Who better?
When marketers are faced with building a powerful Facebook profiles, they are quick to say:
Hey, I’m no Zuckerberg!
But really, who better than Zuckerberg to copy? Not only does he know the ins and outs of Facebook, but he knows what Facebook users like.
So lets see what good ol’ Zuck can teach you about creating a powerful Facebook profile.
Step #1: To be a cool kid, you have to be friends with cool kids
As you already know, Mark is well connected. Not only does he know famous web celebrities like Sean Parker, Peter Thiel, and Marc Andreessen, but he also knows Barack Obama.
When you are friends with the cool kids, you are naturally perceived as being “cool”. When you are perceived as being cool, people will start requesting you to become their friend.
So if you want to create a Facebook profile that’s not just popular, but powerful, you need to start requesting the cool kids to become your “friend”. Many of them will say no because they don’t know you, but for every 10 cool kids you request 1 to 3 will accept your friendship.
You’ll need to do this until 100 influential people accept your friend request. Once you reach that point, you’ll notice that a lot of random people on a daily basis will request your friendship on Facebook. The reason for this is usually because influencers have a lot of friends and their friends tend to look through their profile to see whom they are also friends with.
Step #2: Don’t forget about your real friends
Now that you are friends with the in crowd, you shouldn’t let it get to your head. These influencers are really busy and have so many friends that they’ll rarely bother to read your profile or even like/comment the stuff you put on your wall.
In order to counter act this you’ll actually have to add your real friends on Facebook, just like how Mark is still friends with the people he knew before he became rich. From family members to childhood friends, you want to be friends with people who actually care about you because they’ll care about what you have to say.
You typically can find your real friends on Facebook by giving them access to your email account. Through it, they’ll be able to see who you communicate with on a regular basis and see if those people are on Facebook. If they are, the system will suggest that you add them as a friend.
Step #3: Don’t be shy
Mark isn’t the most out going guy. However, just because you may be shy or awkward in real life doesn’t mean you have to be that way online.
Feel free to make your profile very thorough, upload some pictures of yourself, write on your wall and most importantly start writing on your friends’ walls. If you don’t become more social you won’t do well on Facebook or any social networking website, for that matter.
The strategy I like to use is:
- Post on your wall daily – I typically like to post something interesting that happened to me, or something I learned or even a quote. What I’ve found is that quotes tend to go the most viral on Facebook.
- Engage with your friends on your wall – when my friends comment on my wall I try to do my best to respond to them. This lets them, as well as others, know that I care to hear what they have to say and more importantly I appreciate them. Remember, no one likes talking to themselves.
- Engage with your friends – every day I “like” at least one thing one of my friends says and comment on at least one of their profiles. I try to do this with friends who typically don’t engage on my wall as it encourages new people to interact with my wall.
- Don’t be predictable – once a week I like to do something out of the ordinary so that it boosts engagement more than normal. This usually means that I am posting something that is either really funny or somewhat controversial. One of my unpredictable postings was “If eye-rolling burned calories, women would never have to diet.”
- Don’t create enemies – you can easily create enemies with what you post on Facebook. You’ve spent so long gaining friends, why would you want to risk losing them? I typically avoid posting political or religious things onFacebook. Heck, even after I posted that eye-rolling quote I posted one about men so I wouldn’t seem sexist: “If ball-scratching burned calories, men would never have to diet”.
Step #4: Not all friends are equal
Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t accept everyone as his friend, which means you shouldn’t either. So instead of just accepting anyone that you know, you should be a bit scientific as Facebook limits your profile to 5000 friends.
After capping out at 5000 friends I did a bit of digging into my Facebook profile and I quickly learned a few things:
- Little is the new big – although it’s wise to be friends with a few influencers, your goal shouldn’t be to friend them all. Although 47% of my friends have over 500 connections (people who their friends with), they only account for 21% of my engagement. Friends who have less than 500 connections account for 79% of the engagement on my profile wall.
- Go worldwide – 62% of my friends aren’t located in the United States. Those friends account for over 83% of the engagement on my Facebook wall.
- Women are powerful – 16% of my friends are female, yet they account for 22% of the engagement on my wall. I wish I befriended more females earlier on, but I guess it’s too late as I am capped out at 5000 friends.
