I recently sat in on a Webinar about the value of Facebook for business. It was hosted by Mari Smith, Relationship Marketing Guru and Facebook Expert, and co-anchored by Joel Comm (author of Twitter Power). It was an hour well spent and provided a ton of insight -- even for a guy like me who has been using the site for a couple years. Below is a summary of some of that information -- with some additional original insights sprinkled in!

First off, some fun Facebook facts. These shocked and amazed me:

- there are currently more than 200 million active members on Facebook
- by 2011 that is predicted to be more than 500 million
- Facebook is the 5th most trafficked Website in the world
- it is the largest photo-sharing platform in the world (30 million pics posted a day)
- more than 70 percent of facebook users are outside the U.S.
- 1 in 3 canadians are on facebook (ehh)
- the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is 30+ and women
- in social media, Facebook has the most rigorous terms of use (TOS)
- 99.9 percent of the time, the person is who they say they are on Facebook
- there are 52,000 applications on Facebook and that number is rising fast, with 140 new apps daily
- the maximum # of friends you can have is 5,000 (due to server load), possibly increasing soon
- record holder: John Reese added the most friends in the least amount of time (5k in 5 days)
- want to browse pages?

(DID YOU KNOW: you can remove a fan or friend and it does NOT notify them. So don't worry about offending people.)

The #1 reason for a Facebook page = SEO (google indexing). If you don't know what SEO is, or the value, we'll address that in a later post (or you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization for a detailed definition; or visit our SEO partner Point It at http://www.pointit.com). If you're trying to ensure your fan or business page comes up in search engines, Facebook is integrated and your page can drive that ranking (but keep it updated, fresh and use good terms).

The #1 reason people fail in social media: lack of viable strategy! Use Facebook with a purpose. Whether to connect with old friends or drive relationships with prospective partners, customers or employees, one thing remains constant -- you must take the time to use the site and update your pages with good information. Since we're not worried about the "connecting with old friends" application of Facebook, we'll just focus on some business related information.

Here are some steps to help implement a solid social media strategy on Facebook (with the goal of helping to drive sales):
1. Grow a network of hand picked friends up to 5,000 (your first goal should be to get over the 500 person mark). How do you do that? Try listing your top 25-50 people you admire in your industry and find them on Facebook and friend them with a personal message. Also, search and follow others on Twitter.
2. Do more than one page. If you have separate lines of business, perhaps have a page for each. This will help with SEO and indexing.
3. Showcase your best work on the page, not just all your work.
4. Engage in deliberately chosen regular activities (post a thought of the day, tip of the day, image of the day). Drive company news through the page. Highlight good articles. Offer incentives to Facebook users.
5. Be active on twitter with key-word laden tweets, and integrate with Facebook. This can help drive content on your page.
6. Create radical strategic visibility. This is a chance to put aside the stuffy corporate image. Get creative. Try video and more.
7. Finally, think relationships first, business second... but in the end, use Facebook to drive sales and help close deals.

Now, there are some ways to get booted off Facebook. And, unfortunately, once done, it's done. So follow the rules. Here are some little know facts from the TOS. Pay attention, these can get you banned (yes, these are true):

- adding too many friends
- sending out too many emails
- sending too many wall posts
- sending too many group messages
- sending too many messages to your event invitees
- importing too many tweets to your status update
- emailing too many pending friend request peeps
- having too many pending friend requests after maxing out at 5k

Facebook takes time. So, here's how to handle the site in 5 minutes a day. Now go forth and friend!!

1. update your status (most important if not importing tweets)
2. review news feed and comment
3. review requests
4. acknowledge birthdays
5. review notifications
6. review your profile
7. check your inbox

-posted by Justin

Tags: facebook, marismith, joelcomm