Reply]
Stacy Reply:
March 20th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
Hi Zain,
Thank you, I’m glad that my posts are helpful. It’s great to connect with you on FB too!
Have a great day,
Stacy
[Reply]
Great article, linked to it in my post on viral marketing and tweeted it as well.
JR @ Internet Marketing invites you to read… Viral Marketing & Social Media Marketing Strategy
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Stacy Reply:
March 20th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Thank you very much, JR! It’s much appreciated!
Stacy
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