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Facebook Marketing & Social Networking

Facebook reported it has over 500 million active users as of April 2011, majority of which reside in the United States.  What first started out as a social network for college students only went public in 2006, allowing anyone and everyone to join, which is exactly what happened.

The average Facebook user is 26 years old and has 130 Facebook friends.  They connect to at least 80 community pages, and create over 90 pieces of content a month.

It now reaches across multiple media platforms such as mobile phones and tablets.  The active users of Facebook check their profiles frequently, if not daily to update their statuses, or see what their friends, or in your case, companies they "Like" have been up to by accessing their individual News Feeds.

There are two ways to advertise on Facebook: set up social pages and engage with users or paid advertising.

Example of Facebook's News Feed

For paid ads, there are 4 main steps to create it:

  1. Identify your goals
  2. Define who you want to reach with your ad
  3. Create your ad and set your budget·
  4. Understand Facebook's advertising policies and their ad approval process

Before you get started it is useful to know there are 2 main types of Facebook Ads available:

  1. Premium: contact Facebook's sales team
  2. Marketplace: available through Facebook's self-serve tool

Companies and brands effectively use free Facebook advertising by setting up official "Pages," which users can then "Like" and interact with.  For many, Facebook is an essential element in setting up their web presence and creating a relationship between their brand and their online audience.

Facebook for many company pages are most effective by updating their statuses, which then show up in a Facebook user's News Feed.  The best way to share information and create content is by sharing links, uploading photos, and asking questions in order to start the conversation.

Facebook is free and very effective in reaching out to a number of its users, as long as you are willing to put in the time and the effort to create the necessary content in order to do so.  This social networking site also has the ability of connecting to others such as Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn to make social network marketing a one-stop-shop for you.

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