Facebook??? 1

[MDE327]

What does everybody think of a Facebook / social networking site profile for a structural (or whatever) engineering firm.

Seems a lot of my contractor and design/build clients are starting to get them. To me that seems to indicate it is time I consider doing the same.

Mike Drinkwater, P.E.

http://www.mdrinkwaterengineering.com

 

[HgTX]

My state DOT has a Facebook page (and probably a Twitter feed, who knows). But that's to reach the general public, not to attract business, which isn't really the DOT's function.

The American Institute of Steel Construction has a Facebook page. They've been on a social networking kick lately. I'm not really sure what the point is. I guess they want to reach out initially to college students (they already do that with their bridge competition), and then when those students become engineers they maintain the warm fuzzy feelings toward steel.

I'm not too fond of FB as a marketing tool; it's a social space and most people don't want to be marketed to. On the other hand, other than the initial page invitation, getting marketed to on FB is an opt-in. They used to call it "becoming a fan" of a page; now you "like" the page; either way it means you sign up for notifications from them. I've signed up for a few of these myself, and I have a musician page that other people can "like", though I keep forgetting to update it. A couple times a year I post a link to that page on my personal profile in case I've added any new friends who may be interested in it. But I can't really see marketing an engineering business on FB.

If you do want to do business on FB, definitely separate your "page" from your personal "profile". One is you, one is your business, and you personally and your business engage in different things and need to reach a different crowd. Also FB frowns upon using personal profiles for commercial purposes. Don't "like" the business page from your personal profile. Keep them separate. You don't want the clients following the link back to your personal profile where you're yammering on about whatever the dog pooped out this morning.

If clients find you and want to "friend" you, consider (in violation of FB policy but whatever) creating separate FB profiles for your real friends and your business contacts. Hide the private one from searches, make it visible only to friends, don't let those two identities friend each other, and don't friend anyone on both pages--assign everyone to one category or another.

FB pages are good for entities who want to regularly broadcast something to their network via status updates, like Twitter. Not so useful, because of the rigid format, for just being out there on the web passively giving information about your business.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[casseopeia]

A thought occurred to me today when I was de-friended for the first time. What happens if you 'friend' the boss or co-workers and then get laid off or fired. Do you un-friend those people because it's too hard to see photos of your former employers company outing? Do you keep your boss just in case there is the possibility of consulting work or rehiring?

What if a client is a friend and stiffs you on a business deal. Do you un-friend the client and risk no future business and possibly broadcast to your competitors that your client is looking for new blood?

IDK, just random thoughts......

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

 

[MacGyverS2000]

It varies... if you were laid off but remain on good terms, I would leave them on (though to be fair I probably wouldn't have added them to to my FB account in the first place, I use LinkedIn for that). If you were fired, I would dump the boss at least, maybe keep coworkers.

How many bridges do you want to burn, and do you think you'll get work via common contacts? Some bridges are worth attaching a nuclear bomb to...

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[HgTX]

Cass--do you really think you'd get an offer via a Facebook connection? Then keep the "friends", but hide them from your feed if you just can't bear it. I believe you could still get private messages from them. Same goes for, say, an ex. If you want not to see them, but want to reserve the right to change your mind invisibly, go for "hide" rather than "delete".

I agree that LinkedIn is a better forum for professional contacts--but it's harder to stay on people's radar. On FB people are posting all kinds of stuff all the time, so you're constantly reminded of their existence. On LI, if you want to remind people of your existence, you have to keep posting a status change, but since LI isn't really geared toward "streaming", your LI contacts might not appreciate getting the daily (or weekly) notification that you've changed your status.

I think in certain industries (probably marketing, for one) LI *is* used like FB, and people are posting and reading status messages all the time, but if your industry isn't like that, then trying to stand out on LI can backfire. Better to be visible by other forms of participation on LI like posting messages to groups or answering questions. Getting a weekly notification that "Cass has answered a question in the Care And Feeding Of Architects and Structural Engineers forum" is, in my opinion, moderately more interesting than "Cass has changed her status." The latter says to me Cass is changing her status to change her status (which, if you're the consultant who wrote the "how to succeed on LinkedIn" page advising people to update their statuses frequently, could be good, but in most cases probably not). The former says Cass is engaging with a network of her peers.

Just thoughts.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[shahyar]

I have a page in LinkedIn. It was very helpful. I got bunch of feedbacks. People who were looking for my expertise or my courses. I am going to add some presentations and files to my page.