Building your network on Facebook has some similarities with building an email list on your own website, but it is a different beast in many ways. In fact, it's really more like building a network in "real life." In this article, we're going to look at some strategies for increasing your network.
The biggest difference about Facebook is its viral nature. This is really what makes it a "social" site - whenever someone becomes your friend or likes your Page, all their other friends will see an update letting them know. This doesn't help you a great deal if you're interacting with people as a friend, but if they're liking your Facebook Page, you can reach a lot of new people this way.
If someone likes your page, and they have friends who are interested in the same types of things (and who doesn't?) those friends may click through to your Page when they see the update that their friend liked it. And if they wind up liking it as well, all their friends will see an update, and so on down the line.
This is one of the reasons it's more effective to use a Page for business purposes, rather than connecting to everyone as a friend from your personal profile. If people see that their friend has become a friend with you, that means very little if they don't know who you are. But if they see they liked a page about a topic they're also interested in, that's a lot more personal for them.
Promoting your Facebook Page to people who are already in your network in some way - they read your blog, follow you on Twitter, subscribed to your email list, etc. - Is also effective. It might seem a little pointless since they're already hearing from you in some way, but the value is in the viral aspect once again.
If those people like you on Facebook, all their friends will see it. Plus, those people already follow you to some degree or another, so it's often easier to convince them to like your Page. This provides some social proof, since people arriving at the Page will see that you already have x number of followers.
In many ways, building a network on Facebook is easier than building an email list or other more "traditional" group of followers. Just keep in mind that people are there for entertainment and social reasons first and foremost, so you need to fit into that world.
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