January 2011 Update: Facebook appears to have retired this functionality feature in relation to profiles…however, they offer it on the pages product. If you are an administrator of a page, you can modify the default settings to accomplish a similar outcome to what is described in the post below.
This Facebook marketing tip relates to the personal profile marketing tool in Facebook. For clarification on where this tip fits into the greater Facebook marketing picture, please view our post Facebook Foundations: Facebook’s Marketing Tools Explained.
Worried that what other people post on Facebook about you will be exposed to your professional network or potential clients? Is this keeping you from using Facebook in your real estate practice? If so, check out this simple solution that helps to alleviate this concern and opens the door for you to connect with clients, colleagues, and prospects on Facebook.
By default, the typical view for the wall tab on personal profiles includes all Facebook activity related to you, whether posted by you, or posted by a friend as shown here:
In the opinion of Pixel Coaching, this is the optimal setting to create engagement on your profile. However, if you would prefer to hide posts and tags by Facebook friends (such as the ones from Glen Oaks Escrow and Justine in the image above) from appearing on the first page of your profile, you can.
One setting modification will demote all updates by friends to a separate sub-tab of your wall. To view posts by friends, your Facebook connections will have to click a sub-menu link. The setting change doesn’t prohibit the post from being viewable (you can alter your privacy settings to accomplish this if you feel you must), but it will make it so that extra navigation is required by your friends to see the post. This is helpful for a few reasons:
- Most users aren’t going to click on a sub-menu to view posts by your friends or family when they look on your profile. It’s one extra step that people aren’t used to taking in Facebook.
- By default, you receive an email notification when a friend posts on your wall. If you are responsive to that email notification, you can log into Facebook and review, and/or remove, any post you are uncomfortable with. In the worst case scenario, if your friend posts something you feel compromises your professional image, you can rest assured that it is not displaying on the main page of your profile. And, you can go in and then remove the offending post or personal tag that is causing the post or photo to appear on your wall.
Here is how to change the default view of the wall tab on your Facebook profile:
1. From your profile, click the “Options” link:
2. Click the “Settings” link:
3. De-select “Combine Posts” link:
4. When your friends now view your Facebook profile, your wall tab will be filtered and only show activities that originated with you. There will also be a new sub-menu on your profile wall:
If friends want to see wall posts that originated from other friends, they have to click either the “Stacey + friends” link, or the “Just Friends” link:
Why would a Realtor want to do this? Pixel Coaching understands that Realtors are worried not about what they post on Facebook, but what other people post on Facebook about them. They fear that embarrassing photos and/or comments from close friends and family will suddenly appear on their profile and paint a picture that may be less than professionally flattering. This becomes a barrier to them using Facebook as a vehicle in their business development. If this is your concern, this tip is a simple way to help protect yourself. Simply change the default view on your profile wall to only display items and Facebook activities that originate with you.
This article is part of a month long series of tips, tricks, and strategies for real estate marketing with Facebook. View additional posts from our “Tip a Day” series on Pixel Coaching.
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