Facebook marketing for dummies, 5th edition 2015

Facebook
Marketing
®

5th Edition

by John Haydon


Facebook® Marketing For Dummies,® 5th Edition
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1


Contents at a Glance
Introduction................................................................. 1
Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing............ 5
Chapter 1: Marketing in the Age of Facebook................................................................. 7
Chapter 2: Researching and Understanding Your Target Audience.......................... 17
Chapter 3: Developing a Facebook Marketing Plan...................................................... 29

Part II: Building Your Facebook Presence..................... 49
Chapter 4: Getting Started with a Facebook Page........................................................ 51

Chapter 5: Configuring the Best Admin Settings for Your Facebook Page................ 75
Chapter 6: Enhancing Your Facebook Page with Applications................................... 87

Part III: Engaging with Your Customers and
Prospects on Facebook.............................................. 103
Chapter 7: Creating a Remarkable Presence on Facebook with
Content Marketing........................................................................................................ 105
Chapter 8: Growing Your Facebook Page’s Fan Base................................................. 117
Chapter 9: Engaging Your Facebook Fans................................................................... 139
Chapter 10: Improving Your Marketing Strategy with Facebook Insights............... 157

Part IV: Marketing beyond the Facebook Page............ 179
Chapter 11: Using Facebook Advertising to Promote Your Business...................... 181
Chapter 12: Using Facebook Offers to Sell Products and Services.......................... 217
Chapter 13: Using Facebook Groups and Events for Your Business........................ 225
Chapter 14: Integrating Facebook into Your Other Marketing Channels................ 245
Chapter 15: Integrating Facebook Features into Your Website with
Social Plugins................................................................................................................ 261

Part V: The Part of Tens............................................ 287
Chapter 16: Ten Common Facebook Marketing Mistakes
(and How to Avoid Them)........................................................................................... 289
Chapter 17: Ten Business Tips for Facebook.............................................................. 295
Chapter 18: Ten (Okay, Eight) Factors for Long-Term Facebook
Marketing Success........................................................................................................ 301

Index....................................................................... 305

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................. 1
About This Book............................................................................................... 1
Foolish Assumptions........................................................................................ 2
Icons Used in This Book.................................................................................. 2
Beyond the Book.............................................................................................. 3
Where to Go from Here.................................................................................... 3

Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing............. 5
Chapter 1: Marketing in the Age of Facebook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What Is Facebook, and Why Is It So Popular?............................................... 8
Understanding the Marketing Potential of Facebook................................ 10
Leveraging the power of word-of-mouth marketing......................... 11
Using marketing tools for all kinds of businesses............................ 13
Understanding Why Your Business Needs a Facebook Page.................... 14
Attracting new fans who are friends of customers.......................... 15
Changing first-time customers into repeat customers.................... 16

Chapter 2: Researching and Understanding Your
Target Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Defining Your Target Audience..................................................................... 17
Understanding the marketing funnel.................................................. 18
Understanding the ladder of engagement......................................... 19
Defining who your best customers are.............................................. 20
Selecting demographic criteria for your target audience................ 21
Using personas to give your target audience personality............... 21
Researching Target Audiences with Facebook’s Ad Tool......................... 23
Discovering How Many Customers Use Facebook..................................... 25

Chapter 3: Developing a Facebook Marketing Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Understanding the Power of Word of Mouth on Facebook....................... 30
Understanding What to Include in Your Marketing Plan........................... 31
Developing Your Value Proposition............................................................. 32
Understanding Your Audience...................................................................... 33
Finding out what makes your fans tick.............................................. 33
Appreciating your fans......................................................................... 34
Defining Your Marketing Goals..................................................................... 35
Building awareness of your brand...................................................... 36


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Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 5th Edition
Driving sales.......................................................................................... 38
Forming a community with a Facebook Group................................. 39
Listening to feedback........................................................................... 39
Developing Your Content Strategy............................................................... 40
Monitoring and Reporting Page Activity..................................................... 42
Using Insights for Pages....................................................................... 43
Creating benchmarks and setting goals............................................. 44
Keeping an eye on key metrics........................................................... 45
Integrating Your Online and Offline Campaigns......................................... 46
Deciding on a media budget................................................................ 47
Hiring an online writer......................................................................... 48

