Facebook – The 1,000 lb Gorilla

http://www.facebook.com

Facebook is a social networking website intended to connect friends, family, and business associates. It is the largest of the social networking sites, with over 300 million users worldwide. Facebook grew 276% in 2008!

It is also, no cost marketing for anyone!

Facebook is the 1,000 pound gorilla which is why I will be discussing it in detail; because even if you’re already a user, there are a lot of options that you may not be aware of.

Create a Profile – It is simple to use and can be used for a variety of reasons. Once you sign up, you will need to create a profile page that can only be viewed by your friends (and networks).

Join a Network – If you decide to join a network, then everyone in that network will be able to view your profile. A profile typically includes the following Information; status updates, your friend list, your photos, notes, groups, and your wall.

Search for Friends/Friend Requests – You can search for friends and collegues by e-mail address, school, university, or just by typing in a name or location search. Once you find the person you are searching for, you will need to send a request to be their friend. They can either accept or ignore your request. The same is true when someone requests to be your friend; you can either accept or ignore their request. Once a friend request is accepted, you will both be able to see the others’ profiles, which can include contact information (if you choose to list it).

Photos – You can upload and post an unlimited number of photos from your phone or computer and are given the option to share them with everyone (public) or only with your friends.

Groups and Pages – In addition to your regular profile, you can create Pages or Groups. Groups and Pages serve different purposes on Facebook.

Groups

-Groups are meant to foster group discussion around a particular topic area and are meant for more personal interaction

-Groups can be created by any user and about any topic, as a space for users to share opinions and interests in that subject, such as activities, a hobby, an alumni, etc.

-With Groups, you can join and create up to 200 groups

-In Groups, the group administrator name will appear on the group and will be attached to your personal profile; therefore, when you post on your group’s wall, it will appear to come from you personally

-Groups can be public and available to everyone or closed (private), meaning only those invited can join and view discussions

-Only groups with less than 5,000 members can send email blasts

-Groups are not indexed by external search engines such as Google

Pages

-A Page is a public profile that enables you to share your business and products with Facebook users

-Pages can only be created to represent a real organization, business, celebrity, or band, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity

-Pages are intended to help an entity communicate publicly

-Pages will never display the administrator’s name. When you post on a Page that you own, it will appear to come from the Page, not from you as an individual

-Pages are indexed by external search engines such as Google and indexed for optimal search engine positioning

Events – Facebook events are a great resource to let friends know about interesting things coming up in your community and to organize social or business gatherings, such as webinars, conferences or unconferences.

You can invite an unlimited number of people to events, but you can only invite 100 people at a time. Once you invite the first 100 people, you can then start inviting more. In addition, you can only have 300 pending invites at one time for an event. Some people will have to respond to your event invite before you will be able to add more.

When creating an event you can make it Open, Closed or Secret.

Open events are open to everyone – Any Facebook user can RSVP or invite others to the event

Closed events are visible to everyone, but the details can only be seen by those who have been invited

Secret events are only visible to those invited and they will not show up in any news feeds

Tip – You can sync your Facebook events with your Google Calendar!

Some Facebook Statistics:

ViTrue has released results of a study compiled from nearly 200 million fan impressions on Facebook pages over a 5 month period (March-August 2009).

Here’s what they found:

Tuesday and Wednesday represent the highest click-through rates (CTR) on wall posts (9.89 and 9.87 respectively).

The worst days are Thursday, Saturday and Friday (4.39, 2.7 and 2.67 percent respectively)

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t update your status on these days, as it may be better to send out your messages on slower days, so they don’t get lost in the crowd. It is best to test and track your results and see what works for you.

The click through rates on Facebook, far exceed the CTR of traditional online ads, but knowing that, it is important not to skew your own statistics by posting nothing but offers (ads) or posting too frequently, or you will lose your fan base faster than you can answer “What’s on your mind”

Want to keep of on Facebook statistics, check out http://www.CheckFacebook.com.

CheckFacebook.com is not affiliated with Facebook; however, the site tracks data reported via Facebook’s advertising tool to help marketers make wise decisions.

According to the site:

-Facebook has 316 million users

-57% of users are female

-50% are ages 18-34

-Behind the US, the largest amount of users are in the United Kingdom (22,261,080) and Turkey (14,215,880).

Facebook’s not just for keeping in touch with family and friends; it can also be used as a highly effective business tool

-Obtain a unique username (URL) so that people can easily remember it and/or find your profile (example: http://www.facebook.com/eoblanchard)

-Upload your contacts from each of your email and IM accounts, use the Find Friends application and/or search by name to quickly build your contacts.

-Be sure to complete your profile so that you earn peoples trust

-Keep it clean – There’s nothing wrong with posting personal pictures, but it’s best if you don’t post pictures that could give people the wrong impression. If you must, keep the stuff you don’t want to share private through Settings

-Utilize applications that integrate feeds from your blog and other social media sites (Twitter, FriendFeed, etc.) into your Facebook profile

-Utilize Facebook Connect to integrate Facebook with websites, blogs and software applications and easily send information both ways

Facebook connect is also very handy in helping you reduce the amount of logins and passwords you will have to remember. Websites with this button allow you to login into those sites using your Facebook username and password

-Post your website, blog or newsletter subscription information in your profile

-Establish credibility by consistently connecting and sharing with others. Recognize their birthdays, praise their accomplishments; share useful articles and links that may be of interest to your customers or prospects

-Suggest Friends and Pages to your contacts. If you help them, they will more than likely help you

-Join Groups or Become a fan of Pages that are relevant to your business or industry

-Utilize Facebook as a research tool and find out more about your clients and prospects before making contact with them

-Market your business or product by posting promotions or discounts

-Add your Facebok URL to your email signature, your website, blog, business cards, etc.

-When the time is right, buy Facebook advertising and place targeted ads

Advertise on Facebook

It is simple to place paid advertisements and your campaign can be tested at a relatively low cost.

-Reach over 300,000,000 active Facebook users

-Attach social actions to your ads to increase relevance

-Create demand for your product with relevant ads

-Quickly create image and text-based ads

-Advertise your own web page or something on Facebook like a Page or an Event

-Choose to pay per click (CPC) or impression (CPM)

-Track your progress with real-time reporting

-Gain insight about who’s clicking on your ad

-Make modifications to maximize your results

1. Design your ad using the really simple interface or by uploading an image

2. Set your daily budget – The minimum is $1.00 per day

3. Target your audience by Location, Age, Sex, Keywords, Education, Workplace, Relationship status, Relationship interests or Languages

4. Decide on a schedule (continuously or on specific dates)

5. Decide on whether you’d like to pay for impressions (CTM) or clicks (CPC)

Pricing:

Free (Paid advertising is an option)

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