What Can Facebook Teach Product Managers About Reaching Customers?

I'm pretty sure that by now just about everyone out there has heard about Facebook. Facebook is the largest social networking platform going these days. What a lot of us may not know about is the fact Facebook employs a lot of product managers whose job it is to help customers advertise on Facebook. This job is a little bit different from the typical product manager job, but perhaps we can all learn something from them...

What Makes Facebook Advertising So Popular?

Let's be frank here - Facebook is very, very popular. Facebook is the world's largest social network - they currently have 1.3 billion users. In the U.S., 1 out of ever 6 minutes spent online was spent on Facebook. 1 out of every 5 minutes of mobile usage was spent on Facebook. Clearly the Facebook product managers have got their product development definition right and have a real winner on their hands.

However, Facebook is now attempting to make their product more appealing to advertisers. Facebook first started selling ads on its site 10 years ago. Facebook is competing with Google who delivers ads that match what people are currently looking for and TV which can reach a mass audience. Facebook product managers claim that they can both reach exactly the right audience and then measure what they do once they've gotten the message.

No, Facebook is not going to be replacing TV advertising. However, it is starting to look like there might be a role for it to help advertisers to achieve their goals. Not only is Facebook really, really big, but they also have the ability to achieve a very personal engagement with the people that the advertisers are trying to sell to.

How Are Facebook Ads Created?

The Facebook product managers understand that their advertiser's customers, Facebook users, are being overwhelmed with ads already. In order for a Facebook ad to be effective, it's going to have to be able to capture the attention of the end user when they see it. If the product managers can figure out how to do this correctly, then they'll something else to add to their product manager resume.

This kind of product creation process is very hard to do. The Facebook product managers realize it and so they bring together a lot of people in what they call "publishing garages". These are multi-day meetings in which ideas are kicked around and the goals for an advertising campaign are hashed out. The final outcome of one of these meetings will be the ads that will be run on Facebook.

In order to successfully create a product that will achieve the client's results, the Facebook product managers create model customers in order to understand what they are looking for. Using Facebook's immense collection of user data, they can then display the ads only for people who have shown an interest in products or topics that are similar to what is being sold. The final step is to agree with the customer on exactly what subset of Facebook's users the new ad(s) should be matched with.

What Does All Of This Mean For You?

The product managers at Facebook have a real challenge on their hands. They are part of a very popular company; however, they now need to convince advertisers that spending money to advertise on Facebook is worth their time. I'm willing to bet that this was never a part of their product manager job description. As with all such new things, this can be a real challenge.

The one thing that Facebook can offer to advertisers that really seems to capture their attention is the ability to target their ads. TV is a great way to reach the masses, but Facebook allows advertisers to become a lot more selective. Facebook creates ads by having their product managers assemble "publishing garages" where all of the customer's and Facebook's players can come together to plan out how to create just the right advertisement.

As product managers we can learn from what the Facebook product managers are trying to accomplish. When we are faced with customers who are interested in our product, but who may be doubtful that it can solve their problem, we should take the time to relate it to what they do know.

Facebook does this by comparing themselves to television. When it comes time to determine how our customers can use our product, we need to take the time to meet with all of the right players. Only by designing a solution that works for them will we be able to make sure that they'll have the best product experience. Perhaps if we can do all of this, we'll be as successful as Facebook is!

Dr. Jim Anderson

"America's #1 Unforgettable Business Communication Skills Coach"

http://www.blueelephantconsulting.com/

Dr. Jim Anderson has been a product manger at small start-ups as well as at some of the world's largest IT shops. Dr. Anderson realizes that for a product to be successful, it takes an entire company working together. He'll share his insights and guidance on how to make your products a fantastic success.

Don't Stick Cotton Swabs in Your Ears, Delete Facebook!

Sometimes during your life, someone will give you good advice. You have choices, you can hear the advice or investigate the situation, or you can take the advice. This article is about some opinions, some facts, and some advice. You read in the title about cotton swabs but the article has not much to do with the swabs. This article is about Facebook and about the control that Facebook has over your free account.

What do cotton swabs and Facebook have in common? Control. The key is control. Facebook gives you hardly any control over your profile and the rest of your account. And when you stick cotton swabs in your ears, you lose control of your common sense. Every since the beginning of time, moms have been telling kids to keep away from the cotton swabs. Now this mom is telling you to stay away from Facebook unless you are going to alter your pages on Facebook.

Just recently I was reading about Facebook, their privacy report and how hard it is to delete your account. Being a skeptic, I tried to delete my own account also. It is harder to crochet a full size quilt. Facebook does not want yor account deleted. And one has to ask oneself why one single website needs that much control over a person's account First, a little background, you open a Facebook account and you believe that it is a social networking account, a place where you and your friends can get together, share stories, share book reviews and view each others' pictures while meeting other friends and business workers. It appears that way when you first open your account. Then, BOOM! Then you get to know what Facebook is really all about.

You receive messages from your friends that seem like friendly gestures and these messages say join or sign up with a different application. There are warnings all over the account (red flag number one) that these applications have nothing to do with facebook. Then there are warnings that you can block these applications. If you opt to join the application to your Facebook account, you are then told you need to send the same application to about twenty (Yes twenty!) of your friends or networkers). Seems that almost everyone on Facebook is sending out these applications and almost every send demands that you send that to twenty friends. Can you imagine the email list that this corporation is forming with all fo these lists of friends? You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that Facebook and their affiliates are collecting emails for some reason or other.


Friends: This article is not about the friends. The friends that I had on Facebook are wonderful. This article is about privacy policy at Facebook, and it is about the nonsensical way that the applications insist that they obtain all of your friends email addresses to add a small application. This article is about the myths of Facebook and the truths that are really happening all over Facebook.


Tricks: Then you get the smart application that one of your friends send to you. This application boasts that you do NOT have to send this to twenty friends! Wow! You think, what a relief. So you press the button to check out this application and you ad to have it added, thinking that you do not have to send this to twenty friends. Then you hear the catch. You do not have to send this to twenty friends ONLY if you choose to participate in the endlist list of surveys that they send you. So there is the catch, participate in the surveys or send the application to twenty of your friends. (Does that sound like you are right back where you started from?).


Delete the Account: Ah, so you think that you can just delete your account when you want to? Better start now, and you will have your account deleted in a few years, maybe. Yes, I said years, and I said maybe. Under the pretext of making things easier for you in case you want to join Facebook again, Facebook insists that you delete each and every thing in your account FIRST and MANUALLY before they consider deleting your account. I have tried to do that in the past. It is like this, you delete something and you think it is deleted, yet in small print, Facebook tells you that somewhere else on Facebook that must be deleted again. Can you imagine going through this process if you have years of entries?

To finish their process, you might have to click tens of hundreds of thousands of times to finally clear out one Facebook account. Look at your friends list, look at your applications list, the wall, the other itmes connected to facebook! If you are the average Facebook member, you will take weeks or months to manually delete it all . And then Facebook can begin to delete your account.

Where is the Delete Button? It is not there. There is no listing in any of their sections to just delete the account. Finally after days of searching, you find the questions, How do I delete my account. The Facebook form letters give you more form answers, telling you you to manually delete all of your items, that means news sources, mini-feeds, news, messages, wall , and more. (If you have already delete these, you go back and send another message to Facebook stating that you have deleted all these. You wait, and you wait and wait some more.