Before you go and cap out your profile at 5000 friends, don’t make the same mistakes I did. Be careful about who you accept as a friend as it can affect how powerful your profile will be.
Step #5: There’s nothing wrong with self-promoting.
One thing that Zuckerberg tends to do is promote himself on Facebook. Heck, he does this on his Fan Page. From promoting his Time Magazine cover to being on Saturday Night Live, he lets everyone know what he is up to.
Don’t be afraid to let others know what you are doing with your business because it’s not only a good way to get traffic, but it can also drive customers.
I let all of my friends know what my company is up to, I also go as far as promoting my personal brand on Facebook. Every time I write a blog post, I share it on my Facebook wall.
Over the last few years I’ve learned that if you want to self promote, timing is everything. I’ve posted on my Facebook profile during each day of the week and even during holidays. I’ve even posted every single hour during the day imaginable. With my friend base, I tend to get the most engagement when I post between the hours of 8am and 11am PST. And the peak days for me tend to be Monday, Wednesday or Thursday.
Conclusion
If you follow Mark Zuckerberg’s footsteps, chances are you won’t become a billionaire like him. But what you can expect is to create a Facebook profile that isn’t just popular, but will be powerful.
Stop wasting time, get out there and build up your Facebook presence. No matter what business venture or career path you decide to take, you can always use your Facebook profile to promote it.
And if you are one of those people that think Facebook is a waste of time, think again. It’s the second most popular website on the Internet. It doesn’t matter what you think, you have no choice but to be on it.
This amazing course will teach you, step by step, how to double if not triple your traffic over the next 30 days.
awww SNAP, love it. I think you learned a lot after reaching 5000 friends, great analysis Neil
I definitely learned a thing or two. Thanks for reading, glad I could provide some insights.
Hi Neil,
Great post!
I could not agree more with the above mentioned points, and do try following most of the above. Earlier it was very tough to say no to people sending you invitations on Facebook and Twitter, and to increase the number of followers, I did accept and followed them back. As a result, there were lots of spam followers and posts all over!
However, I unfollowed many people recently- who unliked and unfollowed me as well-which just proved that they were not real fans- and now I am much better off to have a few selected good fans and followers.
Thanks for sharing
You really have to choose who you follow wisely. It’s definitely trial and error. Hopefully you have reached that happy medium where you are following friends and a steady mix of key opinion leaders.
I agree it’s not a waste of time, but it can get very addictive… and very personal if you let it. I mean you’re putting yourself out there for the world to see.
Steve, great point. I think you really have to manage your image and brand wisely. You are exposing yourself to anyone and everyone out there. 1 degree of separation!
I did some changes in my facebook activities after reading this article and guess what ?
Yeah I got the results and 10% extra conversion today at all of my blogs including this personal one.
Thanks
Wow, sounds like you really benefited from utilizing the tips. Good luck and keep up the good work!
Good points, guess in a race to make as many friends as we can, we often end up just adding those who too are in the same rat race and thus, unlikely to respond to your posts, since they are busy promoting their own!
Having said that, I personally feel that it is best to befriend those who are interested in things you do, rather than random individuals, who wouldn’t likely be interested in what you are posting about anyways!
It is vitally important to follow people who are in the same game as you. If you befriend everyone then you really haven’t friended anyone. It is also vital to share feedback and engage with the people who follow you. Thanks for reading Yogesh!
Is there any way of getting influence people to like our business (small) pages as there is no ‘invite’ button any more?
Hmm, I would have to look into it and get back to you. can you clarify your question..?
If you want to be a friend with somebody you send an invite to them and they either accept or decline. But this is not possible to do with you business page, as fas as I am aware. You cannot invite anybody to ‘Like’ your page. Hope its more clear now.
You can recommend that your “personal friends” become fans of your business page.
So women are the key to facebook! Awesome will try this!
Awesome, let me know how it works out!
Some nice ideas about facebook interactions and marketing. Thanks for the info. Paul
Glad you found them helpful Paul, let me know how it works for you!
Great points Neil… There is lots to learn from Zuckerberg!! Idea to be on Social networking sites isn’t that easy…!! Regular engagements is the key to successful Social marketing..
Definitely, regular engagement and quality content are of the utmost importance. Good luck with your social networking.