Part II: Building Your Facebook Presence...................... 49
Chapter 4: Getting Started with a Facebook Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Understanding the Differences among Pages, Timelines,
and Groups.................................................................................................. 52
Timelines are personal, not business................................................ 53

Groups are for connection, not promotion....................................... 55
Creating a Facebook Page from Scratch...................................................... 56
Adding your description and website................................................ 59
Uploading your profile picture............................................................ 59
Adding your Page to your favorites.................................................... 60
Advertising your Facebook Page........................................................ 61
Adding a cover photo to your Facebook Page.................................. 61
Editing your Facebook Page’s profile picture................................... 62
Limiting access to your Page until launch......................................... 63
Adding More Information about Your Business......................................... 64
Setting age, location, posting, and messaging restrictions............. 65
Configuring, commenting, and posting moderation
settings............................................................................................... 67
Adding Apps to and Removing Apps from a Facebook Page.................... 67
Adding more apps to your Facebook Page........................................ 68
Changing the order of your Facebook Page views........................... 69
Adding Page Administrators......................................................................... 70
Getting the Most from Facebook Marketing Resources............................ 72
Understanding Facebook’s Terms and Conditions.................................... 72

Chapter 5: Configuring the Best Admin Settings for
Your Facebook Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Configuring Your Page Timeline for Maximum Engagement.................... 75
Allowing Threaded Comments on Your Page Updates.............................. 77
Limiting Who Can See Your Page Content.................................................. 78
Configuring Profanity and Moderation Settings......................................... 79


Table of Contents
Posting as a Page versus Posting as a Profile............................................. 79

Switching between posting as a profile and posting as a Page....... 80
Posting as a Page on other Pages....................................................... 80
Posting as a profile as a personal choice.......................................... 82
Knowing the difference between being helpful and spamming...... 82
Engaging Fans with Your Mobile Phone...................................................... 83
Posting content and managing your Page with mobile
web browsers.................................................................................... 84
Posting content and managing your Page with mobile apps.......... 84
Posting content and managing your Facebook Page via email....... 85

Chapter 6: Enhancing Your Facebook Page with Applications . . . . . . 87
Understanding Facebook Applications........................................................ 88
Yeah, There’s an App for That — but Where?............................................ 93
Using Third-Party Custom Facebook Page Tab Services........................... 94
Choosing E-Commerce Applications for Your Page................................... 95
Granting Access to Applications.................................................................. 96
Configuring Application Tabs on Your Facebook Page............................. 97
Changing tab names............................................................................. 97
Changing tab images............................................................................ 98
Changing the order of tabs.................................................................. 99
Removing an app from your Facebook Page..................................... 99
Creating Custom Facebook Tabs with HTML........................................... 100
Using the Static HTML: iframe tabs application............................. 101
Designing a custom tab: Tips and recommendations.................... 101

Part III: Engaging with Your Customers and
Prospects on Facebook............................................... 103
Chapter 7: Creating a Remarkable Presence on Facebook
with Content Marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Understanding How Content Marketing Works on Facebook................. 105

Understanding the difference between your website and
your Facebook Page................................................................................106
Understanding how people scan content........................................ 108
Understanding how Facebook’s News Feed algorithm
affects visibility on Facebook........................................................ 108
Understanding that Facebook users can hide all posts
from your Page................................................................................ 109
Creating compelling content for your Facebook Page................... 110
Knowing your audience..................................................................... 111
Staying on message............................................................................ 112
Defining Your Posting Goals........................................................................ 113
Getting Fans Engaged................................................................................... 114
Saving Time Creating Visual Content......................................................... 116

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Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 5th Edition
Chapter 8: Growing Your Facebook Page’s Fan Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Mapping a Launch Strategy for Your Facebook Page.............................. 117
Fostering a Sense of Enchantment on Your Facebook Page................... 118
Preparing Your Facebook Page for Launch............................................... 120
Enhancing Your Facebook Page with Content before Launch................ 120
Adding a Compelling Reason for Users to Like Your Page...................... 121
Adding photos and videos................................................................. 122
Adding photo albums......................................................................... 124
Adding milestones.............................................................................. 125
Making Your Facebook Page Easy to Find in Search Engines................. 127

