3 things to avoid on Facebook

November 19, 2009 | Posted by Carolyn Pikoulas
If you're using Facebook as a way to boost sales, you may be doing a little bit of wishful thinking. Think of it more as a tool to reinforce your brand and create awareness. It's a way to connect with clients and other Realtors on a more casual, personal level. Now, it's more important than ever to pay close attention to your profile, who your friends are, and who's following your News Feed. Having a Facebook account requires professionalism at all times.

Before you do anything, you need to determine if you're comfortable mixing your personal and professional life on Facebook. More importantly, determine if there is some type of benefit for your business. Whatever the case, make sure that anything you add to your profile or write on someone's wall doesn't send the wrong message about you or your business. To help, here are 3 things you should never let happen:

1. Appear in questionable photographs. Having a drink in your hand in a photo is not necessarily unprofessional. There's a reason Happy Hour exists: for people to unwind after work to socialize and network. But if you have picture after picture of yourself double fisting drinks at bars, people might form a negative impression about you. Don't appear in photos where the people around you are acting wild, either. Also, pay attention to photos that your friends are "tagging" you in. Delete the tag on any photos that might look the least bit inappropriate. If you wouldn't be comfortable having the picture on your office desk, don't add it to your Facebook account.

2. Add anyone and everyone to your Friends list. Contrary to popular belief, Facebook is not about collecting as many friends as possible. The quality of your Facebook experience will be based on the quality of the people in your network. Create a limited profile to control who sees what, whether it's photos, status updates or profile information. Under Settings, go to Privacy Settings. Here, you can set limits on what certain people can and cannot see, because some of your Facebook "friends" are not actually your real friends.

3. Play games and fill out every questionnaire that comes your way. Whenever you play a Facebook game or fill out one of those ridiculous questionnaires (such as: Which Simpsons character are you? Here are 25 Things About Me. What drink are you?), the results appear in your friends' News Feed. Constantly seeing these types of updates tells them that you're just sitting around playing games. Not very professional, right? You should also check out the 12 Most Annoying Facebookers.

BONUS TIP: Consider the Facebook toolbar for Firefox, which will notify when you have a reason to check your home page. You can also work with Facebook on your mobile phone.