And replying to those ‘engagements’ is key. Just like what Neil does here.. he comments on every single comment! Facebook is something our business needs to get in on!
Thanks,
It is important to make sure those who give you their time, get back the same courtesy. Even if it takes a little while to do.
You can’t engage your audience until you have an audience to engage. Once you have the audience, don’t forget to engage. Engagement is how you will keep an audience. And its fair easier to keep a relationship than to create a new one. Thanks for the great post.
Online Business Virtual Assistant
Shilpi that is a great summary of the article. Thanks for reading, and good luck with your social engagement.
Complete profile, make cool friends, like other posts is the best way to make your profile popular
Those are some other essential points, thanks for adding to the list
You have helped me lot through this post so i only gave you a return mate
Thanks! And you have helped me out by participating on Quick Sprout. I really appreciate it.
Hi Mark i am interested to use Face book to face book for finding people for business
I am not Mark, but you should follow the tips above and you will be able to engage your audience
Great idea to make more and more friends on facebook all tips are great and too useful for Social Media sites.
Thanks Sam, glad you found the article helpful. Good luck!
Most like to put female pic even if they are male. And other also know them that they are male. Why it is?
I haven’t come across that experience haha. Maybe, some people like to engage in different ways?
Mark who?
So my joke didn’t go over so well…Yes there is a lot to learn from Mark, and his success.
Definitely, sorry didn’t catch the comment at first. Enjoyed the joke
Cuban? LOL
Hoping for a similar follow up for Twitter strategies.
I will try to pump out a blog post about Twitter, thanks!
perfect Neil..
Thanks Anand, hope it helped
Neil thanks for sharing this breakdown! It’s interesting that “little is the new big” on FB- we may see an actual return to authentic relationships and not simply amassing numbers.
I think keeping it simple has always been the standard. I hope for much of the same, thanks for reading
Great article Neil, thanks for keeping it simple! I often go back-and-forth as to the usage of facebook as it can get dramatic sometimes. This is a good reminder to be mindful of our choices when it comes to facebook friends!
Cheers!
Definitely, you really have to hold your tongue and be mindful of your audience when you post certain things on FB.
Women are awesome attractor of friends. If you have a lots of girls friends every one wants to be your friends and this is also true in case of facebook.
I have heard similar stories, women are always helpful in that they are intelligent and great communicators. Men are just grunts
This is a great tip
) I have to make more female friends to attract more male friends. Interesting 
I will give it a try 
Try it out and let me know your results.
Hey that’s a really great post! Most times people dont how to use facebook or even they dont know what to do. You kept it simple and sweet. Now readers can see how fb is suppose to be use.:)
Glad you enjoyed the post Reshonda, good luck with your social engagement
Neil, love your philosophy. Who should we copy but the Leader, Mark, of course! Great suggestion. K
He is the standard. So yes, I agree, we must follow him
Thanks so much Neil. The article was so insightful.
Anthony, glad I could help you out
Thanks Neil. One can learn not only from what you have gleaned from others but “HOW” you use that to communicate. Thanks again for the multi-layered tips and tricks.
Putting your work into action, then testing and results is the best way to improve your communication. Glad you found the tips useful
Thank you Neil!!!!
I’m still very new on FB profile and this is just what I need… my oh my, once again I am glad I found your blog when I decided to do blogging again. I’ve learnt tons of thing s from this blog so far, am starting to see blogging not just for hobby.
Keep posting, sure I’ll be one of the first readers!
Thanks Ren! Really appreciate the kind words I am glad you are finding my tips and trips useful. Good luck
Facebook is a great place where you can promote your new business very easily, BUT in a proper way. Your post is very nice.
Thanks, glad you found it useful. Good luck with your new business.
“To be a cool Kid, You need to friend Cool Kids” Its quite cool.
lol it really is cool, thanks for reading!
The Cool Kids hmmm…I am working on this.
Thanks Neil and you definately make a point that Facebook is the second most popular website so it is definitely a plus to use it and use it wisely.
It is very essential to use it wisely and to work on improving your social footprint. Good luck!
Pretty good overview of how to ace Facebook.
Another quick tip: Rotate and Add more images/photos. People LOVE photos
Thanks Neil
P.S: I think you missed a typo here buddy: “..requesting the cool kids to becomee your..