Here is something from the tornado of privacy information that Facebook offers: They offer you the information that they are not responsible for ANYTHING at all that happens to you from your Facebook pages. Their privacy and contract instructions and information state that you are totally responsible for everything and anything that happens to you so they are not liable for ANY damages at all ever to anyone. (That is my wording but that is exactly what Facebook wants. They want out of any responsibility. In other words they have so protected themselves if you have any losses through Facebook, so much that they even put a dollar amount on it stating that you can't claim any more losses than $1,000. (This figure is as of this date of writing. Friday, March 14, 2008

More Tricks: When you try to delete some items, Facebook tells you that you can HIDE the items, but not delete them. Who ever heard of such a thing in any website? You go to delete and it tells you to HIDE it? Last time we looked, delete means to completely delete it and hide means something totally different. Hide means that these applications might be visible to Facebook employees and others . (And probably Facebook has hundreds of employees if not thousands. Do you really want all your personal information hidden rather than deleted? So, unwillingly , you hide all your personal information or whatever is not allowed to be deleted. And then you go back and email them again to say you ant you account permanently deleted. Still with me? The point I am making is that Facebook makes it almost impossible to permanently delete your account. They want you as a permanent customer. They figure at least one or two or more of your friends will convince you to stay with Facebook. If you have gone through this process, you have probably figured out by now that nothing will convince you to go back to Facebook.


Compare Other Websites: If you stop and compare other networking sites (there are plenty of them), you will see that other sites offer you more privacy and they offer a way to delete information and a way to easily delete your account. That is the way that it should be. There are many other sites that permit you to have more control over content.


Facebook is safe? Lots of the people we know, like Facebook because they think (That is THINK) Facebook is safer than other sites. And that could not be further than the truth. Facebook is a website and it is just as unsafe as any other ordinary webiste. They give it the impression, the look as if it is more busines-like (compare it to myspace.com) But what members do not realize is that Facebooks' business is collecting information and denying they have any responsibility to protect you or your friends. No one can or has proven that Facebook is any safer than any other site. So, be cautious on Facebook. Do not believe or think that this site is any safer than any other website. Any information that you type into that site can be obtained by any number of people, including by hackers.

Do You Want to Delete Your Facebook Account? If you want to do this, begin today by manually deleting each and every post,, picture, fun wall applications and any other thing connected to the Facebook account. Do not plan to delete it all in one day if you have hundreds of messages, but begin today.


Tricks for You: Here is a suggestion that you might or might not want to take. Have you thought of deleting all the messages and then posting a message on your fun wall, stating , I am deleting my account due to privacy policies of Facebook and due to the fact that Facebook makes it very difficult to delete items permanently. I am deleting my account on Facebook because I do not like an account that gives me little or no control over my privacy). You can write whatever anti-Fcebook statemnts that you like in your Facebook account -as long as it is legal. , to express your opinion of Facebook. Now that might even help you get your account deleted, who knows? I can not imagine that Facebook would want all your negative publicity on your site. Remember type in there only what is legal. If you do this remember not to add any friends and not to add any other applications , gifts, or pictures.

Write and tell me if you are successful in deleting your Facebook - if that is what you want.

The author of this article has had many works published in the USA. She has traveled extensively throughout the East Coast and through the South while observing people and writing about life and everything that is in it. She writes about various topics that interest readers across the nation and all over the world.

How to Use Facebook For Business

There are a growing number of social media sites being used by businesses in their company marketing efforts. The secret to using social media effectively is not to be everywhere, but instead to have an online presence where your current and prospective customers are online. Contrary to what many believe- Facebook is not just for college students or for personal use. Facebook is increasingly being used by companies in many creative ways such as to build their brand image, to drive traffic to their website and blogs, to announce or get feedback on new products, manage their online reputation, attract employees, communicate company information, and as a means to intercept potential prospects. For many companies, this increased company communication is leading to enhanced relationships with current and prospective customers. In this article, I will outline how a planned internet marketing approach can lead to positive results for your business. I will begin the article by addressing a few common misperceptions about Facebook that I hear most frequently from my clients. Next, I will detail how to use and set up the various sections of a Facebook account. I will conclude with several recommended applications that will add functionality to your company Facebook page.

Common misperception #1: Facebook is only for personal use
Each time I give presentations on using social networking sites for business there is the perception in the audience that Facebook is only useful for communicating with friends and family. Facebook started as a closed community for college students, and has not been as effective as LinkedIn at highlighting the business page and advertising features. However, Facebook continues to grow in use by companies looking to reach the more than 200 million active users, and has very powerful and targeted demographic tools that help companies to hone in on their target market.

Common misperception #2: Facebook is only for college students
According to the Facebook Press Room page, there are more than 200 million active users on Facebook and a million new members are joining each week in the U.S. alone. Contrary to what many of my audiences believe- more than two-thirds of Facebook users are not in college. According to comscore.com, more than 50% of Facebook's users in the U.S. are over 35; the single biggest age demographic in the U.S. on Facebook is now between 35 and 44, and Facebook's fastest growing age group is 55 and older. They also reported that Facebook ranks as the top social networking site in the majority of European countries.

Common misperception #3: I am too busy for this, and besides-it is not worth my time
Some of the reasons why social networking sites like Facebook are increasingly being used by companies is because they provide businesses the opportunity to easily and efficiently communicate regularly with the people in their network. Networks can include people with whom they are currently doing business, people whom they would like to do business, vendors, and potential business partners.

Social networking sites like Facebook are serving as an adjunct to, and in some cases, replacement for, traditional means of communication such as newsletters and direct mail. Facebook can be used to regularly announce or get feedback on new products, spotlight new employees or existing employees accomplishments or talents, reward customer loyalty, promote special events and special offers, as well as to create partnerships. According to a Forrester Research interactive marketing online research survey (March 2009): "40% of companies surveyed expect to cut direct mail budgets, while 35% will decrease newspaper spend, and 28% will slash magazine money in order to spend more in interactive media." Some companies have reported that by using these online means of communication they have reduced their marketing budget while at the same time increasing sales.

Why Social Networking works:
What companies that use social networking sites are finding is that these sites allow them to more regularly communicate with people, vendors, clients, colleagues, and prospects, which, in turn, helps business understand their customers needs better, increase trust, and therefore build better business relationships. Most people know that Facebook has been helpful as a tool for connecting or re-connecting with friends, family and co-workers. And most understand that even the personal connections have the potential to become new business opportunities-so it makes sense that Facebook can be used to communicate with those in the business milieu.

How to Set Up a Facebook Profile:
To make use of Facebook you need to set up an account. After registering you need to do the following in order of importance:

1. Create a Profile
In order to begin to use Facebook you must create a profile detailing information about yourself. Based on site policies, you can create only 1 profile, and it must be tied to a human name, preferably your real name, not a business name. We will review setting up your business page later in this article, but first you must set up your personal profile. If you are a married female, use your maiden and married names so more people can find you. Facebook has a "Friend Finder" feature that allows users to search for people by school, company, or organization. In order for people to find you -you must so be sure to list all of your previous schools, organizations, employers, in your profile. Thoroughly complete the "About Me" section to describe your business and what services or products you offer. In the "Information" box on your profile page, you need to include links to your website address, newsletter, blog and other business information such as your company contact information, logo and a photo of yourself. Your profile page should be considered your "branding" page or your marketing campaign. If you are working for a company-you don't have to list all your personal interests-just limit your entry to listing your professional interests. You can syndicate your blog on your profile page. By doing this you are enabling any post that you make to automatically appear on your profile page and all of those people who are connected to you will see it.

2. Build Your Contact List
Facebook was created based on the concept of connecting with friends. You can send and receive "friend requests" and once accepted, your friend can view your profile and you can view theirs. To begin connecting with people that you know, you can either import your address book/ contact database, or you can also search Facebook for individual people.

You can also view the friends list of each person with whom you are connected. If you know any of your new friend's connections, or you would like to know them-you can send a connection request. You can grow your friend list by inviting all your clients, business associates, customers, family, friends, co-workers, school alumni, neighbors, and anyone else you think would be interested in connecting. I would suggest also using the search feature on Facebook to look up people with whom you have lost contact. After befriending -your profile will show up on all your friends' pages. Therefore, the more friends you have- the more pages your profile will appear-leading to more people who will see your page and possibly get in touch with you.