Networking with Friends to Launch Your Facebook Page...................... 128
Encouraging your friends to share your Page with
their friends..................................................................................... 128
Promoting your Page to friends with the Invite feature................ 129
Tagging photos to promote your Page to your friends................. 130
Leveraging Existing Marketing Assets to Launch Your
Facebook Page........................................................................................... 132
Your email signature.......................................................................... 132
Your email list..................................................................................... 133
Printed marketing materials.............................................................. 134
QR codes.............................................................................................. 134
Your blog............................................................................................. 135
Webinars.............................................................................................. 135
YouTube............................................................................................... 135
Promoting Your Facebook Page in Your Store......................................... 136
Promoting Your Facebook Page by Using Facebook Ads........................ 137
Promoting Your Facebook Page by Using an Integrated Approach....... 138

Chapter 9: Engaging Your Facebook Fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Understanding What Engagement Really Means...................................... 140
What engagement means for word-of-mouth marketing............... 140
Understanding what engagement on Facebook offers you........... 141
Understanding how Facebook users engage with
your business.................................................................................. 141
Measuring Engagement with Facebook Insights...................................... 143
Getting Tactical with Engagement on Your Facebook Page................... 147
Getting Notifications about Facebook Users’ Activity............................. 148
Using Your Facebook Page’s Activity Log................................................. 149
Responding to Comments and Posts......................................................... 150
Running Facebook Contests........................................................................ 151

Understanding Facebook rules for contests................................... 152
Using third-party apps for Facebook promotions.......................... 153
Creating an effective promotion....................................................... 153


Table of Contents
Chapter 10: Improving Your Marketing Strategy with
Facebook Insights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Getting Analytical with Facebook Insights................................................ 158
Using Facebook Insights.............................................................................. 158
Understanding the two types of Likes your Facebook
Page receives................................................................................... 159
Accessing Page Insights..................................................................... 159
Exploring Facebook Page Insights.............................................................. 161
Understanding the Overview Report......................................................... 161
Using the Likes Report for Smarter Fan Acquisition................................ 164
Reaching Fans with the Reach Report....................................................... 166
Monitoring Site Traffic with the Visits Report.......................................... 169
Evaluating Posts with the Posts Report.................................................... 170
Viewing Demographics with the People Report....................................... 174
Exporting Insights Data................................................................................ 175
Using Third-Party Analytics........................................................................ 177

Part IV: Marketing beyond the Facebook Page............. 179
Chapter 11: Using Facebook Advertising to Promote
Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Introducing Facebook Ads........................................................................... 182
Using Facebook Ads as part of your overall marketing mix.......... 183
Understanding how Facebook Ads differ from
other online ads.............................................................................. 184

Understanding Facebook’s targeting options................................. 184
Setting your budget............................................................................ 186
Creating Winning Ads................................................................................... 187
Writing effective copy........................................................................ 187
Choosing the right image................................................................... 188
Simplifying your offer......................................................................... 189
Devising a Landing-Page Strategy for Your Ads....................................... 189
Landing on a Facebook location....................................................... 189
Landing on a website.......................................................................... 191
Making sure that your website is responsive................................. 191
Creating a Facebook Ad............................................................................... 192
Step 1: Choosing your objective....................................................... 192
Step 2: Creating your ad..................................................................... 193
Step 3: Targeting your audience....................................................... 195
Step 4: Selecting your campaign, ad sets, budget,
and schedule.................................................................................... 198
Step 5: Bidding and pricing................................................................ 199
Creating Boosted Posts................................................................................ 201
Creating a Boosted Post from your Facebook Page....................... 202
Viewing real-time analytics for Boosted Posts................................ 204

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Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 5th Edition
Creating Multiple Campaigns...................................................................... 205
Managing and Measuring Your Ad Campaigns with Ads Manager........ 206
Viewing performance data................................................................. 206

Viewing campaign details.................................................................. 207
Viewing the ad preview and targeting summary............................ 210
Changing your daily budget.............................................................. 210
Understanding Other Facebook Ads Manager Features.......................... 211
Accessing your Facebook Page from Ads Manager........................ 212
Creating and scheduling Facebook Ad reports............................... 212
Adding other users to your Facebook Ad account......................... 213
Tracking payment transactions........................................................ 214
Finding out about your business resources.................................... 215

