You wouldn’t allow someone to mess up your store, then why allow it on Facebook?

Why should you take time to maintain your page?

1) Traffic – With Facebook getting so much traffic, it’s become an important extension of your business. For small businesses, it’s your best bet for valuable feedback and market research.

2) Story – When someone visits your page and the 1st thing they see a bunch of Pillow hits or Mafia Wars posts, they don’t get to the important content right away. People have a short attention span and you only have the top 2 posts to get their interest. Due to Facebooks currently poor archiving, your best content can get burried fast. You may find yourself posting the same content multiple times.

3) Response – you should respond to every wall inquiry. With your wall cluttered, it will take you longer to respond and even harder for visitor to read them. This may cause redundant questions wasting your time.

While attending college in the Philippines, I did some part-time modeling. It was probably my most eye-opening experience to date. Being a freelance model also meant that I was my own CEO, CFO, CMO, and CIO.

1) Perception rules

Modeling: As a model, it was all about how people perceived you. Casting directors didn’t care how nice of a person you were (for the most part). If you looked good, you got the job.

Business: In business, it’s how people perceive you is what matters. If you site is ugly but has great products, they may not stick around long enough to find out.

Lesson: Make a great 1st impression. Don’t release a product that’s not extraordinary.

2) Be prepared for rejection

Modeling: The industry is about rejection and I had had my fair share it. I remember attending countless commercial VTRs (Video Tape Recordings) without landing a major role. I was told I didn’t look right, too skinny, too short, too tall….I heard it all.

Business: Not everyone is going to like your products or services. Be prepared for haters out there. Focus on your core expertise and market.

Lesson: Rejection and failure is part of the game, it’s how you react to it is what ultimately matters.

3) Knowing the right people helps

Modeling: I used to get frustrated when I 1st started. I would get many calls for gigs. I was a new guy and didn’t socialize much. This was before we had Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. The internet was still a baby. All we had was SMS. I only started to get more projects when I did the real-life social networking. Back in the day, we actually had to make friends…not just add them on some website That meant I had to go to numerous parties after a gig even if I was dead tired.

Business: Your 1st customers are usually your family and friends and then their family and friends. If you have a great product/service, it will organically spread to the right people. If it doesn’t, then you have to figure out a way to get them to notice. That means being at your industry events. That means being part of the online community for your industry. It’s a lot easier now with the internet.

Lesson: Be a social butterfly on and offline.

4) Keep track of your non-working hours

Modeling: I used to be happy when I got paid for a gig. At that time, $75-$100 for a fashion show was good money. Then I thought about how many taxis I took, how many meals I bought, how many hours I sat in traffic, and how many  hours I spend during rehearsals/fittings.  When I added up all that time, I would be lucky to break even.

Business: I used to think that just because I used opensource software to make websites, it didn’t cost me anything. I could spend 15 hours a day working on a project. Looking back, my hourly rate was at least $25 an hour.

Lesson: Keep track of your time and know your hourly rate.

5) Like what you do

Modeling: I eventually quit modeling because it wasn’t stimulating enough. I didn’t like waiting for hours doing nothing. I’m sure things are better now (including compensation) but when I was active, it was a brain numbing day everytime I had to wait backstage. After modeling I transitioned to music and the web.

Business: When I first learned about making money on the web, I tried almost every trick out there. I obsessed learning what were the latest search trends and making websites with related ads/affiliate links. I did make some money but was not satisfied.  I didn’t care about the topics I was writing about.

Lesson: Be passionate about what you do or get out.

I think it has a lot of potential once connected to Myspace and Facebook. Somebody make a WordPress plugin please.