3. Communicate by using Wall Posts
Each Facebook member has a "wall" where friends can post messages. In the business networking world, this is the online equivalent of calling them on the phone. You can send a complement to a colleague on their work by writing this on their wall, comment on their new service or product offering, or communicate an upcoming training or networking opportunity.

4. Update Your Status
At the top of your Facebook page is a status box. When you post a status update, everyone in your friends list can see your update on their home page. For business owners, this is the place to share tips, promote events, post blog updates, announce new products, links to your affiliate programs, links to interesting video or audio presentations, websites, articles, and newsletters.You can add updates as often as you are able in the " What's on you mind?" box. These will appear on all of your friends' pages so ensure that they are meant for everyone on your friend list, and are professional in nature. Otherwise, you risk people removing you from their list.

5. Participate in Groups
Online groups allow you to network virtually with potential clients and peers. You can also join Groups on Facebook that are related to your work. There are groups for therapist, teachers, coaches, and every conceivable profession. You can network, and learn from experts in the field. Another way to maximize the potential and relevance of these groups is to start one of your own. There is no cost to do this and this is a great way to improve your company's visibility. For example, I started a group for mental health facility administrators in Boston. This group is now a resource for sharing best practices and may over time lead to mutual referral relationships. To access groups, start from your Facebook home page, view the list of applications and click on "Groups." You can browse through thousands of groups by area of interest, by industry and geography. There are an incredibly varied selection of topics and professions all over the map.

6. Build Your Friends List
For business purposes, it makes sense to have as many friends as possible. One way to do this is to join a group and send connection requests to fellow members with a note letting them know of your interest in connecting with them on Facebook. Just as you would with an in-person business introduction, be sure to check out their profile and learn about what they are currently doing. Networking always works best when there is a two-way exchange. Find ways you can be helpful to them such as introducing them to a colleague or potential business partner and they may likely reciprocate and return the favor. Also, create your own events page, or post on the Facebook "Events page." You can even see how many RSVP and get feedback from attendees.

7. Create Fan Pages
Because Facebook requires that a profile be designated to a person, not a business, they have instead provided the ability to create fan pages. You can create a fan page for a business, book, product, author, speaker, celebrity or just about anything else you want. To create a fan page, scroll all the way down to the bottom of Facebook and click on "Advertising" (don't worry, this is free to set-up). Next, click on "Pages" at the top of the screen. You will find some helpful explanations about how pages work, along with the link that will allow you to create your own fan page. Once your page is created you can add links, events, discussion boards and other features that make them interactive. Your updates from your fan pages will appear on your profile so your friends will know about them. You can invite people to become a "fan" of your page as an alternative to sending friend requests which will help you to further cultivate an online community

8. Use the Marketplace
Facebook has an online marketplace that allows you to list your services and products at no cost. This is a great way for you or your company to get exposure. You can also use the marketplace to find items or services that you need.

How To Set Up a Business Page on Facebook
Setting up a business page is easy. Just log in to your profile page and scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Then click on "Advertising" or by following this link: http://www.facebook.com/business That will bring up a page with the blue links one of which is called "Pages." Click on Pages, and then click on the green "Create a Page" box on the right of the screen. You can now start filling this information in to create and customize your business page.

After you create your business page, Facebook will automatically add an application called the "Page Manager" which should be located on the top and left side of your log. Again choose Facebook Pages, then choose the best category for your business. Click this link to load your business page where you can then edit and add to the existing content.

It is important that you choose the name of your Facebook page carefully because the page name will become your key word search terms, and is the only text that is used in a search on a Facebook page. Once your page is in place, you can add applications that help to enhance how you represent your company in your own unique way. To find applications for Facebook, click on "Applications" in the upper left corner of your page, or search for them at this link: http://www.facebook.com/apps Applications are fairly easy to install and to set up. If you have difficulty with any one application-please note that there is often more than one application available to accomplish the same task.

Facebook Applications for Business:
Simply RSS : This allows you to display up to eight RSS feeds on your Facebook page and display the feeds from your business's main site and newsrooms.
Upcoming: Add all of your events to upcoming.org, and you can easily display them on your Facebook page with Upcoming's Facebook application.
My Flickr: Display photos from your Flickr account using this application. These photos can include logos, product photos, photos from events, etc.
Posted Items Pro: Allows you to embed multiple YouTube, Yahoo, and Google Videos, music mp3s, sites, files, and more onto your profile and Facebook pages. You can add any variety of these elements, making it great for a media center or press section.
Twitter APP: If you have a Twitter account this application will automatically pull your tweets into your Facebook status, and it automatically installs a Twitter-themed icon letting all you friends on Facebook know that you are on Twitter. It also saves you time in updating and ensures that you have some profile activity to keep you relevant. If you are not on Twitter yet-you can add this at any time.
By implementing these applications you will be creating an interactive page that gives visitors a more complete understanding of your business.

Make the Time to Stay Relevant
In order to stay relevant on Facebook, you need to continually update your Page and use the site. If you do not have the time needed to do this consistently- then I would suggest you hire a copywriter or social media consultant to help. The more actions you take, the more you appear in a fan's News Feed. This keeps you in their mind, and in their friend's feeds when they interact with you. But updating content will do more than keep you on the News Feed; it will also help make your Facebook Page one that people will return to by offering fans an incentive to continue to read your content and return to your page. There are many ways to do this such as providing exclusive content, special promotional pricing, exclusive contests, product previews, or privileged access to company events.

I hope this information has been helpful to you in getting started in using Facebook. Make no mistake about it-social networking is not a passing fad. Facebook, and other social media sites are here to stay. So regardless of whether you make use of all the social networking sites- you cannot discount the recent research indicating that customers are increasingly going online to gather company and product information, compare prices, and place orders. As with any new technology social networking will take time and effort for businesses to fully benefit from it; however, it is my belief that this time and effort, if done consistently and in a planned, thoughtful manner, will be time well spent.

Wayne Kessler

The Top Facebook Games of 2010

Facebook games have shown a lot of popularity during the past year. As Facebook adds more games to its already huge entertainment menu you may be wondering which games are the best and most fun to play. This article will give separate game reviews for each of the twenty five top Facebook games for 2010.

To start the Facebook Game reviews, we will begin by taking a look at the number one game on Facebook called FarmVille. FarmVille which is made by Zynga currently has approximately 73,800,000 monthly users and is growing at a steady upward pace. FarmVille is a game in which you can become a farmer. FarmVille allows you to interact with your friends and even become neighbors with them. Basically you will do everything a farmer does while playing FarmVille. Planting, plowing, harvesting and growing a successful farm. Just make sure when playing this game that you harvest your plants on time. Different plants have different times for harvesting and if you don't harvest in time the plants will die. By taking care of your farm you will get more points and go up in level.

Birthday Cards holds the place of second most popular game of 2010. Birthday Cards is made by RockYou and has approximately 32,000,000 users per month. When using the Birthday Cards game you can customize and send free cards, use a birthday calendar, have a personal birthday list and personal reminders. The game also allows you too start your own birthday zoo. This is popular for those who want to remember their friend's birthdays and send cards on Facebook.

The third most popular game on Facebook is Café World which is made by Zynga. Café World has approximately 31,000,000 active users per month. Café world is a fun game to play if you ever dreamed of owning your own restaurant. When playing this game you can cook, bake sauté and make anything you want when playing Café World. When playing Café World you are the cook and the restaurant owner therefore you will have to hire servers. When hiring a server on Café World you can select one of your Facebook friends. Make sure to always have plenty of food ready for your guests.

