Everyone knows that Facebook has fan pages for companies to use to promote their brands. They are easy to setup, you can sell ads to bring traffic to them, there are thousands of blog posts about them, etc. What I want to look at today is how to use your personal profile to promote your business.

First, let me say this, a personal Facebook profile is just that, personal. It should be your profile, with your information, sporting your smiling face in the profile picture (not a company logo). So, don’t make a profile, put in your company info and then start friending people. This is a bad idea because it breaks Facebook’s policies and it makes Facebook users annoyed.

That said, there are ways to use your personal profile to help your business. Here are a few ideas:

• Talk about your business in status updates. Just casually mention what you do from time to time, show off your work through pictures or links, or talk about good work days. Don’t talk about work too much, but enough so that people readily remember what you do and will think to recommend you when they meet someone that might need your services.
• Check in at work via Facebook. Same as above, this just lets people know where you are and what you do.
• Write status updates related to your industry and make them interesting so that people will actually pay attention.
• When you see Facebook friends talking about things related to your industry, chime in and share your thoughts, if you are an expert on a subject, offer those expertise.
• Offer to help your Facebook friends with no strings attached. Just be helpful, thoughtful and nice, it goes a long way and will help you grow your business in the long run.