What is Facebook ?

Facebook is a social networking platform that allows friends and families to communicate with each other. At its inception, Facebook had a mere 150 user profiles. Now it has grown to more than 150 million active user accounts.

Advantages of advertising on Facebook

Check out the Facebook Stats
Statistics

General Growth
• More than 150 million active users
• More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
• The fastest growing demographic is those 30 years old and older
User Engagement
• Average user has 100 friends on the site
• More than 3 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
• More than 13 million users update their statuses at least once each day
• More than 3 million users become fans of Pages each day
Applications
• More than 800 million photos uploaded to the site each month
• More than 5 million videos uploaded each month
• More than 20 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each month
• More than 2 million events created each month
• More than 20 million active user groups exist on the site
International Growth
• More than 35 translations available on the site, with more than 60 in development
• More than 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
Platform
• More than 660,000 developers and entrepreneurs from more than 180 countries
• More than 52,000 applications currently available on Facebook Platform

Source: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

A glance at the numbers and any online marketeer or webmaster would understand why Facebook advertising is such an important market to enter.

Aspects of Facebook that set it apart from other social networking sites

1. Correct and consistent user information

One of the main differences between Facebook and other social network platforms like Myspace is that Facebook is exclusive. A user’s profile can only be viewed by other users if they have been previously approved by the profile holder. For this reason, the personal information provided by users is likely to be correct.
For example, if a user states his/her relationship status as single, there is a good chance that he/she is really single.

2. Large audience

Over 20% of Australians hold active Facebook profiles and the majority of users visit their account often. Therefore, advertisers have quite a large and diverse audience to work with.

3. Targeting

Advertisers have access to users’ demographic information. As a result, advertisers can display advertisements on the pages of their target market by filtering users for specific parameters (age, gender, relationship status). For example, an advertisement for a women’s weight loss product can be designed to appeal specifically to a particular demographic and displayed to the target group. This strategy makes for maximum ROI and is much more efficient in generating conversions than a generic advertisement at a non specific audience.

4. PPC based

There are a number of different ways to use Facebook as a tool to brand and advertise your company

1) Direct Advertisements

I have considered how Facebook can be used as an advertising tool in the previous section.

2) Facebook Groups and Branding

By creating a Facebook group for your product or service and sending out requests to your existing clients to join is an excellent way to run a recommendation campaign. Keeping with our weight loss example, you could create a Facebook group for your existing clients to share experiences with other clients. When your clients join the group, their personal page will display this information for friends to see, effectively recommending your product to your existing client’s network.

3) Facebook Applications

Facebook applications are dynamic tools that users add to their profiles and use to share information with their network. By developing a Facebook application that is related to your business activities and advertises your products and services you have in your hand an interactive tool that is a step up from a banner advertisement.

Facebook applications have the advantage of creating their own market. Banner advertisements are restricted in scope because it is only displayed to users who fit a set profile. Applications are simply placed on Facebook Platform for users to view and add if it stimulates their interest. Another advantage of applications is that at the time of adding an application to a personal profile, the user is prompted to actively recommend the application to other users in their network, opening up the door to viral marketing.