The fourth most popular game on Facebook is Happy Aquarium which is made by CrowdStar. Happy Aquarium has approximately 27,000,000 active users per month. When playing Happy Aquarium on Facebook you will be able to set up your own fish tank. This can be done by purchasing fish and other creatures. Make sure to always feed your fish when playing Happy Aquarium because the fish can die just like in real life. This is a fun game for those who love wish and wish they had an aquarium in their home. The bad thing about this game is that you can't feed your friends fish if you notice that they are dying.

The fifth most popular game on Facebook is FishVille which is made by Zynga. FishVille has approximately 24,000,000 active users per month. FishVille is very similar to Happy Aquarium in which you set up your own fish tank and care for the fish. When you're done raising your fish you can sell them for coins and points. Like Happy Aquarium you will maintain your fish tank or your poor creatures will die.

The sixth most popular game on Facebook is Mafia Wars which is made by Zynga. Mafia Wars has approximately 24,000,000 active users per month. The goal of playing Mafia Wars is to grow your Mafia family. This can be done by inviting your Facebook friends to join you at Mafia Wars. Another goal is to increase your group's wealth and supply your friends with weapons. What it comes down to is whoever has the biggest and the strongest Mafia is the group that comes out on top.

The seventh most popular game on Facebook is Texas HoldEm Poker which is also made by Zynga. Texas HoldEm Poker for Facebook has approximately 22,000,000 active users per month. When playing Texas HoldEm Poker on Facebook it's pretty much the same as playing the game in life. Before starting get familiar with the rules on how to play Texas HoldEm. Texas HoldEm Poker on Facebook can be played between friends.

The eighth most popular game on Facebook is Pet Society which is made by Playfish; Pet society has approximately 21,000,000 active users per month. Pet Society on Facebook is a very cute game for the animal lover. When playing Pet Society you can decorate your house and go to your friend's house with presents. This is a very cute and fun game.

The ninth most popular game on Facebook is Petville which is made by Zynga. Petville has approximately 17,000,000 active users per month. This is another adorable pet lover's game. When playing this game you will take care of your own pet. When you first become a player of Petville you will be asked to create your own pet. The options are endless and the end result is an adorable virtual pet. The goal is to keep your pet clean, well fed, walked and loved. This in turn will create a happy Petville pet for you. This game is very similar to Playfishes Pet Society and other pet based games.

The tenth most popular game on Facebook is YoVille which is made by Zynga. YoVille has approximately 17,000,000 active users per month. When playing YoVille you will be living a virtual life. This game is pretty similar to the extremely popular Sims game for personal computers. While playing YoVille you will be building a virtual life. When playing you can work, socialize; decorate your house or anything else you may desire. This is a fun game for those who like the escape of a virtual world.

The eleventh most popular game on Facebook is Farm Town which is made by Slashkey. Farm Town has approximately 16,000,000 active users per month. Farm Town is very similar to the Facebook game FarmVille. When playing this game you will take care of your own farm. In order to advance to higher levels you will need to plant and harvest crops, invite friends to join you and hire workers to help you with the farm. This is a fun game for those who want to be farmers but live in the city.

The twelfth most popular game on Facebook is Restaurant City which is made by PlayFish. Restaurant City has approximately 15,000,000 active users per month. Restaurant City is very similar to Café Town. When playing Restaurant City you will own a restaurant, create the menu and hire workers. This is a fun game if you are interested in how a restaurant operates. This is a social game and you will be able to interact with your Facebook friends.

The thirteenth most popular game on Facebook is MindJolt Games which is made by MindJolt. MindJolt games have approximately 14,000,000 active users per month. When playing MindJolt you can play over 500 games. The games are arcade style, puzzles, strategy, and so much more. MindJolt is fun for those who want a little gaming variety.

The fourteenth most popular game on Facebook is Happy Pets which is made by CrowdStar. Happy Pets has approximately 12,000,000 active users per month on Facebook. When playing Happy Pets you will grow your kitten into an adult. The object of the game is to take care of as many cats as you can. How many happy cats can you take care of on Happy Pets? If you end up feeling overwhelmed by having too many pets to care for don't be tempted to sell your cats. Happy Pets doesn't like those who sell their kitties.

The fifteenth most popular game on Facebook is RCK which is made by Zynga. RCK has approximately 11,000,000 active users per month on Facebook. This is a fun Facebook game in which you can create your own rock band. Ask your Facebook friends to join and help you create a rocking band. This is a fun game to play for any music lover.

The sixteenth most popular game on Facebook is Zoo World which is made by RockYou. Zoo World has approximately 10,000,000 active users per month. When playing Zoo World on Facebook you will take care of zoo animals and Zoo World cash. When earning your Zoo World cash you can purchase new zoo animals and place them in your zoo. This is a fun way to pass time if you enjoy zoo animals.

The seventeenth most popular game on Facebook is Bejeweled Blitz which is made by Popcap games. Bejeweled Blitz has approximately 10,000,000 active users per month. Bejeweled Blitz is an easy to master puzzle game. The fun thing about this game is that you can compete with your Facebook friends. Many people will spend hours out of there day playing Bejeweled Blitz.

The eighteenth most popular game on Facebook is Fish World which is made by Tall Tree Games. Fish World has approximately 9,000,000 active users per month. Fish World is very similar to Happy Aquarium. When playing Fish World you will care for your very own virtual fish. Make sure to feed them and take care of them so they stay alive. Selling your Fish World fish are a common part of the game.

The nineteenth most popular game on Facebook is Pillow Fight which is made by Shikha. Pillow Fight has approximately 8,000,000 active users per month. Pillow fight is a fun game if you enjoy hitting your friends with pillows. The pillows come in different materials and your friends can accept being hit by pillows are choose not to. The pillow that you choose to use will be posted on your friends Facebook page.

The twentieth most popular game on Facebook is (Lil) Farm Life which is made by Playdom. (Lil) Farm Life has approximately 6,000,000 active users per month. This is another game that is a lot like FarmVille and Farm Town. When playing this game you will create your own farm with crops, animals and buildings. This is another fun game for those who tire of Farmville and Farm Town.

The Twenty first most popular game on Facebook is Sorority Life which is made by Playdom. Sorority Life has approximately 6,000,000 active users per month. When playing this game you can create your own sorority. When signing up for sorority life you can invite friends to join your sorority. Another feature is that you can dress and accessorize however you want. This is a fun game for those who miss their college sorority lifestyle.

The Twenty second most popular game on Facebook is Island Paradise which is made by Meteor Games. Island Paradise has approximately 6,000,000 active users per month. This is a fun game in which you create your own island paradise. When creating your island you can grow crops, add animals or whatever you want on your island. When playing island paradise you can stop by and visit your friends. This is similar to Farmville but for those who love the island life.

The twenty third most popular game on Facebook is Country Life which is made by Country Life. Country life has approximately 5,000,000 active users per month. This game is another one that is a lot like Farmville. When playing this game you take care of crops, the only difference from Farmville is that you can create your own bread for more profit.

The twenty fourth most popular game on Facebook is Country Story which is made by Playfish. Country Story has approximately 5,000,000 active users per month. This is another farm themed Facebook game. This game is great for those who like FarmVille or Farm Town and want to play something different.

The twenty fifth most popular game on Facebook is Happy Island which is made by CrowdStar. Happy Island has approximately 5,000,000 active users per month. When playing this game you can create your own island. The more attractions you add to your island the more your island will earn. This is similar to Island Paradise but with more buying and selling involved.

Jack Dean; Blogger for [http://www.gamebrahma.com]

Game Brahma is a product network for computer and video games. Our mission is to make it easier for people to discover, research, and buy games online.

We're a boot-strapped web community, so please take the time to register and review some games!

