HOW TO BECOME POPULAR AND GET MORE FOLLOWERS ON FACEBOOK

Being affiliated with numerous people on Facebook can bestow some marvelous opportunities. If you're a writer then a capacious network on Facebook will establish you as an authority figure in your market. For me, being socially connected has helped me associate with amazing folks from all around the world. I'm not always necessarily in it for the money. I'm more concerned in connecting with people for influence. I savor being able to add some measure of value to people's day and now and then challenge their world view.

I'm occasionally viewed as controversial on Facebook... that has certainly not been helpful in developing my popularity. Most people aren't on Facebook to be challenged. They usually prefer to hang out and catch something absorbing or funny... or cute. I love sharing cute animal images... I admit it. That being said, I don't consider Facebook as only a medium for amusement or entertainment either. Being well- connected on social media has furthered my online income, largely through affiliate marketing referrals. When people give you the gift of their attention you possess the power to direct them to web sites outside of Facebook. I do a lot of selling on Facebook, however Facebook is primarily a place to connect with people and build real relationships. If you want to become more popular on Facebook, It's not the best practice to always be pitching a product. If you're going to sell something then "sell the click". Put differently, if you want someone to look into out a website outside of Facebook then you need to convince them why they should check out the site. Stir curiosity and make people wonder. Sell the click. Nothing more. Or as they say in Spanish, "Nada Mas".

At any rate, here's how you are able to mature your Facebook network.

TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR TIMELINE

Establish your wall as a sanctuary where people take delight in stopping by. To do that go to your privacy settings and then alter your settings so that only you can post on your wall, and that any other posts necessitate your approval before others see them. Yes, it's great to get posts on your wall. But this is the simplest way to fend off spammers and it helps you have control over what your connections see when they land on your timeline. You may not have a spam issue now but it can become more of an issue when you are associated with thousands of people. NOTE: Switch this setting a few days before your birthday. It is nice to allow your admirers to write on your wall on your birthday.

SHARE CONTENT THAT IS "SHARE-WORTHY"

Become the source of everything that you contribute or share online by downloading and uploading. You can grant accreditation to the original source for anything that you find but make sure that you are the source of the share. This will give you the ability to carry a message with the share. The fastest and easiest technique to get followers and friend requests and become more popular on Facebook is to leverage viral content. In other words, most of your posts should be subject matter that you already know to be share-worthy. If most of your posts have already cleared the share-worthy screen test then you will step up the rate that your posts are shared, allowing for your reputation to piggy back off the dissemination of viral media. The share-worthy test simply means that the content has already been shared by others. The more something is shared the more share-worthy it is. It's that simple. There are a few important things to consider such as the timing of your post, the amount of exposure that the content you are sharing has already received and the relevance of your post. Different people like different things; so share content that is relevant to your personal network of friends and associates. You will quickly learn what content people like based on the feedback you incur from people.

Where do you attain content?

PINTEREST

Pinterest is a online tool for collecting, sharing, liking, "pinning" and organizing images you or others love. After Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is ranked as the 3rd most popular social networking site. As of august 2012, Pinterest became the fourth largest traffic generator in the world. You can find tons of "share-worthy" content on Pinterest. Go to the homepage. You don't have to look very far! Pinterest yields over 400% more revenue per click as Twitter and 27% more than Facebook.

WOW!

If you're not on Pinterest, you're definitely missing out on the fun and potential viral content.

FACEBOOK

Search your Facebook newsfeed for content that is being shared by a large number of people. And if you are feeling particularly lazy then feel free to grab content from me. You're welcome to do that with all my posts. Any attribution would be appreciated. What I have noticed is that people are happy for you to share posts as long as you are respectful and give credit where credit is due. To tag a person in on your post you need to use the "@" symbol (shift-2) and type the person's name. Give attribution as much as possible. It is respectful and it will also help your post gain more exposure as your post will show up on their timeline as well as your own.

GOOGLE +

One of the quickest ways that to find "share-worthy" subject matter is Google's social network Google+. Track down your friends and add as many people to your circles as possible. In the beginning I added people daily. Adding a person to a circle is tantamount to a friend request on Facebook. People are notified when they are added to other people's circles. By having a large network of people on Google+ you'll have a greater chance of finding share-worthy high-quality posts. One other technique is to search Google+ using "CTRL-F" and typing the word "shares". This will help you jump between posts that have already been shared and have therefore passed the share-worthy test. To make things easier, Google+ now has a "What's Hot" section which will display the most shared posts of the day. Add people to your Google+ network daily.

NEWS

Check over the latest news on Google. Everyone likes to know something before their friends do; so if you chance upon news material that you feel is relevant, remarkable and entertaining to your Facebook network then share it.

Here are some more tips on using Facebook.

