I want to post something on this other brand’s Page, but I want it to look like it’s coming from my brand, not from me. How do I do that?

You can do this using a feature called “tagging.” Tagging other brand Pages is a great way to give credit to the other brand, and it also can get your brand some extra exposure, because your post will appear on your Page and theirs (assuming they allow others to post to their Wall). It’s perfect to use when you’re sharing a link or announcing some kind of partnership marketing effort. And it’s actually really easy to do.

Here’s how:

1) Navigate to the other brand’s Facebook page and make sure that you have “liked” the Page from your personal account. (If you want to “tag” a person, you need to be personally connected to that person.) As an example, I had lunch last week with Christian Adams, a great guy and fellow online marketer, and now I want to “tag” his business to give him credit whenever I share one of his posts on Facebook. Here’s a look at the Facebook Page for Christian’s business, Sigma Creative:

2) Now that you’re connected to the Page, head over to your own brand’s Page. Do not go to your feed or your personal profile. (Note: This assumes that you’re already set up as an admin on your brand’s Page.) Go to the top of the “Wall” tab just like you were going to share any other update, photo, link, whatever. It will look like this:

Start typing what you would want to post on the other brand’s site. Make sure the text of your update has the name of the other name of the other brand in it. In this case, I’m going to share a link from Christian’s blog.

3) When you get to the point where you want to mention the brand by name, you want to “tag” their page. Start by typing the @ symbol, then immediately start typing the name of the business or person you want to link to. Don’t leave any spaces between the @ and the characters of the Page’s title. You’ll see that a list of names will start to appear where you’re typing. Once you see the Page you want to tag, scroll down and highlight it. It should look something like this:

Finish the rest of your update and hit “Share.” The update will post to your Wall, complete with a link to the Page you’re referencing:

Looks good, right? You bet. But wait … there’s more!

Depending on the other Page’s privacy settings, your post will also appear on their Wall. Here’s what I mean:

Now, when readers are viewing that Page’s Wall, they’ll see the post from your brand’s Page. It’s a great, simple way to share the spotlight with another brand on your Page, while getting some extra exposure on their Page, too.

(Note: Don’t abuse this. Overusing this feature can easily be seen as spam, so use the tagging feature sparingly and wisely, especially if you don’t have direct relationships with the brands you’re tagging in your posts.)

How else are you using Facebook to connect with and promote other brands of interest to your audience?

UPDATE: As of August 18th, it looks like Facebook has made it even easier to tag other users and business pages in your posts. Now, Facebook will automatically suggest links to Facebook pages, groups, interests and other users, offering a drop-down list of suggestions as you type, even if you don’t include the @ symbol first. More on this from ReadWriteWeb and InsideFacebook.

This announcement really got me thinking about similar possibilities in other industries. Take the apartment industry for example. Is it valuable to prospective renters to know if they know anyone who lives in a community where they’re considering renting? Do they have mutual friends or share similar interests with many of the current residents? Do they take reviews more seriously if they know who wrote them?

What about Privacy?
Privacy could be seen as an issue, but potential issues can be avoided if users are given the ability to control the information from their account. The major social websites are already moving toward this quickly — Facebook wants to give each user the ability to control who sees every piece of information about them, and sites like Flickr provide grouping tools with which users can determine how info gets shared (Everyone, Friends Only, Family Only, etc.).

The Opportunity
Apartment companies — particularly those marketing around specific themes or catering to college students — could certainly benefit from ”relationship” features like this on their website, social profile pages and other listings. As Facebook, MySpace and Google move their data-sharing initiatives forward, an apartment community’s web presence could easily be augmented with personalized information for each prospect based on the social networks that those prospects have already joined. Is there a better way to build a great community than by starting before the resident ever even sees the property?