The Future Business Model of Facebook

The one thing Facebook has not figured out yet is how to utilize their fabulous product to make the most money, consistently and on an ongoing basis - i.e. finding the right business model. A really intriguing topic to write my very first blog about, because, in my opinion, finding the right business model for Facebook cannot be accomplished using conventional thinking, like, solely looking at Google and their search engine ad revenue, for example. Facebook is unique, so you need to find unique solutions. Actually, there is not one single best business model for this site, rather a multitude of potential revenue streams from very different sources. It is not only "how do we generate revenue", but equally important "when do we start with which one". This might sound strange now, but it will get clear, when reading this. Summarized, it is basically taking your assets and what made you successful in the first place and finding new ways to use them effectively.

Business Network / Business Profile

I thinking about this since beginning of February. Wouldn't it be great, if you'd only need to login once and have your private and professional network in one view, although strictly separated from each other, depending on your settings? Wouldn't it also be great for companies to have a business network with about 7 times more users than LinkedIn, that can offer people having every kind of skills and experience imaginable as well as offering any kind of services and products among their 500 million users? Wouldn't it be great for Facebook to be able to get into companies blocking the site so far, generating new streams of ad and other revenue from recruitment companies and others? But most importantly, Business Network market leaders LinkedIn and Xing charge their users, meaning Facebook would have an absolute legitimate case to do so as well for their business network users. This means, that the crucial, and psychological, hurdle of charging end-users can be overcome via a sideway, so to speak, without having to expect a massive backlash or a mass exodus of users. Of course, they can only start to charge the active business network users, but when the door is open once...needless to say, this has the highest potential impact on the bottom line of Facebook.

All this would happen, if Facebook offered a Business Network, too. This is not even a huge undertaking for them really, just leveraging their existing functionality.

It can be set-up rather easily via automatic transfer of the existing (fitting) data of the user profiles into their new professional profiles, giving the users the choice to opt-in into this service and let them enter more business-related data to be able to activate their professional profile (which also means more key data available within Facebook). The professional profile can be, e.g. on a separate tab right next to the private one or just as another wall and info page next to the main profile, allowing for it to be within the Facebook site, but with the possibility to completely block the private section, when accessed from certain locations, while also allowing the user to keep both profiles and their connections separated via respective privacy settings. To grow rapidly, at least initially the service should be offered for free. Ads can be displayed to help offset part of the launching and initial running costs. Existing Facebook functionality should be incorporated, examples are, the news feed with real-time updates, posting pictures (e.g. from corporate events), the Like button, the option to easily post relevant news, etc., enabling the user to do the same things they like to do on the social network also in a business environment and in a simple and already known way. This would make the Facebook Business Network that much more alive than the mostly static existing ones, allowing users to be active or passive, enjoying ever-changing new content, keeping them on the site, just like it's happening on the current social network. At the same time, the previously mentioned benefits for Facebook are enormous, while the development time and costs for this are comparatively small as already proven and existing layout and functionality can be used. In my opinion, if set up properly, the other existing professional networks will be marginalized within about 9-12 months after the launch (depending on the roll-out plan), just like the other existing social networks.

In short, just take what successfully works, put it in a business context and reap the huge rewards.

Job Market

A job market, integrated with the business net as well as the rest of the site could be the next step. Same procedure as above, at the push of a button, the relevant data from the other profiles, private and professional gets transferred to a job search profile(again, if agreed to by the user) and additional data is added by the users to fill out the respective profile, alternatively, if a business network already exists the professional profile can also act as the job search profile, saving the users valuable time and enabling them to easily get out on the job market, without needing to fill out a long new form, updating their CVs, etc.. The first option, a new profile, would enable Facebook to gather more data and place more ads; the second one keeps the number of profiles from expanding, meaning less complexity and maintenance. Why Monster.com - Facebook has the equivalent of the third largest country in the world as talent base, available at the push of a button. This enables Facebook to pretty quickly become a major player selling job ads and e.g. earning additional money from HR companies for special search functions, etc. and also generating more ad money with the existing ads on the side of the screen.

Marketplace

Facebook has a marketplace actually, but it's safe to say, that it never took off in the way other parts of the site did. So I suggest a relaunch. Advantages are that no additional login is needed and the pretty convenient account access, also via Facebook's pretty well done mobile apps. Now the business network profile of (at least) the sellers should be integrated with the marketplace with the users accepting that Facebook can use their data for security reasons (e.g. to eliminate users with fake profiles from the start) while having them also add more data to be able to act as a seller (more key data within Facebook). This wealth of data enables Facebook to have a sufficiently lower fraud rate and even better fitting custom offerings for every single user than e.g. Ebay, huge competitive advantages. Special promotions for goods on Facebook will also make it easier for many users to accept letting Facebook use their existing data strictly for security reasons.

Now some examples for things currently totally out of Facebook's scope,

Facebook Apparel

Why they haven't done this already is beyond me. It's a great brand, simple logo, people like it. White and blue T-shirts, each with the alternatively colored Facebook logo, and matching caps, maybe some sweaters, that's enough for starters. Then advertise these products via their ad system, which simultaneously generates a great case study to show to ad buying prospects. For sure not their potentially largest income stream, but pretty quick to launch and profitable nevertheless, with options galore, like the ability to build the biggest clothing online store on the web via own offerings and the integration of other brands and retailers in an open way, similar to what Facebook has already done with applications on their site (use what works). Tailor-made offers (no pun intended) for 500 million users every time they log in, is quite a powerful thing here, too. Even opening Facebook brick & mortar stores in the future could be a viable option, also not necessarily limited to clothing.

Comprehensive Event & Event pictures database

Neat little features with great user benefits while pretty quick and rather inexpensive to launch are always fun. A comprehensive event database where every event manager will enter their own events and every Facebook user can search the listed events, concerts, etc. in his or any other region. If you travel abroad, for example, you know where to look for events and e.g. can also contact the event management or other Facebook users attending an event you are interested in easily and immediately with tools you are already familiar with. Additionally, the option to link pictures to the respective events should be implemented. Again, integrating all the successful Facebook features e.g. allowing people to tag themselves or be tagged (for privacy reasons, only the person her-/himself can tag themselves if they want; to tag others, the user needs to give permission to be tagged in this more public environment), Comment, Like button, etc., also allowing users to upload their own pictures from the events and link them to the event (when authorized by the event manager), makes it that much more interesting and definitely increases the number of user interactions on Facebook. Needless to say, all this is non- existent with the usual event/photo sites, where you often need to register, again, then get flooded with ads and only have partial overview over one region, and basically none of the other options described above. A centralized database is so much more convenient. By using already existing functionality for a new application, Facebook will save resources in developing these features while gaining speed to launch them (a familiar theme by now). Existing sites will have no chance against a comprehensive, worldwide, but localized database within the offering of a 500 million user juggernaut. This is certainly not difficult to set up from a technical standpoint and will render the existing party sites meaningless within about 6 months after launch in the respective regions. Facebook would gain even more new users, more user-generated content and user interaction as well as more ad revenue (e.g. the ad money flowing to the party sites will go to Facebook) out of this.

