Hey marketers...are you on Facebook?

How did you hear about that? Facebook. Where did you see that? Facebook.

Marketers should most certainly embrace the virtual lives of millions and millions of people worldwide. In fact, did you know that Facebook published the Facebook Insider's Guide to Viral Marketing?

According to the document, businesses now have the ability to expand their revenue base and acquire new customers through free Facebook Pages. Pages enable customers to interact, learn, purchase, and spread the word about your business to their friends. The key is Facebook’s stable and trusted platform, which gives companies the ability to connect with consumers and participate in the conservations they’re already having with their friends about their favorite local spots, artists, films and brands.

Every day, most of Facebook’s 70 million active users log on to Facebook to learn about their friends and share information about their interests and activities. This regular interaction gives businesses the opportunity to connect with existing and new customers as effectively as a face-to-face meeting.

Keys to Using Facebook:

1. Make business personal
   People primarily use Facebook to share personal information with friends. The more you showcase the human element of your business, your products, and your people, the stronger of an effect it will have on everyone who views it.


2. Update your Facebook Page frequently
   Facebook is geared to highlight new information and recent changes. The more often you add new content, the more often people will come back to your Facebook Page. You can also send Updates to your fans to announce in-store events, special promotions, new products, concerts, screenings, or other news.


3. Harness the power of News Feed
   The News Feed on users’ home pages tells them what their friends are doing. When users become your fan, News Feed tells their friends and invites them to become fans as well. In turn, this can lead to the friends of their friends finding out about your business through their News Feeds, and so on in a virtuous cycle. News Feed is the key to spreading your message virally on Facebook.


4. Choose the applications that are best for your business
   Facebook and its outside developers have built thousands of free applications for businesses, bands, and every other type of organization. Your Page comes with the basics pre-installed, but you can easily add whichever other applications are right for your business. For instance, a restaurant may choose to add an application for online ordering or reservations, while a film may add a cinema-locator so the user can find the nearest screening without ever leaving Facebook. You can even build your own applications. The more useful your applications are to your customers, the faster your fan base will grow.


5. Promote your Page through Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads allow you to reach exactly the audience you want and bring them to your Page. You can choose your audience based on age, gender, geography, educational status, relationship status, and precise interests or keywords. Your ads can be socialized so that users’ interactions are reflected in the ads their friends see, increasingly the virality of your Page. You can run ads both in traditional “banner” locations and in the News Feed. As with your Page itself, the key to success with Facebook Ads is to experiment and iterate on your work.

Check out the document here to learn more about Facebook’s personal recommendations on how to successful market your business, products, and services, as well as learn more about your target audience.