In any given day, I receive dozens of questions about social media.
Here are answers to a few questions I've been asked recently:
Question #1:
I was having a conversation with someone today about whether or not it's important to acquire friends and likes or if having likes only is most effective.
Answer #1:
First, having a "friend" on your personal Facebook page and having a "like" on your fan page are different things. Content appears the same on the news feed, whether you are a friend or a fan ("like"). However your Facebook page is for personal friending and sharing. The fan page is for business-related activity. Many people can be both a friend and a fan; however you want to keep the content separate. Business messages should come from the fan page and personal messages should come from the personal Facebook account.
In terms of acquiring friends and likes: It depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you want to promote business ventures, you will want more fans and quality fans not just people clicking the like button. If you want to establish more personal friends, you will want more Facebook friends. Where it is tricky: When you meet people, you will "friend" them online in hopes that they will then "like" your fan page so it's two-tiered. On my business card, I offer a direct link to my fan page so folks can "like" it and I only request "friends" if I want to establish correspondence beyond just business or if I want to get to know them as a person.
All that being said, you mention the word effective to describe your efforts so I am assuming you want to acquire business contacts. In this case, you may want both friends and likes, but most importantly, you want likes to your page so you can offer them business and brand-related material.
Question #2:
Should I be using Google+ to grow my business?
Answer #2:
I am a big proponent of 'waiting this one out.' Currently, Google+ does not offer business pages. However, I have to say that the statistics don't lie. With 25 million users in just four weeks, Google+ seems be gaining steam. Two great leaders in the industry, Mari Smith and Ken Mueller have already taken to the medium and for good reason. In Mari's post, What's So Exciting About Google+, she recommends that we include Google+ when managing and monitoring the reputation of a business and that it's important to get a head start. She even foreshadowed to an upcoming blog post entitled, Don't Wait For Google+ Business Profiles - 7 Actions to Do Now. In a recent post entitled, Why Isn't Your Business on Google+, Ken makes a great point: "You ARE your business." He means that we are all 'people' behind the brand, which is the transparency many communicate on social media. Just because we aren't XYZ Company, doesn't mean we can't represent a business on Google+. Great insight, Ken.