Banking functions

Microcredits

Facebook itself could offer a variation of a microcredit to its users (a microcredit is a very small loan originally designed for impoverished people in developing countries to engage in self-employment projects that allow them to generate an income - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcredit ). Where's the context, you will ask. The data of the users of Facebook is a credit rating specialist's dream as certain non-financial data is, when available, also highly valuable in today's loan approval process. No bank has anything close to this in terms of private data. To actually being able to use this data, Facebook would ask the applicants to sign a document that his Facebook user data can be used in the loan approval process. You can bet, somebody who wants money, will accept this. (Also, the applicants will be asked to provide their full financial information, of course, as this is currently not available on Facebook.) In this scenario, a credit officer will really have the total picture. This is an invaluable advantage in being able to calculate if an applicant should be denied or if someone will be able to pay back. This would result in a lower credit default rate for the Facebook loans, meaning in turn higher profitability, but also lower interest rates for the recipients of the loans, as Facebook would need to price less into the issued loans for the expected defaults than normal banks. Facebook needs some experienced banking people for this, get a license (not as difficult as it sounds nowadays, I guess the government will be happy, if anybody else wants to offer quality loans), set up a process and the respective software or alternatively, have one bank or a consortium of banks in the background for this and only act as router (first option earns much more money, latter one can be set up more easily and bears less risks). In any case, the first step would then be to start a very small test balloon (they would be totally overrun, if they would even offer this "only" in their home state, let alone Facebook-wide). After some time gaining experience with the process, they can think about offering higher amounts and potentially becoming quite some competition to regular banks (again, think the potential customer base of 500 million+), while, importantly, also doing something good in supporting their users with more affordable loans. Later on, they could even expand to offer more banking functions, like an online account, e-brokerage...

Peer-to-Peer Lending platform

They could also offer a Peer-to-Peer lending platform, where users lend money to other users, like e.g. Zopa or Prosper, which would soon thereafter become the biggest one on the web, of course. The process would be the same as with microcredits, whoever wants a loan, needs to share his data with Facebook, so it can be checked, if the applicants qualify, which is what the P-to-P platforms do as a service for the lenders, charging a small fee for it (another revenue stream for Facebook). The advantages to other platforms are the same as to banks in regards to microcredits, the quantity and quality of the data at hand. Another advantage here would be that the number of social interactions between the users increases as lenders and takers interact quite a lot on these platforms and a rather safe guess is that they would do even more so on the familiar Facebook. This is also potentially a good way of gaining experience before offering microcredits themselves, if they choose to do so.

Credit information system

If Facebook decides to not go the route above or chooses to launch another business, they could easily become the largest and best credit information data provider. They have data nobody else has and banks would pay a lot to get this information. Here, the privacy problem becomes a bigger one as Facebook cannot just transfer the data. From Facebook's point of view, the best thing would be to let the banks negotiate the access with each bank client, who is a Facebook user.

I have more examples, but this was just to show, that the possibilities are endless.

As I have stated initially, it is basically taking your assets and what made you successful in the first place and finding new ways to use them effectively.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, there are many ways for Facebook to haul in boatloads of money and Mark Zuckerberg be all smiles. It is not only "how do we generate revenue", but equally important "when do we start with which one". That's tricky, and a distinct timeline can only be set by the company itself, of course. My suggestion would be to start the Event/Pictures point in parallel with the business network. The latter has the most impact, the first can be set up the easiest and they don't interfere with each other. I have no affiliation with Facebook or any insight or access, so these are just my humble suggestions and assumptions. Whatever is going to happen, it is definitely exciting to see, where Facebook is actually going and what is possible for them.

Next up: How Google can prevent Facebook from taking over

My name is Matthias Karim Rahmatian, I am holding a master degree in business administration from the Vienna University with the focus on Leadership, Human Resources and Psychology in a business environment. My half Austrian, half Persian descent helps me tremendously in understanding and effectively communicating in cross-cultural environments. Having held several leadership positions in the IT industry and being stakeholder and board member of a software company, I have a tech background, too. My main interests are in personal development, strategy, thinking about how to make things better and international business & politics and foremost - how to help others achieve extraordinary results!

1) How to set goals and create outcome- and purpose-driven massive action plans

2) How to stay dedicated and driven

3) The tools you need to achieve your goals

4) How to ENJOY not only the outcome but the process itself!

A Simple Tutorial On Linking Facebook To Your WordPress Blog

With almost 60 million WordPress users, many that also have their own Facebook pages, a lot of people want to know how to link Facebook to WordPress. The first question is what exactly does this mean - linking Facebook to WordPress? Well, there are actually a few steps we must take to fully integrate Facebook into our WordPress Blogs.

Fortunately this can be easily achieved using a couple of free WordPress Plugins and Widgets. This tutorial will explain exactly what linking Facebook to WordPress entails and overview the Plugins and widgets required to achieve this. I will also walk through exactly how to configure the Plugins and widgets to give your WordPress Blog and Facebook page a huge social boost!

The 4 Different Ways we can Link Facebook to WordPress

There are several ways we can link Facebook to WordPress. To become fully integrated, our Blogs should contain the following functionality:

1. Have the option to easily post summaries of our Blogs to Facebook

2. Have a 2 way commenting system between FB and WP

3. Have a place advertising your FB page on your WordPress Blog for people to Like

4. Have the option for visitors to "Like" your individual Blog posts

Posting Blogs to Facebook and 2-way Commenting

Let me elaborate on this. Part 1 simply means when you write up a new post, you want a simple "click of a button" process to publish a summary of your post to Facebook, along with a link back from Facebook so people can read your entire post.

Part 2 means that when someone comments on Facebook, that comment gets published on your Blog site and vice-versa. This makes your Blog and Facebook page appear to be more popular because every time someone comments, that comment is going to both places.

The one key word here would be "simple". We don't want to manually copy and paste our Blogs and create a backlink, or copy and paste comments here, there and everywhere. Fortunately there is one awesome plugin that takes care of this.

Using Wordbooker to Link Facebook to WordPress

Wordbooker is an absolutely awesome plugin with unlimited flexibility. It has so much flexibility in fact, that the options sometimes get a little confusing. There are essentially 2 main options:

- Automatic or manual posting of Blogs to Facebook

- 2-way commenting, 1-way commenting or no-way commenting

I would recommend manual posting, as you don't want to accidentally publish posts to Facebook or publish an unfinished post, and 2-way commenting, as this increases the conceived popularity to both FB and WP which is never a bad thing! Let's dig in.

Installing and Authorizing Wordbooker with Facebook

First go ahead and install the plugin. From you WordPress dashboard, go to plugins, install new plugin and search for the Wordbooker plugin (activate after you have installed it)

The next thing we need to do is authorize Wordbooker to communicate with your Facebook page. Wordbooker can be found under settings. Click Wordbooker from the settings menu to bring up the main configuration screen.

After you click "Authorize Wordbooker" you will be taken to your Facebook login page. Login to Facebook and you will be greeted with a screen that allows you to authorize Wordbooker to post to your Facebook page. Click on "Go to App" and then click "Allow" from the next page.

There's just one more step. After you click allow, you will be taken back to your WordPress Blog. To complete the link from Wordbooker to Facebook, click the "Reload Page" button and you should be taken to the general Wordbooker settings page.

Configuring Wordbooker to Post Blogs to Facebook and Sync Comments

The best thing about Wordbooker is how easy it is to use! The settings that it comes with are good enough to get your first Blog posted to Facebook without changing anything.

As mentioned, I prefer to post manually to Facebook. I often edit my posts after I publish them, and sometimes I publish posts in progress and don't want them to be posted to Facebook before they are done. Posting to Facebook is achieved directly through the page where you compile your posts in WordPress. Scroll down to the bottom of your post to see the Wordbooker options. There are several check-boxes to check here:

- First check "Publish this Post to Facebook"

- Check the box pertaining to which wall you want to publish to

- Check all 3 of the last boxes to enable 2-way commenting (optional)

The only thing left to do is to update your page and Wordbooker posts it to Facebook:

Tip: You can insert a featured image and Wordbooker will pull that image into Facebook too! I try to keep the images to a max size of 125×125 pixels.

Linking Facebook to WordPress via a Sidebar Widget

Next, we are going to link Facebook to WordPress via a pretty cool sidebar widget. It gives your Blog visitors the option to Like you on Facebook and join your network of friends. Think about what we have accomplished above. Every time we make a new post to our Blog, and publish it on Facebook - each of your friends will get an update on their page - so the more friends or fans you have on Facebook, the greater an audience you can share your Blog with.