ADD YOUR WEB ADDRESS TO YOUR PHOTOS:

Add your website address to the bottom of your pictures. To do this there is a great online tool called "Pixlr". No need to download a program. If you wish to download a program and add your website to the bottom of any pictures then download and use "paint.net". This is free and simple software for editing photos. It's basically a free version of photoshop but very much less complicated to use. You can also include a message at the bottom of the pictures that you share. The good thing about having your website at the bottom is that it will be preserved even if somebody downloads the picture and shares it manually, instead of just clicking the share link.

USE THE DESCRIPTION AREA:

When you share a YouTube video (or any video actually) you can change the description area. Most people don't realize that. So go to the original YouTube link and paste the video URL into your Facebook status update. Click on the description area and you will see that you can edit it. Always include a little message so that when people share your video to their network of friends will see your message, such as "To see more check out "Your Web Address Here". Make sure you include the "http://" with videos to make the link a hyperlink (which mean it's clickable). As an important side note, Facebook has become less likely to show your posts to your friends and followers if it contains a link that redirects someone outside of Facebook. A work around this is creating yourself a Fanpage and directing people to your Fanpage. Facebook allows linking to websites outside of the Facebook.com domain. But with recent changes your friends and followers are much less likely to see what you post. Why? Simply because Facebook doesn't want you making money using their platform. They want you to promote your posts for a fee, and buy Facebook Ads. Another work around when sharing photos is to simply edit the photos you share to contain a website address of where you want to direct people to. However, there again, your friends and followers are likely to see this as a means of self promotion and are less likely to share the content.

CREATE TIE-INS TO OTHER PEOPLE ON FACEBOOK:

Facebook will show your posts to people if they think that you have a firm association with that person. For that reason I always click "like" when people comment, especially if it's a person who hasn't commented for a long time. This will make you surface in each person's notifications, but it will also evidence to Facebook that you have a stronger connection to that person, and so Facebook will make sure that your posts show up on their wall. Don't be afraid to encourage people who don't usually comment to make a comment. That helps to make sure that you show up in their news feed.

WISH PEOPLE HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

Don't forget people's birthdays. Facebook already notifies you that it's their birthday. Don't be lazy. Wish them happy birthday. It's one of the most significant days of the year for them. It's nice, respectful, and important if you value your Facebook kinships. It also feeds the Facebook algorithm. Just do it and be nice.

MAX OUT YOUR "FOLLOWS"

Max out your follows by following 5000 people. In other words, on a daily basis you should max out your power to subscribe to other people. Ideally you should connect with people who share some interest in common. You can follow a maximum of 5000 people. This will get your name to show up in their followers list. You will get plenty of reciprocal subscribers (people who subscribe to you after they noticed that you subscribed to them) and you will also show up in their subscriber list. How do I see who is following me? Your friends automatically follow your posts. Friends can't see if you're following them or not. If you've allowed everybody to follow you, you can see who follows your posts by clicking the number next to "followed by" in the "About" box on your Timeline. When you allow Everybody to follow your updates you can choose if you're notified when people start following you. If you don't edit your settings here: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=followers you'll only receive notifications when friends of friends become your followers. Keep in mind that if you don't want a specific person to follow you, you can block them at any time. Remember, following and "friending" are two different things. When you "follow" someone you are not adding them as a friend. You are simply following their posts. They won't see your posts unless they follow you or add you as a friend. Find a group that of people who are the type of people you want to be connected with. Target your subscriptions. By targeting people who you share an interest with you will also have a higher chance of having the type of people that you actually want to connect with. The more people you subscribe to the more you'll see people reciprocating and subscribing to you. Friends of cool people are usually pretty cool, so find a cool mate and subscribe to their friends.

FRIEND REQUESTS

Max out your friend requests daily with super-targeted friend requests. Don't just friend anybody. The word "friend" should not be abused. If you want somebody to be your friend on Facebook then be polite. Introduce yourself and tell them why you want to be friends with them. Find something that you both have in common and mention it. It will help increase the chance that they will accept your friend request and start the relationship off on a positive note. On a daily basis you can send about 25 new friend requests. Perhaps chose people from within a group that best reflects something that you are passionate about so that you know that you already have something in common. Then mention why you are adding them as a friend and what you have in common. Don't just send a friend request and hope that it will be accepted. Introduce yourself and use it as an opportunity to start the relationship off positively.

MODIFY YOUR "ABOUT" SECTION

In your "About" section, under "Contact Information" you can add a website addresses, preferably just one web address that you would most likely want others to click on. Don't make the mistake of adding too many website addresses because people will most likely not visit them all. You can also add your Twitter, Skype and other contact information in this area.

This article on how to become popular on Facebook is by no means all-inclusive. Nor are these rules but rather simple guidelines that have shown to be effective in becoming more popular on Facebook. There are many different tactics and techniques to become more popular on Facebook. If done right and done well you will be on the road to Facebook stardom in no time at all. Just take your time and try not to harass or offend people.