Chapter 12: Using Facebook Offers to Sell Products
and Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Understanding Facebook Offers................................................................. 217
Creating an Offer for Your Page.................................................................. 219
Getting the Most from Your Offer............................................................... 220
Promoting Your Offer................................................................................... 221
Promoting your offer on your Facebook Page................................ 222
Promoting your offer with Facebook Ads........................................ 223
Promoting your offer through other marketing channels............. 223

Chapter 13: Using Facebook Groups and Events for
Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Discovering Facebook Groups.................................................................... 225
Understanding How Facebook Groups Fit In with Your Business......... 226
Using Facebook Groups............................................................................... 228
Distinguishing Facebook Groups from Pages.................................. 228
Finding a group................................................................................... 230
Joining a group.................................................................................... 231
Accessing groups you joined............................................................ 231
Participating in a group..................................................................... 232

Creating Your Own Facebook Group......................................................... 233
Securing your group’s name.............................................................. 233
Setting up your group........................................................................ 233
Setting up a group URL and email address..................................... 236
Configuring other group settings...................................................... 236
Deleting a group.................................................................................. 236
Using Facebook Events to Promote Your Business................................. 237
Creating an event................................................................................ 238
Adding a cover image to your event................................................ 240
Inviting friends to your event............................................................ 240


Table of Contents
Editing your event.............................................................................. 242
Exporting your event.......................................................................... 242
Following up after an event............................................................... 243

Chapter 14: Integrating Facebook into Your Other
Marketing Channels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Making Facebook Part of Your Marketing Mix.......................................... 246
Posting content new fans can engage with...................................... 247
Choosing a custom Facebook username......................................... 247
Cross-promoting your Page............................................................... 248
Leveraging your Facebook presence via email, website,
and blog............................................................................................ 250
Adding a Facebook Like Box to your website................................. 250
Promoting Your Facebook Presence Offline............................................. 253
Networking offline............................................................................... 254
Placing the Facebook logo on signs and in store windows........... 254
Using a QR code to promote your Page........................................... 255

Referencing your Page in ads and product literature.................... 256
Optimizing Your Page for Search Results.................................................. 256
Using search engine optimization to drive traffic.......................... 257
Driving more Likes to your Page....................................................... 259
Getting Inside Your Customers’ Heads...................................................... 259

Chapter 15: Integrating Facebook Features into Your
Website with Social Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Extending the Facebook Experience with Social Plugins........................ 262
Adding Plug-In Code to Your Website........................................................ 266
Integrating Facebook Insights into Your Social Plugins.......................... 267
Setting up your website as a Facebook application....................... 268
Integrating Facebook’s software into your website....................... 270
Getting More Visibility with the Like Button............................................ 270
Allowing for Public Sharing with the Share Button.................................. 272
Allowing for Private Sharing with the Send Button.................................. 272
Adding a Follow Button to Your Personal Profile.................................... 273
Adding Comments to Your Website........................................................... 274
Showing User Activities with the Activity Feed Plug-In........................... 276
Highlighting Popular Content with the Recommendations Plug-In........ 277
Driving Deeper Engagement with the Recommendations Bar................ 279
Adding a Facebook Page Like Box to Your Website................................. 280
Creating More Reach with the Embedded Posts Plug-In......................... 281
Personalizing a Site with the Facepile Plug-In........................................... 282
Facebook’s Plug-In for Hosted WordPress Sites....................................... 284

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Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 5th Edition

Part V: The Part of Tens............................................. 287
Chapter 16: Ten Common Facebook Marketing Mistakes
(and How to Avoid Them). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Think Like a Traditional Marketer.............................................................. 289
Use a Profile to Market Your Business...................................................... 290
Use a Group to Market Your Business....................................................... 290
Post with Shortened URLs........................................................................... 291
Wing It............................................................................................................ 291
Post at Bad Times......................................................................................... 292
Be Pushy........................................................................................................ 292
Sell Too Little................................................................................................ 292
Post Lengthy Updates.................................................................................. 293
Ignore Comments......................................................................................... 293

Chapter 17: Ten Business Tips for Facebook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Understand That Business Is Personal...................................................... 295
Don’t Drink and Facebook........................................................................... 296
Keep Things Clean and Civilized................................................................ 296
Be Careful Friending Strangers................................................................... 297
Dress Up Your Page with Applications...................................................... 297
Respect the Timeline................................................................................... 297
Don’t Be Afraid to Ignore People................................................................ 297
Deal with Your Irate Users.......................................................................... 298
Don’t Forget Birthday Greetings................................................................. 298
Maintain Your Privacy................................................................................. 299