We need to give your Blog visitors an easy and obvious way to join your Facebook network to allow optimal growth of your fan-base. This Widget accomplishes exactly that!

The Widget is called "Facebook Social Plugin", search for it through your WordPress dashboard and install the same way as we did the Wordbooker plugin. Activate and take a look at your available Widgets (through Appearance, Widgets).

You'll see a couple of additional options, the one you want to drag into your sidebar is called "Facebook Like Box". After you drag it into your sidebar, you will need to configure it to pull from your Facebook page - the settings are minimal and fairly obvious - just don't forget to enter your Facebook URL and click save. Take a look at your website after this and you should have an easy avenue for people to Like you on Facebook in the sidebar area!

Link Facebook to WordPress - Get Visitors to Like your Posts

The final way we can link Facebook to WordPress is by getting your visitors to actually link to your posts through their Facebook accounts. Again, we should focus on making this obvious and easy. Wordbooker does have a function for this, but there is another little plugin that also gives visitors the option to Tweet, post to Google +1, Pinterest, Delicious and a host of other social platforms.

The Plugin is called "Shareaholic". Search for it through your WordPress dash and install as we did the previous 2 Plugins and activate it.

Access the Shareaholic plugin and click where it says "Please visit the Plugin Options... " then hit "Enable Shareaholic". You'll then be taken to the Shareaholic dashboard where you can configure this Plugin. I click on Enable Sexy Bookmarks, which allows me to choose which social media platforms I allow my visitors to share my posts on.

And there are a ton of options to choose from. Select the media platforms you want to allow your visitors to post to, scroll to the bottom of the options page and hit save. There are oodles of options as you scroll down, but the defaults are pretty good. Now, at the bottom of each post you make, there will be a bookmark bar, where your visitors can share your posts to their Facebook page and any of the social media networks show above!

Linking Facebook to WordPress Summary

Well that's all there is to it! These are the 4 key steps in fully integrating Facebook into WordPress and to increase the popularity of your Blog! I do want to point out one more option, but this is usually very theme dependent.

A lot of Blog theme designers today recognize the importance of integrating social media into their Blog design, and as such, most themes come with configurable options to enter your Facebook as well as other social platforms. The respective icons will then show up on your Blog could be in the header, footer, sidebar, or all 3 places - the placement and appearance is theme dependent.

The Power of Facebook Advertising

Social media was once considered to be only for teenagers or for those looking for romance and relationships but that has changed dramatically in recent years. Facebook has evolved as one of the most valuable assets to advertisers who are striving to reach a particular niche audience.

Facebook is the largest and most visited social network on the web today is.

Not only is it a popular location for social interactions but also it is becoming a fiercely competitive marketing tool. Many entrepreneurs are beginning to tap into this advantageous method of generating leads and sales for their businesses. Research is showing that the average Facebook user spends just over 6 hours a month on Facebook which is double the amount of time of its closest competitor, Google. Over 50% of these users are perusing Facebook from a mobile device which means that there are more than 543 mobile users searching for goods and services while on-the-go. Every day there are more than 3.2 billion items that are liked or commented about on Facebook pages and that translates into a very powerful mode of advertising for any business.

Advertising campaigns on Facebook are providing up to a 5 fold return on any investment because of the strategic targeting of the right audience. Consumers are becoming more aware of brands and are recalling what they are seeing more than other online advertising averages. Facebook advertising is the catalyst for more positive conversations about businesses as well. More importantly, the 47% trust rate for advertising on Facebook commands a respect and awareness of this tool that can effectively be used to expand the bottom line.

When considering the most efficient way to invest advertising dollars, you should include Facebook advertising in your plan. You can connect to this exploding power to target new business, to generate high quality leads, and to piggyback additional advertising strategies, like word-of-mouth advertising, to more effectively stretch your advertising monies. An entirely new world of possibilities will be opened up to you with Facebook advertising.

Facebook advertisers are permitted to geo-target an audience by country which allows the advertiser the ability to limit or expand the message of their ad based on settings that are selected. Most of the countries in the world are now Facebook friendly which expands boundaries that once limited the sale of products to smaller areas and locations.

One of the features of advertising with Facebook is the advantage of keyword interest targeting. When a user signs up for Facebook, they create a profile page that is based on their interests, likes, and activities. When you create your ad for Facebook, you have the option of searching and selecting keywords that are of interest to a specific user. This will better target an audience that is already interested in your ad before they even see it. As an example, let's say that you as an advertiser are trying to reach people who are doing home remodeling projects. When you type in the word home remodeling, a list of keywords will be pulled up for you that are related to the profiles of users who listed home remodeling as one of their interests. You can then choose any of these keywords in your ad to reach those people who have these keywords in their profiles. You are targeting an audience who is interested in your information and who will respond to your ad.

Before you begin your advertising campaign, it's important to clearly know who you want to target. Customize your Facebook advertising to the target market so that this tool work better for you and your company. Try to vary your approach so you can attract different groups. 20 year olds will view your ad differently than a 40 years old will even if they have the same need for your product. Appeal to your potential client in a positive and attention-getting way. Be clear, concise, and brief.

There are several ways to advertise on Facebook; you can use these cost-effective ways to increase the traffic to your website and generate more business and profits for you. The first way to advertise on Facebook is to create a business profile so you can interact with your list of "fans" whom you will persuade to become clients. You can send out updates, news articles, special offers and promotions, and discount information to the entire list; Facebook affords you the ability to communicate instantly with a list of people who have already indicated that they are interested in your products.

Another way that you can advertise powerfully on Facebook is to buy an ad that is targeted toward a segment of the user base. Each one of these users has an enormous amount of information stored in their profiles. This information can be used to target them based on a selected keyword or filter. Using this method will assure you of reaching potential customers who are most likely to buy your product.

Word-of-mouth advertising has been brought into the digital age with Facebook's beacon tool. News feeds let users access each other's personal profiles and postings or comments. Facebook allows businesses the ability to report a user's actions with the business website and company to the user's friends. If a Facebook customer buys a product from you or engages in discussion regarding their satisfaction with your company, their interaction with you will be posted in the news feed which will automatically create a referral system for your business. It's word-of-mouth in cyberspace.

The first thing to consider as you plan your Facebook ad strategy is your goal. Are you going to advertise your product, expand the number of people who like your business page, inform the Facebook community of your business and what you do, or are you simply getting the attention of potential customers. As your goals become clearer, begin to decide on the type of ad you will create; there are three types from which you can choose.

Crafted ads target Facebook users by filtering demographic information such as age, location, and gender. These ads will be featured in the right hand column of Facebook pages. You can create sponsored stories which interact with a Facebook fan's page with the specific story. The ad will show up in the right hand column once the fan likes your particular post. You can also select promoted posts which are more visible in the posts on friends' pages and on their contacts' pages as well. One of the most powerful aspects of Facebook advertising is the customer loyalty that you will build. Create your own business Facebook page that will allow you to directly interact with your clients. This will give a more personal touch to your business and also will allow you to use word-of-mouth advertising that you generate from your Facebook ads to spread the word in a cost-effective way. Client satisfaction, customer service, and buyer protection are all tenets of a marketing strategy that will work nicely for you and your Facebook advertising campaign.

You can offer special promotions, new products, or the latest trends with your product with your Facebook ads to reach clients that are strategically targeted and already interested in your product or service. This will provide up-dated information to your clients and keep them better informed in a time-efficient way. Today's consumers on are the go with busy schedules and demanding deadlines. These ads will connect with them and solve their issues and concerns in a timely fashion.

Facebook ads are much more flexible than other internet locations. You will be offered additional character length for any ad descriptions that you might have. You can also improve your flexibility with image-based ads that attract the visual buyer. If someone participates in the Facebook community, then they are already proven to be a visually stimulated consumer. Use images and photos of high quality and that convey your message with the power of a thousand words. Your Facebook ads will be more visible to an audience who is there to engage in obtaining information as well as to create it themselves.