Definitely, thanks for the tip. I’ll look into the typo, thanks for pointing it out.
Yes its necessary to remember real friends because we don’t fell shy with them.
Definitely, it’s always easy to be yourself around those who you know well.
It may be terrifying sometimes if you think of exposing yourself to the world and what you say and do can draw misunderstanding and criticism from billions of people. But it is also a wonderful opportunity to make a name for yourself and contribute something significant. This article shows you just have to play it right. Great tips as always Neil!
No problem. Hopefully they help you leverage Facebook more so that you can drive more visitors to your website. Best of luck!
Good suggestions. Facebook rocks!
No problem Sam. If you have any suggestions you would like to share with the Quick Sprout readers, feel free and leave a comment.
I agree it’s not a waste of time, but it can get very addictive… and very personal if you let it. I mean you’re putting yourself out there for the world to see.
It certainly can be,
It is definitely revealing of who you are and what you think.
What are the penalties if someone gets caught pretending to be a famous person on Facebook? I don’t do this. I’m just wondering because there are so many fake profiles.
From what I know, I believe the fake Facebook page will be deleted.
Now I don’t know if that is all that will be the only penalty but you are right quite a few people create fake profiles.
Neil, may I ask. What do not know? haha. Seems like from one thing to another you definitely have something to say. Not just something but very powerful and everything makes sense. This tip goes to people who wants to get noticed and build connections. Great tips once again.
Thanks,
There are definitely quite a few things I still have yet to learn.
All the time I am constantly learning, so that I can be constantly improving.
I am glad I could be of useful information to you.
thank you for sharing
p.s. Mark has got cool friends? really? .. c’mon he owns FB!
Meaning all of his friends are cool
.
Facebook till now hasn’t provided the option of knowing who has visited our profile recently.But does the profiles of members shown under peoples you may know means they have visited our profiles although profiles of members having mutual friends are also shown under the said category.
Although I like that feature, I think some will see it as creepy.
Before even completing the post, I have to ask are you friends with Mark on Fb?
I am not. I don’t know him…
Now that I have finished reading, I am really surprised to know that there is a limit of 5000 friends on fb. I would have definitely sent you a friend request. Let me know if you are planning to delete a few of friends or creating a new account separating professional fb contacts with personal. Do you think it is a good idea to do that?
I appreciate the offer, but I try not to delete any of the friends I have added.
I’ll let you know if I create a separate profile.
I too had no idea you were limited to 5k friends. Mind you, I don´t think I know more than 500 people in real life.
It’s not who you know in real life, it’s how you can get connected with over the web.
The solution is to stop thinking in the terms of rules (what can be done, what is legal) and start thinking in practical terms (what should be done, what is a bad thing to do that we can do but avoid). If we do that, parents won’t peep at their children’s profiles, friends won’t upload pics without asking their friends first, etc.
So many people upload bad pictures to Facebook. They think it is cool now, but as they get older they will realize how big of a mistake that was.
It is always a delight to feel what I believe – that information is inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
Nicely said, I like that quote. I might use that sometime. Thank YOU for sharing.
I could not agree more with the above mentioned points, and do try following most of the above. Earlier it was very tough to say no to people sending you invitations on Facebook and Twitter, and to increase the number of followers, I did accept and followed them back. As a result, there were lots of spam followers and posts all over!
It is hard to turn down so many potential followers. You would think adding everyone would be a great way to increase traffic. Unfortunately like you said spam can start to take over and ruin a good thing.
The solution is to stop thinking in the terms of rules (what can be done, what is legal) and start thinking in practical terms (what should be done, what is a bad thing to do that we can do but avoid). If we do that, parents won’t peep at their children’s profiles, friends won’t upload pics without asking their friends first, etc.
Interesting point of view. That is one way to see it. It would be nice if eventually that could happen.
I heard that Facebook is interested in buying Twitter. Google is also interested. I am curious if Twitter will be sold and to who. What plans Facebook on doing with Twitter?
That is interesting. I am sure once they all decide what they are doing and the deals are made, we will all find out.
But still, this is an interesting strategy from both companies. Each one will definitely have different plans with Twitter. I am curious which will benefit more.
It is interesting, I can’t wait to see.
