Resources from nSiteful
Why things get easier the more you do them

We're helping more and more of our clients extend their social media footprints these days. In many cases, our focus is on Facebook Fan (Business) pages.

As popular as Facebook is (with over 500,000,000 regular users!), I'm continually reminded that Facebook's potential for connecting enterprises with their constituents is still a mystery to many people.

Don't despair, dear clients. In time, you'll get it.

Remember your first attempts at playing a barred F chord on a steel string acoustic guitar? Your first attempts to drive a stick-shift? The first ten omelets that ended up on the floor instead of flip-side in the pan? Your first 100 curve balls that didn't curve?

Here's something obvious: Things get easier the more you do them.

Not so obvious: Why?

You might answer: Muscle Memory. Pretty good answer.

But what powers muscle memory?

Aha moments of perception. Perception of nuances of differences.

Aha! If I put my thumb here on the neck of the guitar, the barred strings don't buzz so much!

Aha! The clutch doesn't engage until I release it to here.

Aha! More butter and more of an upward (and less of an outward) flip lands the omelet back in the pan more often.

Aha! When I put the tip of my index finger on the inside of that stitch on the baseball, I get more movement.

Maintaining a robust online presence requires next to zero muscle memory. But it sure does require perceiving nuances of differences.

How much time / energy / money / hope should I invest in LinkedIn / Facebook / MySpace / Twitter / my blog / my Web site? To get close to the answer, I have to understand the nuances of differences among the options.

Let's drill down. Take Facebook.

Suppose I've decided to leverage Facebook for expanding my connections with my constituents.

Should I have a personal account or a business account? Should I use my Facebook Personal Profile or a Facebook Fan Page or a Facebook Community Page or a Facebook Group? If I use a Facebook Fan Page, should I post Statuses, Questions, Photos, Links, or Notes? What are the differences? Should I try to get fans to Like, Comment, or Share? How, and what are the differences? How can I build my Fan base?

The answers to these and related questions have come to me the more I deal with Facebook. They will to you, too.