Chapter 18: Ten (Okay, Eight) Factors for Long-Term

Facebook Marketing Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Know the Language, Eat the Food.............................................................. 301
Understand Why People Share................................................................... 302
Be Useful and Helpful................................................................................... 302
Listen to Your Fans...................................................................................... 302
Consistently Participate.............................................................................. 303
Appreciate and Recognize Your Fans........................................................ 303
Measure and Monitor................................................................................... 304
Be Fearless and Creative............................................................................. 304

Index........................................................................ 305


Introduction

W

ith more than 1.3 billion active users — including more than 829 million
who log in every day — Facebook has become a virtual world unto
itself. Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook as a dorm-room
exercise to extend the popular printed college directory of incoming freshmen
online, but he has since developed it into an international organization employing more than 7,000 programmers, graphic artists, and marketing and business
development executives, with offices across the United States as well as in
Dublin, London, Milan, Paris, Stockholm, Sydney, and Toronto. These days, on
average, more than 3 billion posts are liked and commented on, and more than
450 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every single day!
For many people, Facebook is a social experience, a place to reconnect with
an old college chum or poke a new friend. But in April 2007, Zuckerberg did
something so revolutionary that its aftershocks are still being felt throughout the business web. He opened his virtual oasis to allow anyone with a
little programming knowledge to build applications that take advantage of

the platform’s social graph (network architecture). In that open software act,
Facebook redefined the rules for marketers looking to gain access to social
networks, and it will never be business as usual again.

About This Book
Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 5th Edition, provides you, the marketer, indepth analysis of the strategies, tactics, and techniques available to you so you
can leverage the Facebook community and achieve your business objectives.
By breaking down the web service into its basic features — including creating
a Facebook Page for your business, adding applications for your Page, hosting
an event, creating a Facebook Group, advertising, and extending the Facebook
platform to your website through social plug-ins — I lay out a user-friendly
blueprint for marketing and promoting your organization via Facebook.


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Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 5th Edition

Foolish Assumptions
I make a few assumptions about you, the marketer and aspiring Facebook
marketing professional:


✓You’re 13 years of age or older, which is a Facebook requirement for creating your own profile.



✓You’re familiar with basic computer concepts and terms.

✓You have a computer with high-speed Internet access.



✓You have a basic understanding of the Internet.



✓You have your company’s permission to perform any of the techniques
I discuss.



✓You have permission to use any photos, music, or video of your company to promote on Facebook.

Icons Used in This Book
Icons in the margins of this book indicate material of special interest. These
icons include the following:


This icon points out technical information that’s interesting but not vital to
your understanding of the topic being discussed.



This icon points out information that’s worth committing to memory.

This icon points out information that could have a negative effect on your
Facebook presence or reputation, so please read the info next to it!



This icon points out advice that can help highlight or clarify an important
point.


Introduction

Beyond the Book
Extra content that you won’t find in this book is available at www.dummies.
com. Go online to find the following:


✓The Cheat Sheet for this book is at
www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/facebookmarketing

Here, you’ll find a road map to common CSS3 properties and selectors.


✓Updates to this book, if any, are also available at
www.dummies.com/extras/facebookmarketing

Where to Go from Here
If you’re new to Facebook and an aspiring Facebook marketer, you may want
to start at the beginning and work your way through to the end. A wealth of
information sprinkled with practical advice awaits you. Simply turn the page,
and you’re on your way.

If you’re already familiar with Facebook and online marketing tactics, you’re
in for a real treat. I provide you the best thinking on how to market your business on Facebook — based in part on my own trials and tribulations. You
may want to start with Part II of the book, but it wouldn’t hurt to take in some
of the basics in Part I as a reminder and read about some of the new menus
and software features. You’re sure to pick up something you didn’t know.
If you’re already familiar with Facebook and online marketing tactics but short
on time (and what marketing professional isn’t short on time?), you might
want to turn to a particular topic that interests you and dive right in. I wrote
the book in modular format, so you don’t need to read it from front to back,
although you’re certain to gain valuable information from a complete read.
Regardless of how you decide to attack Facebook Marketing For Dummies,
5th Edition, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the journey. If you have specific questions or
comments, please feel free to reach out to me via my Facebook Page at www.
facebook.com/johnhaydon.digitalmarketing. I’d love to hear your
anecdotes and suggestions for improving the future revisions of this book.
And in the true spirit of sharing on which Facebook is built, I promise to
respond to each of your comments.
Here’s to your success on Facebook!

