Of all of the topics that I speak and write about, Facebook is the one I am asked the most about. As its popularity continues to thrive (aside from reports to the contrary) and grows and evolves, to many marketers it continues to grow more mysterious by the day.

I’m always asked what my top tip is for Facebook, but it is always hard to just choose one. As there are so many facets to a Facebook marketing strategy, I’d like to give you one that really does give you the most play for your money and time.

Tagging.

Facebook tagging has been around for awhile now and you have probably seen it in action on your personal profile on Facebook. Tagging is when someone writes or replies to an update and mentions someone in the update. For example, say you wrote an update and got four comments. In one of the comments you see your name in blue in the response. When you see this – it is a tag. The tagging in updates is a more advanced version of tagging someone in a photo (which I’m sure we have all done or tried at some point).

In order to tag a company or person, you must first be connected to them or LIKE their page. Then you simply type the @ symbol and begin to write their name. This will generate a drop down list of companies/people to choose from. Don’t see what you are looking for? Type more or less of the name you are searching for. When you find it, click on the name and it will then be added to your post.

So…what does this do for me?

The answer: a lot.

If you are trying to get your business in front of influential referral sources, potential customers or persuasive partners, write an update, mention them in the update and tag them. Even share one of their most recent updates that your audience would be interested in, tag them and then thank them for sharing the wonderful information.

Going to their office or event? Tag them in real time while you are there or after you leave saying how great it was to meet them or what you thought of the event. See a potential customer do something wonderful in the media? Congratulate them with tagging.

Tagging will enable you not only to to get in front of the company or person you are tagging, but also in front of their entire audience as well. So for example if you only have 150 likes on your page, tagging a person with 150,000 likes could multiply the exposure of your post by 1,000.

To get comfortable with tagging, I always suggest trying it out on your personal account with friends first before doing it for your business. Once you get the hang of it, try it to in your Facebook Page marketing strategy with some current clients or potential clients.

Use tagging when relevant and make sure that the update is well-written. Over tagging can be spammy and can also turn off your current Facebook connections. Monitor the success against your other non-tagged updates to see what works and what doesn’t.

This will be just the tip of the iceberg as Facebook continually evolves, so it is good practice to become familiar with this immediately – while gaining more exposure to your updates than you have before!