Thank you for sharing. My only problem is that I want to curtail the time I spend on facebook marketing. It is time comsuming
No problem. I understand completely, it is extremely time consuming. I would suggest hiring someone to help with the load if you can swing it. If not then it may just be something you have to do until you can afford the extra help. The time spent marketing should be worth it.
Thanks a lot for this post. That was really inspiring me a lot.
Happy to hear it. Hopefully it was as useful as well as inspiring.
Hello there , i am new here , i have created one facebook fan page for my new blog related to travel . I can show you the link to my fan page if necessary but i don`t know how to invite my friends to see my fan page . Is there a way to invite peoples to see my fan page on facebook ??
There should be, unfortunately I don’t know how.
Thank you Neil!!!!
I’m still very new on FB profile and this is just what I need… my oh my, once again I am glad I found your blog when I decided to do blogging again. I’ve learnt tons of thing s from this blog so far, am starting to see blogging not just for hobby.
Keep posting, sure I’ll be one of the first readers!
Glad I could help. Thanks, hopefully what you learned will be useful to your blog. It definitely can be so much more then a hobby.
Best of luck.
Hi Neil
Great post!
After reading this, I will try My Facebook profile not just only popular, but will be powerful.
Thanks
Bhavik
Thanks,
Definitely, a very valuable combination. I hope it will be.
Facebook profile should be true its should not be fake one its will bring bad neighborhood with others
I agree, it can be more trouble and less profitable to have a fake Facebook.
Hey there would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re working with? I’m going to start my own blog soon but I’m having a hard time choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique. P.S Sorry for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
I would suggest using wordpress, it is easy to work off of for beginners.
good one really like and applying the things on my facebook
Glad to hear it. I hope it helps.
My friends from the PH should develop this. When I read this, I was like they should read this. First of all, they are shy to show what they are good at. 2nd they feel that once they promote themselves, they are lifting themselves which they don’t want to. I want them to develop self confidence. I want them to be proud sometime about they can do not boast but be proud.
Definitely, let them know to check it out and try it for themselves. Self confidence is a great asset. If you can’t be proud and confident in yourself then you can’t expect others to be either.
Hi there would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a fair price? Thank you, I appreciate it!
I use Slicehost. Try that one I think it will work best for you
Hi Neil,
Thank you for sharing your insights on the steps Mark Zuckerberg takes to build his Facebook profile.
I have a question however, for a lot of us, we use Facebook as a means to communicate and keep in touch with our friends and family, by adding people who are influential and subsequently more random people, would you be compromising on the security of the information that is readily and easily available on our Facebook profiles?
What are your views? Hear from you soon! Have a great day!
I understand your concern. I may self have two facebooks, one for friends and family and the other for business. Also it is wise in general to not have too much information, especially personal, on your facebook to begin with.
Its important that we should realize that who is our real friends. We should never forget friends who gave us love and appreciation when weren’t rich or successful.
Definitely, remembering the people who were around before your success are key to appreciate and value.
a big check to everything written. Building yourself, then building your connection equates building your business. Self promoting is definitely not bad as long you don’t go over the top. It means you’re just back down.
kimmi
Yep, you have got it. Seems like you know exactly what to do.
Thanks for the encouraging words. I know I am on the right track. And getting a positive answer from you, makes it more motivating.
teaming up with the big guys is the fastest way to success therefore sending friend request to the already popular facebook profiles makes sense.
Yep, having big names to help you out or back you up is extremely beneficial.
Nice Post Neil,
But don’t you think that having players from your niche and those who matter to your business should be there? having a few big guns may be good, but the maximum number should of real friends and niche people. What do you think?
I think Mark is right about women posting more on FB, I read this article a while back and created a new account. I followed these instructions added around 1,500 females initially. After that I got around 8,000 friend’s request in a matter of days. Unfortunately I can’t be friends with more than 5k People.
An awesome Facebook profile goes a long way. These tips are very good and should be followed!
hey neil,
this is an excellent post.it’s great to read it. Step # 3 is interesting. i liked this point very much.
Thanks.
Matt
Good points, guess in a race to make as many friends as we can, we often end up just adding those who too are in the same rat race and thus, unlikely to respond to your posts, since they are busy promoting their own.
Great article Neil, thanks for keeping it simple! I often go back-and-forth as to the usage of facebook as it can get dramatic sometimes. Thanks!,,
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