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Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 5th Edition


Part I

Getting Started with

Facebook Marketing

Visit www.dummies.com for great For Dummies content online.


In this part . . .


✓ Discover how people engage with businesses on
Facebook.



✓ Find out to motivate your customers to talk about your business
with their Facebook friends.



✓ Develop a marketing plan that works for your business.



✓ Define your Facebook marketing objectives and key
performance metrics.


Chapter 1

Marketing in the Age of Facebook
In This Chapter

▶Understanding why Facebook is huge
▶Getting acquainted with the marketing potential of Facebook
▶Determining whether your business needs a Facebook Page now

F

acebook is huge! As of the publication date of this book, Facebook has
more than 1.3 billion people worldwide. In fact, if it were a country, it
would be the third most populated in the world, just behind India and China!
In addition to being the largest social network on the planet, it’s the most
active. In fact, as of June 2014, 829 million people use Facebook every day!
Think about this: Most smartphones and tablets are preloaded with a
Facebook app or at least have features that allow for Facebook sharing.
Facebook continues to grow at a staggering rate because it continues to fit
the needs of both consumers and businesses.
Consumers use Facebook to connect with friends and share their lives in
the form of updates and activity. All Facebook users have a Facebook profile,
which includes a main image, or avatar; a Timeline listing their latest activities and comments from friends; and a sidebar that includes tabs for photos,
personal information, and other apps.
Businesses use Facebook to engage customers and prospects by using
Facebook plug-ins to make their websites more social, publishing useful
content on their Facebook Pages, and running highly targeted ad campaigns
within the Facebook community.
Because Facebook provides features that are useful for both consumers and
businesses, it has become an attractive platform for virtually all industries to
achieve very specific business goals, such as



✓Increasing brand awareness: Companies of all sizes are penetrating

Facebook’s massive community with Facebook Social Plugins (for websites), Facebook Ads, and Facebook Pages.


8

Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing


✓Launching products: Brands are using Facebook to announce new products with Facebook Ad campaigns and custom apps as part of their overall product launch strategy.



✓Providing customer service: Brands are also realizing that consumers
expect to be able to get their issues resolved by contacting the company
via its Facebook Page.



✓Selling products and services: Businesses like Threadless and JetBlue
are selling their products and services on Facebook through the use of
e-commerce applications that can be added to a Facebook Page.
This book shows you how you can achieve some of these business goals.
In this chapter, I give you an overview of why Facebook has gotten so huge
and how marketers are taking advantage of its potential. I also explain why
you need to create a Facebook Page for your business.

What Is Facebook, and Why
Is It So Popular?
The social networking site Facebook was launched in 2004 by a kid at Harvard
University named Mark Zuckerberg. It started with the name Thefacebook

(shown in Figure 1-1) and was available only to Harvard students or anyone
else who had a harvard.edu email address. The social network spread
quickly throughout Harvard because it was exclusive.



Figure 1-1:
Screen shot
of Theface­
book.com as
it appeared
in 2004.




Chapter 1: Marketing in the Age of Facebook
Although it was launched as a network for Harvard students, Facebook was
eventually made available to students at other universities and finally to
anyone with access to a computer. Now, just a few years later, it has become
the largest social networking site in history. As of the publication date of this
book, Facebook has more than 1.3 billion users worldwide.
But it’s not just the biggest social networking site in history; it’s also the most
active. According to Facebook ( />the company has


✓829 million daily active users on average in June 2014

✓654 million mobile daily active users on average in June 2014



✓1.32 billion monthly active users as of June 30, 2014



✓1.07 billion mobile monthly active users as of June 30, 2014



✓81.7 percent daily active users outside the United States and Canada
But let’s talk about you. If you’re like most people, your mom is on Facebook.
Most of your friends are on Facebook. Maybe you reconnected with a longlost high school friend by using Facebook. Maybe you even met your spouse
there.
You may be wondering why Facebook — and not Myspace or FriendFeed —
has gotten to where it is today. Although an entire book can be written on
this topic, it’s worth exploring briefly here.
Here are a few reasons why Facebook has blown past all other social
networks:



✓Facebook has used existing social connections to promote the platform. From Day One, the sign-on process has included inviting anyone
you’ve emailed! Its assumption is that if you’ve exchanged an email with
someone, there’s a good chance that you have some kind of relationship with that person and may be inclined to invite them to join you on
Facebook.

