You've got a great brand, a great product or service, and your marketing strategy is in place ready for those customers to come pouring in. So what's next? Time to build your network, if you haven't already. It's time for you to make meaningful connections in your industry and among other business owners. It's time for you to learn how to build your network, but how?
Easily one of the most overlooked tools on Facebook is the search function and it's ability to help you connect with even more people who are in your industry. If you are wondering how to build a network than you can benefit from using Facebook search. It is a simple quick way to find people in your industry and people with whom you share interests.
Navigating Your Way Through Facebook Search
If you've never visited the search page on Facebook. You can find it at http://facebook.com/search. This is the page you will see:
On the left side you see the search filters, let's pay attention to particularly the filters for people, pages, groups, public posts, and posts by friends. Once you are at the page you can type what you are searching for into the search box at the top. I am interested in social media so I would like to connect with other social media managers so I search for that. For this search I will leave the filter set to "all results" so Facebook will show me anything and everything related to my search query "social media managers".
You can scroll down and there are pages and pages of results for this term but I just give you a screen shot of the top of the page to show you what I am doing. And then you can turn on the filters for your search:
People results:
You can see that Facebook shows you people who have "social media manager" in their "work" section of their profile. You can add these people as your friends, or visit their page and subscribe to their updates. I go ahead and add as friend. That way they notice me, check out my profile, and then we can interact on a more personal level. Some people like to keep their personal Facebook page just for personal things and that is okay too. If they don't accept then it's no sweat. But I find most people will.
Page results:
Searching for pages is a good way to find industry leaders and a great way to find places to get great info about your industry coming right through your Facebook stream. You can also find the owners of the page and friend them or ask them to like your page as well. Most people will do this as well. Knowing how to build a network is all about making as many contacts as possible and putting your feelers out there.
Group results:
Public posts and Posts by friends:
Through this filter Facebook shows you who has talked about what you are searching for. You can see above that none of my friends are talking about "social media managers" but I can see public posts by people who are talking about it. This is also helpful when searching for people to network.
If you want to connect with me on Facebook <~~ click this link and let's get connected!
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Great tips. I would exercise a little caution on the "friending", though as I know many who have received posting/friending bans for too many requests, especially of people they have no prior connection to. One way around this might be to subscribe first and let them get to know you a bit before requesting a connection.
Facebook has been just about my best network-building tool.
It’s happened to me too so yes you are right! do that the right way.. !!!
Never knew about this and glad I am here. Great information. Thanks Elizabeth. You always give me great nuggets. Love the visuals–normally not a visual learner but am when it comes to social media these days.
Great info on how to use search. This is really one of the easiest ways to find people to network with, but so many "forget" about it!
Once you learn the ropes of networking, you find that there are so many wonderful people out there!
Great tips for using Facebook search. I've not used search for much of anything yet so looking forward to trying this and seeing the results. Thanks!
Connecting with people who are in our industry is key. No use sharing with those who are not interested in what we have to say!
Using the search button in FB is a great way to build a network. It is a simple quick way to find people who share similar interests. Great post!
Great tips! I'm going to try this. It's all about networking, right?
Facebook is a social network and the new search helps you connect with people you have things in common with.
I often forget about the search function, thanks for this comprehensive piece and reminder of the search
I used it at forst and then kinda stop doing it. I have to get back in the swing of it!
Great information about Facebook search options. It's important to connect with those folks in your niche. Thanks!
Yes it is and to mix and mingle with people that might have business needs that you can serve .
This is so helpful! I'm just starting to appreciate the benefits of social networking and this is a great post to point me in the right direction. Thanks!
I build my first company on the back of my social networking through social media connections.
Great article. Thanks for the tips. I love learing about all of the social media platforms.
Thanks Terressa ! Networking on twitter and facebook has brought me a lot of business and in contact with great people !
The Facebook Search function is one of the first things I teach my students in the Facebook Class. However, I do think it's very limiting as to what to search on and for. A keyword search would be much better served. Right now, Facebook Pages can only be searched for by their name and so many page owners are not aware of that as they select their page name. It's a shame not be be able to filter further. Never the less, it still is a very useful tool for reaching out to customers, competition and clients, just as you pointed out in the article!