With the Facebook site itself generating such a high rate of traffic on a daily basis, your ad has a much better chance of being seen and having a positive effect. It will be seen a multitude of times by a targeted audience who is already comfortable shopping the online arena. Users visit the site many, many times a day and your ad will be there to greet them as they login and begin to participate.

You are also allowed with your Facebook ad to purchase space on a click-based or impression-based fee structure. Using your budget and personal preferences, you can tailor your ad campaign to meet the needs and goals of your business plan.

Because of the targeted nature of Facebook, advertising on Facebook can be affordable for you company. You can reach your targeted audience with your online campaign for a very reasonable price. The selection of packages that you can select is extensive so that you can reach as many users as your budget will allow you to.

The use of smart-phones has skyrocketed in recent years and your ability to reach this high volume of consumers is phenomenal. Access to these devices happens every second of every day and you can tap into this gold mine of prospects. Your ads won't just be limited to laptop and computer users; you will be expanding your potential client base.

You will be offered a choice between pay-per-click (CPC) or per 1,000 impressions (CPM). Studying your demographic clicks and responses will be an important first step. Begin by starting a campaign that includes everyone and then, after a set number of impressions, see who clicked on your ad and the responses that you received. After some study and careful insights, you can then rewrite the ad to appeal with that demographic audience in mind. You can then reset your campaign as a CPC method. Finely segment your ad to appeal to different age groups, or sexes, or relationship statuses. With this small touch, you will get more bang for your advertising buck. Continually test and modify your presentation to foster higher results with substantially lower costs.

With Facebook targeting, the natural skew is toward a younger than average audience that is female. Sometimes users mislead others by submitting incorrect data on profile pages. This will cause misrepresentation of data and some of your ads will be seen by users who are not interested by their very nature; you can only get a rough estimate of the people who might see your ad. When initially targeting your ad to an audience, you might begin with 10,000 people; 50% of them will log into Facebook and see your ad. By choosing this number, you will keep your costs under control and more efficiently modify it before you launch the ad to a larger audience. Carefully select connections of people you know who trust you and your business. This will give you a base circle of community with which to begin your advertising campaigns.

Another important thing to consider when you are creating your advertising strategy is to include additional languages other than English. Inexpensive translators can be hired on some of the work at home web locations to translate your copy for you. Many advertisers neglect this segment of the population and lose many dollars in profit for this lack of attention to detail. You can open up a new section of loyal clients with just a simple effort of reaching them in a language in which they feel comfortable purchasing.

Another powerful tenet of advertising on Facebook is the low risk involved in using this format. You will have full control of your advertising budget and it will be a good testing ground for your ad. You can learn if your message is effective in communicating to a potential buyer who you are, what you are offering, and how they can purchase your product quickly and safely. You are free to modify your message as needed and promote it to a better target. You can ascertain what works best with a particular demographic and how to reach them with your message. Especially if you have a fledgling business, you might want to use the high power, lost cost approach of a Facebook ad.

If you are striving to target your local audience, Facebook ads have been proved to be very effective. You can inform local and regional clients about your business and have the "friend" network assist you as well. Many local communities enjoy supporting local businesses that give back to civic groups and Facebook can get your ads to them quickly and efficiently. When you have a happy, satisfied customer, they can tell the seven people in their social circle and those seven people will tell seven of their closest friends and so the network will distribute the message about you and your product. Testimonials serve to peak the interest of clients ready to buy but who have just one more question. If someone has purchased your product already, they can attest to its quality and your excellent customer service. Facebook is being used in your area by all of the local people who are just waiting to be approached by your ad. The appeal of Facebook extends to everyday people; you don't have to be a computer genius to take advantage of this advertising power.

By promoting your Facebook business page through the ads you place on Facebook, you are guaranteed that the people you are targeting with your ads already have a Facebook account. You can be assured your ads are reaching the audiences most likely to buy from you and the communication vehicle is at your disposal 24/7.

One of the most powerful reasons of advertising on Facebook is the budget management that is available to you. Thousands of dollars of advertising fees are not required upfront. So, you don't have to have capital outlay at the onset of your advertising campaign. Your budget can be as low as $1 per day if that is the option that you choose to employ. Budgets can be changed daily or at any time and by any amount that you wish. The measure performance tools available on Facebook advertising allow you to see and test ad rotations and explore which are the most effective tools for you. After you run your first ad, try changing a combination of the ad's image, description, and title. You will measure the performance rate of your campaigns by viewing the click-through rate which is the percentage of clicks from the number of times it was viewed on Facebook. You will select the ad which shows the highest click-through rate for you.

In a world of social media, advertising can be an excellent way to reach customers. The users of Facebook are very active; they log on daily sometimes multiple times. It provides a way for you to reach customers with whom you might not have otherwise connected. They are going to find your ad on a social media sight more rapidly than they would your own blog or website.

The exposure you receive is a very lucrative benefit to advertising on Facebook. The more customers who are exposed to your product, the higher your profits can become. Facebook does an excellent job of allowing all advertisers a multitude of targeting options that include age, gender, interests, and relationship status. These targeting filters will strategically develop an audience who is primed and ready to buy. This is possibly the most beneficial tool of Facebook advertising.

In addition to an effective list of potential clients, you will have all of the benefits of instant results. In our fast-paced society of today, speed in purchasing is important. A client will spend approximately 90 seconds looking at your ad before moving on to something else. Quality images and representations of your product along with concise and clear descriptions are dynamic tools to capture the attention of the audience and cause the perusing to develop into purchasing. You can attract many new customers in a single day and the profits can rise along with those viewing your ads.

Before you even begin your advertising campaign, you must set your budget and stick to it. There are expensive options for you with Facebook advertising but you will have to operate within your budget to obtain the success you are seeking. Use a common sense approach with your newly acquired technological advertising to promote your company and profits.

In addition, a Facebook ad will provide you with a more personal platform of advertising. Research shows that consumers are more likely to trust your ad especially if they see a link to a Facebook friend. Your ad is placed in the right hand column and is a bit more engaging than an ad they see randomly on a search engine. Even in the world of internet marketing the handshake and confidence in a deal is important to make. By personalizing your Facebook ad, it's like extending your hand across cyberspace to reach out and seal the deal. This type of business advertisement will foster good business relationships that ensure repeat business.

In effective advertising, everything is a balance. You don't want to spend a lot of time reworking your ads if they aren't accurately targeting the audience you need to be targeting. Spend time tracking your progress and your effectiveness but don't forget to interact and connect with potential and current clients. Follow through with all of your strategies and the components of your plan to generate new customers and increase your profits. A Facebook ad campaign will be an effort that takes time and patience. Keep in mind that Facebook advertising is about developing relationships and connecting with consumers not just selling them a product immediately. This platform of marketing is still developing and using these advertisements effectively will take research, study, and modifications that better hone your ad for consumers to view.

Facebook has become a powerful tool in the advertising world. The expanse of active users coupled with the micro-targeting tools make this method of telling others about your product one that will reap dramatic rewards for your bottom line. You will boost sales and maximize profits at a cost-efficient way for your business. Your business will be given the opportunity to build, improve, and maintain client relationships which is a satisfying aspect of having your own business.

The clients with whom you connect will provide you with feedback, encouragement, and testimonials that can help you reach your goals and dreams as a successful entrepreneur. By using the proper demographic, copy, and image, you will see your Facebook ad come to life. Don't be afraid to try this new and unique method of advertising. It's a fun and interesting way to reach an enormous audience with a few simple guidelines that anyone can perform.

It's not rocket science but it can provide you with an astronomical income that makes your business the success you knew it could be.