✓Facebook is heavily covered by mainstream media. Whether it’s a
newspaper article about a teacher getting fired for making thoughtless
comments about a student or a TV interview with two siblings who were
separated at birth but reunited on Facebook, not a day goes by without
some kind of mention of Facebook in the news.



✓Facebook keeps us connected. Young people famously use Facebook
to stay connected, but they’re not alone. One of the fastest-growing segments on Facebook continues to be people over 55. Many of them use
Facebook to keep up with their children and sometimes grandchildren.

9


10

Part I: Getting Started with Facebook Marketing

Facebook facilitates connection
Karen Graham and Tim Garman are a brother
and sister who were reunited after 40 years
because of Facebook. Separated at birth
and adopted by two separate families, they
were reunited only when their younger
sister, Danielle, began searching for them on
Facebook.
After three months and more than a few dead
ends, Danielle found the Facebook profile of

Karen Graham’s daughter. She sent her the
message “I think your mom is my mom’s daugh­
ter,” which eventually led to the reunion.
Today, Karen and Tim are very close, attend­
ing family gatherings around holidays and
reunions. The two had a desire to meet each
other, but they lacked the means to find each

other until Facebook provided the opportunity
for connection.
Similarly, in 2011, I was able to meet an old
friend I hadn’t seen since high school. In middle
school and high school, I was a very unpopular,
shy nerd who was bullied by the “cool kids.”
Needless to say, I wasn’t very excited to get
friend requests from many of these classmates.
But with Clark, I said, “Now that’s someone
that I’d be very interested in reuniting with!”
I remembered Clark as being extremely smart
and creative. (The figure shows Clark [left] with
me in Chicago.) We initially connected through
a Facebook Group someone created for our
high school, and then we arranged to connect
in Chicago when I was there on business.

Understanding the Marketing
Potential of Facebook
In the 1950s, this gadget called television exploded throughout American culture. At first, there were black-and-white TVs, and then, toward the end of the
decade, there were color TVs in every middle-class living room. As more consumers started watching TV instead of listening to the radio, marketers had

Chapter 1: Marketing in the Age of Facebook
to adopt their strategies to the new medium. Successful ad executives and
writers took the time to understand how TV fit within American culture. They
researched how and why TV became a focal point for families at the end of
each day (remember TV dinners?). They researched the ways men watched
TV differently from women and which television shows kids preferred on
Saturday morning.
Only after this research were they able to create successful TV advertisements. They learned to condense their messages to 30 seconds. They created
ads with jingles that imitated popular TV themes and effectively placed their
products within popular shows.
In the same way, today’s successful brands must understand how to best use
Facebook to market their brands.
If you’re reading this book, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard about
how brands like Harley-Davidson and Starbucks, as well as thousands of
small businesses and nonprofits, are using Facebook to market their products
and services.
Through a variety of strategies and tactics, these businesses are tapping into
Facebook to achieve a variety of objectives:


✓They’re increasing awareness of their brands through highly targeted
Facebook Ads.



✓They’re getting to know what their customers really want by having
daily conversations with them.

✓They’re launching new products and services with Facebook Pages and
custom Facebook applications.



✓They’re increasing new and repeat sales with coupons, group deals, and
loyalty programs.
Part of the reason why these businesses are successful is that they understand Facebook isn’t just a static website; it’s a way for people to connect
and be heard.

Leveraging the power of wordof-mouth marketing
Word of mouth is the most powerful way to market any business. In fact,
many studies have shown that consumers are more likely to make purchase
decisions based on recommendations from people they know than from a
brand’s marketing materials. Each time a user likes, comments on, or shares
content on Facebook, that action spreads to his network of friends. This is
how “word of mouth” happens on Facebook (see Figure 1-2).

11