Facebook!

You would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know or hasn’t heard about the global social networking phenomenon known as Facebook! In fact you would also be extremely hard pressed to find someone not  on Facebook!

Facebook’s numbers and statistics are mind blowing. 850 million active users, and closing in on that magical one billion figure pretty quickly. A 140 million monthly unique visitors from the US alone. Its earned a massive 3.7 billion USD revenue in 2011, and that’s only going up. It’s the hottest buzzword on the interwebz today, is now a household name, and anyone and everyone that you and I know are on Facebook!

Facebook and Businesses!

Organizations – large and small – are using Facebook to promote their businesses, products and services. And some with great effect. In fact, Facebook is now the primary choice of advertisement and online presence for quite a lot of business.

Therefore, there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t use Facebook to promote your blog. However there’s certain ways to go by it, and some things which need to be considered first before you set about plugging your blog on Facebook. It can help you tap into a new, unexplored market, give you access to potential visitors and buyers, and generally drive a whole slew of traffic on your blog.

Let’s also not forget that Facebook is, by far, the biggest source of referral traffic out there, leaving everyone else in the dust!

How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Affiliate Blog

1. The first and the most obvious is to create a Facebook fanpage for your blog. And get as many likes as possible. You can plug your blog by sharing it with your own friends on your wall, and asking some of your other friends (preferably those with a high Social Networking Potential or SNP – those who have a large circle of friends and are very active) to plug your page. Alternatively, you can import email contacts, such as your email subscribers, to like your page. Add a ‘like’ box to your blog as well.
2. Keep your audience engaged. Creating polls and starting discussion on your page. Make sure your page has your blog’s logo, and all information about it. Having a rather empty-looking page, even if you have no fans, wouldn’t be such a good idea. Above all, ensure that the page has the URL of your blog clearly mentioned in multiple locations – ‘about’ section, ‘summary’ section as well as in the display picture of your page.
3. Make sure you send periodic updates on your Facebook page. Keep it active. Make it a policy to send at least one update per day. Keep your fans engaged. Each time you write a new blog post, share the link on the Facebook page.
4. Facebook Ads is another great method of promoting your blog, but with a price. Ads can be cheap or expensive, depending on the plan and options you choose.
5. Network with other bloggers who have FB pages. Self-explanatory, ask fellow bloggers to plug your blog and page on their blog pages.
6. Network with FB page owners who have a large number of likes. Ask them if they can promote your page on their FB page’s walls.
7. Think outside the box. Find new, fun and innovative ways of connecting with your audience. Be creative! With FB, you have at your disposal an extremely powerful tool and hence a plethora of possibilities.
8. Don’t over-do it! Make sure you’re not spamming FB with incessant and irritating posts.