Engaging with Facebook

Facebook integration is another key strategy to consider when you're setting up your blog for the first time. First, integrate the Facebook-sharing feature within your blog, which can be done with the Share This or Add This plugin. With over 450 million users, Facebook is a must-have sharing option for any blog.

Next, decide how you want your blog to interact with Facebook. Are you writing a very personal blog? Then you might want to use a Facebook profile as your connecting place on Facebook. Some WordPress plugins (such as the Facebook Dashboard Widget) integrate a Facebook profile so that you can update your status right from the WordPress Dashboard.

However, if you don't want your Facebook account attached to your blog, you may want to consider creating a Facebook Fan page. A Fan page doesn't have the Dashboard controls that a profile does, but it allows you to leverage your social-media presence. By setting up a Facebook Fan page, you can deeply integrate the Facebook Like option, which allows users to Like your site and become a fan of your page with a couple of clicks. Integrating the like feature allows you to get exposure for your Web site through each of your fans' friends on Facebook.

When you have a Facebook Fan page, you can display a community widget on the side of your WordPress blog, letting everyone know who your fans are on Facebook. Basically, if a Facebook user likes your page, they can show up in this widget. Facebook offers a lot of different badges and Like-button integration in their Developers section at http://developers.facebook.com/plugins.

In this Developers section, you really can dig deep into how you want to integrate Facebook into your blog. You can display the friends of a visitor who likes your site, recommendations based on what the visitor's friends have liked, and numerous other combinations.