Anyone with a brand presence on Facebook knows it takes skill and energy to keep up with the never-ending comments. Here’s how to do it swiftly and effectively.

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People worry that timeline will put their entire lives on display or require a seemingly infinite amount of time to customize. Neither of these has to be true!

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Here are three common mindsets among people who aren’t heading down the right path in social media.

1. My Son Or Daughter Does That For Me

If your son or daughter is a college graduate with a broad-based education that includes a degree in mass communications, I’d say you may be on the right track.

However, if your kid is 18 and sole or primary qualification is having Twitter and Facebook accounts, I’d say you need to reevaluate your choice of marketing personnel here. Just because they’re yours and can use Facebook and Twitter, doesn’t mean he or she has the skills necessary to market a business using social media.

2. I Hired a College Intern

While college students may be part of the social media generation, it doesn’t automatically qualify them to do social media for you. Unlike traditional media, which is a communication to a broad audience, social media is one-to-one marketing outreach.

You are communicating directly to individuals and anyone who has ever posted an opinion in an Internet forum knows the online audience is not to be trifled with. Understand that your reputation is on the line. With the variety of questions and comments you will receive, it is critical that they’re handled with care and professionalism to avoid any repercussions to your name and brand.

A social media marketing professional is an astute communicator who ensures each time the right tone, caring and message is delivered for maximum return and keeps your audience engaged. This dynamic is crucial for the success of the program.

3. I Got 11 New Fans This Week

Of course, amassing fans is important, but you’ll never make a social media campaign work with the onesy-twosy approach. For myself, my company and our social media clients, we have a monthly benchmark for building followers.

Now, this benchmark is not a gross number, but a net figure after we have weeded out spammers, chronic friend adders, and marriage proposals from men in foreign countries, and yes, I’ve gotten a few of those.

At the end of the day, social media is serious business. Done right, it can create a base of thousands of followers. Done wrong, it wastes time and energy and, most important, gives people the impression that social media marketing isn’t important. In fact, it has become one of the most critical and fundamental components for any marketing strategy, which every company needs to put in place.

Guest writer Marsha Friedman is the founder and chief executive officer of EMSI Public Relations, and author of

They say the only constant is change, and in the case of Facebook’s changes over the past month, local marketers might get the edge over their larger counterparts.

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After the flurry of changes launched by Facebook in recent weeks, the social networking site released a series of individual guides for celebrities, journalists, musicians, athletes, politicians and non profits, that will help these audiences get the most out of their Facebook pages.

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The numbers are in — and they’re high.  More than 800 million users have declared Facebook their digital home and anyone with a brand should be forging it on the social network.

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Use caution in leveraging the millions of Facebook users or your marketing will take a dive.

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Just as students start returning school, the experts at Facebook have released a new guide to security, aimed at helping teachers, parents and young adults keep their online accounts safe.
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The National Football League lockout is over and we’re a month away from the kickoff of the regular season. Now is the time to get a fantasy football league together, and Facebook can be a very useful tool for doing that.
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Even though the National Basketball Association is in the midst of a lockout over a labor dispute, there are still plenty of Facebook pages basketball fans can follow to stay up to date on their favorite teams and players.
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