I borrowed this title from a new “fan” friend. I apologize for not remembering who it was or what exactly she said on Sunday night, but the gest is here. (If you are that person, please comment so I can give you credit!)
Sunday night, where do I begin?
After working hard all weekend to garner the 25 fans necessary to get my unique username for my fan page on Facebook , they changed the rules. They upped the limit to 100. I was close, with 15 fans by Sunday afternoon, but I knew getting 100 fans would be an impossibility. But as my mother said, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE if you just believe (or was that a movie line???).
At any rate, about 8pm Sunday evening I read a post by Mari Smith (the Facebook all knowing expert) about a social chat going on at the moment to help small businesses get their fan counts. It was set up by Hazel of SocialBees and the place was buzzing (literally) with traffic. The concept? Post your Facebook fan page link and other small businesses would “fan” you. I liked to call it, “Paying It Forward on Facebook”. Mari was there pumping up the troops, as was Hazel and it was an amazing night of fun. I started with 15 fans and by the end of the long evening, I had 98. At 4:00am I called it a night, with only 2 fans to go to reach that unattainable 100 count.
I learned something that night. People are basically generous. They want to help and share and connect with other business owners. I also got to know many small business owners and got introduced to their businesses by “fanning” them as well. It was a marvelous night of co-sharing and learning, as well as seeing the basic generosity of others.
The next morning, I woke up (late I might add) to 8 more fans, pushing me over the top and enabling me to secure my username: ParentCollegeCoach. But as far as I’m concerned, I gained so much more by connecting with other small business owners like myself, paying it forward on Facebook!
Here is Mari’s Facebook page link (http://www.facebook.com/marismith)
Here is Hazel’s SocialBees Facebook page link (http://www.facebook.com/socialbees)
Here is my Facebook Fan page (Parents Countdown to College Coach) link (http://www.facebook.com/parentcollegecoach)
Yay, Suzanne!!! Thank you for this wonderful post – what a delight to create such a spontaneous success with Hazel’s Facebook Fan Page chatroom… which I understand is still going strong. That is just awesome. And truly social networking at its BEST – peeps helping peeps, collaborating to create a fab win:win… and continue the networking beyond the chatroom and initial cause. w00t!
Cheers,
@marismith
Mari,
You’re so right. It was amazing experiencing all the greatness of social networking. I’ve met some amazing people and the connections should be beneficial to all of us. You’re right, it was a win:win for everyone!
Cheers to you as well,
@suzanneshaffer