When a client wants to "friend" you, what to do?

What happens when a client want to "friend" you on Facebook or some other social media site?

For those professionals, including myself, who follow a professional code of conduct and want to be mindful of questions of dual relationships, this is a good question. Complications go further when many therapy, counseling and helping professionals are using these rapidly growing sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and other lesser-known social sites for marketing purposes.

Dual relationships are not unethical in themselves but can cause complications. Here are thoughts -- and questions to consider -- about how to respond when clients send "Friend Request" to their psychotherapists from the Zur Institute.

Resources are everywhere for social media

I'm still getting marketing mileage from the fascinating three-part class that I attended in 2009 courtesy of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on social media marketing. There are several amazing no-cost options available online. In addition to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace, try out:

Google Docs, a free service which allows you to create and edit web-based documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Store documents online and access them from any computer.

Mashable, a massive online guide which helps you learn lots about social media opportunities for connecting and marketing with others.

If your potential clients are using Facebook, then you need to have a Facebook Fan page – it is a great public relations tool. It's free except for time maintaining and updating it. A well-organized person will be able to do such in just minutes per day.

Another freebie from my favorite Publicity Hound!

Joan Stewart, my favorite Publicity Hound, is offering"The Best of The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week of 2009" which includes the best 26 tips from last year's newsletters, or tips that generated the most response from readers.

You can download the e-book and if you wish, subscribe to her newsletter too. More than half of the tips in this year's e-book are about social media. (What does that tell you about how much business promotion has changed?)

More on the basics of social media marketing

A standing room only crowd of business people, representatives of non-profit organizations and others showed on Wednesday for the second installment of the Small Business Development Center’s program on social media marketing titled “Getting It Set Up – the Nuts and Bolts of Social Media Networking.”

Social networking sites increasingly being utilized as an inexpensive marketing tool by small and large businesses. The Chicago Tribune just reported how diverse businesses like cupcake bakeries, jewelers and others are developing this trend.

Wednesday’s tips, which especially focused on Facebook, included:

• Your personal Facebook page allows you to make a business page as well.
• Determine how your Facebook page, whether personal or business, fits into your overall business plan.
  
• Decide how you will attract your niche market to your business page.
  
• Create a name for your business page; the direct name of your business is best rather than being cutesy.
  
• Have a logo or picture ready to upload that represents your business.
  
• Use your current contact information.
  
• Build up the page until you are ready to go “live” online.
  
• Identify group pages -- different from personal pages -- that you can join to post and spread the word about your business.
  

See presenter Raymond Wiggins' snazzy presentation here. Final SBDC class  at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside info here.