OK, I have to admit, I’m probably the last internet marketer to embrace the use of the application Facebook. Why? I don’t know. My business, Silver Web Solutions, is on everything else: Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo, Ning, etc. The lasting stigma of Facebook being a “college” networking site has stayed with me until recent. After further research on Facebook, I let the guard down and dived right in.

Here’s what I suggest to any entrepreneur or small business owner that wants to get your feet wet with social networking: DO NOT LIST YOUR HIGH SCHOOL INFORMATION ON YOUR PROFILE. By personally doing this, I have been “befriended” by all my old school mates from not only high school, but junior high and elementary school as well. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. I actually enjoy it. The first thing I do when I log on in the morning is see what my old friends are doing, thinking, playing, etc. Will I get bored with this? Probably not, but only time will tell.

I had started to “befriend” business clients as well. However, when I logged into my account feed I saw references to business meetings, SEO stories, networking events and tax preparation articles interspersed with references to dancing recitals, guitar lessons and someone taking the wrong highway to a hairdressing appointment. The two obviously didn’t mesh and I had to do something about it.

I created a new account for business. I differentiated it from my personal account by interests, posts and business related video. My only problem is that I now have to log into two accounts. However, setting up my e-mail notifications (for the two accounts) to two different e-mail addresses has helped tremendously.

So, when the signup question appears about providing high school information, be sure to click “SKIP THIS.”

Mike Silverman
Facebook For Business