Here is a simple one I would like to share..

If you are like me you have your regular “day job”.. and on-the-side you blog, or have a home/small business.

Personally, I would rather link to my Facebook Page (form my Profile) than to my “real employer”.. that is what LinkedIn is for.

And plus, rather than annoy my friends by continually asking them to Like my page.. I can link to it (my Page) and any of my friends who checkout my profile will see this link (to my Page).

Let me show you what I mean.

I have logged into Facebook and browsed to my Profile.. you will notice there is a link to my current employer (which I added in),

When I click on this link, I get directed to a non-maintained (claimed), general Page for this employer,

This is a wasted link.. I would rather have it point to my Facebook Page.

Here is how..

Go back to your Profile and click <Update Info>,

In the Work and education section, click on <Edit>,

And delete the employer (NB – I had previously added this in),

Now in the Where have you worked? field, start typing the name of of your Facebook Page,

When you have added this, click on <Add job>.. then <Finished editing>,

Now head back to your profile (you may need to refresh the page), and you will see the link you have just added to your Facebook Page,

Whenever a friend visits my profile the will see my Page (when they hover over the link),

And if they click on it, the will get re-directed to my Page,

To me, this option is much better than what I had before.. don’t you agree?

My profile is that little bit more optimised to allow for visitors (friends) to click through to my Facebook Page.

I hope you found this little tip useful, and if you are really looking at taking your Facebook marketing strategy to the next level I would certainly recommend FBinfluence!

Continue reading: How to Link your Facebook Profile to your Facebook Page

I recently bought myself a copy of FBinfluence and have so far found it to be one of the best investments I’ve made in a long while.

FBinfluence is the new wildly successful Facebook marketing and strategy videos by world renowned Facebook guru, Amy Porterfield.

Amy was instrumental in designing, building and growing Social Media Examiner’s Facebook Page to 69,000+ fans. Amy is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies and a Social Media Strategist for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Many consider Amy the go-to person for all things Facebook Marketing.

With 12+ years marketing experience Amy has worked with mega brands like Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, along with Tony Robbins International where she designed and managed his digital and social marketing campaigns. She currently consults with entrepreneurs, and small and large businesses on social media strategy.

You Can’t Afford to Ignore Facebook

As the internet and Social Media evolve one thing is clear – Facebook is king. Fast approaching 1,000,000,000 members (yes that’s ONE BILLION), Facebook is the site where everyone is spending time online!

• You already know Facebook is the Largest Social Network with over 800 million members. Your customers are using it!
• Every day Facebook users comment or press the “Like” button more than 2 billion times.
• Facebook users post 30 billion pieces of content every month. How much of it is about your product or service?
• A recent study by Forrester found that of U.S. adults who use social networking sites, 96% of them are on Facebook.
• Facebook reached one trillion page views in June 2011, making it the most-visited web site in the world!

Facebook is an incredible, unlimited source of hot leads.

Did you know that Facebook users spend over 700 BILLION minutes a month on Facebook? The potential to attract quality prospects is mind blowing.

The great news is that there is a huge source of leads right at your fingertips. The bad news is that most people are doing it all wrong and not capitalizing on its massive potential. It’s time you start leveraging the most powerful social media platform.

You already know to survive in business you must build a huge list of ravenous prospects. Amy is going to show you how to make list building A-B-C easy for you. You will generate mind-blowing leads.

About FBinfluence

FBinfluence is your COMPLETE roadmap for creating and leveraging Facebook to drive traffic and build your brand!

You will learn:

• How to get automated leads and SALES 24/7
• The little-known trick to attract highly-targeted prospects who WANT to do business with you
• A simple but powerful way to get your testimonials on autopilot day in and day out
• How to be instantly recognized as the most sought out leader in your industry
• The simple paragraph that creates a vibrant community of raving fans who happily spread the word about you, your products and services
• You already know it’s time to stop wasting your energy and make Facebook work for you.? This program will turn your Facebook fans into SUPER FANS, action-taking raving fans who are eager to buy what you are selling.

How You Can Turn Your Facebook Page Into a Traffic-Pulling Machine in FOUR Simple Steps

Step 1 will show you the simple foundational key to prepare you for Facebook success

These four simple steps will be easy for you to complete, but will create a magnetic pull literally dragging your ideal audience to your business.

You’ll sit back amazed by the fans clicking the like button and joining your Facebook community in record numbers.

In Step 2 you’ll discover the little-known secret to growing a lucrative fan base

You’re going to receive the FBinfluence Blueprint that will reveal this secret strategy Amy uses with her high-dollar clients to turn their Facebook Fan Pages into perpetual lead-generation machines.

This blueprint includes specific details on the most successful strategies used to attract quality fans, along with three little-known techniques that will drive your fans to action. You’ll learn to attract highly-targeted prospects who WANT to do business with you!

In Step 3 you’ll find the easy-as-pie way to create ongoing, massive engagement

This simple formula will create quality content specifically for your Facebook page, increase your engagement score, and give you the essential tools needed to master, monitor and track your Facebook success. You will receive proven, results-focused, advanced strategies you can’t afford to miss.

These are the same powerful tactics Amy has used to help people like Tony Robbins generate massive results.

In Step 4 you find the simple yet powerful technique you can use to turn your fans into Profitable Super Fans

This final step includes the highly-advanced, and unbelievably effective strategies we’ve used to move fans to take massive action. This one is so powerful it can change your life but so simple you’ll wonder why everyone isn’t doing it.

There is no doubt these strategies will instantly help you stand out in the most lucrative social media hot spot of them all.

Who is this program for?

The Entrepreneur

You’ve recently created your own business, or you’ve been at it for awhile, and are looking to increase your exposure, leads and sales. You want to know more about Facebook marketing so you can do it yourself, or at least know how to do it so you can then hand it over to someone on your team to execute.

The Marketer

You work for a business and are responsible for or involved with your company’s social media presence. You want to know what to do, how to do it and how to get results so you can increase your company’s bottom line (and show upper management that social media marketing is working for your programs and services).

The Business Owner

You own a business, you have some Facebook knowledge, but you know there is a bigger opportunity waiting for you on Facebook once you fully understand how your business can claim it’s place there. You might not do it all yourself, but you know you need to understand it first before you hand it off to someone else to manage.

Just Getting Started

You know Facebook is important, but you have no clue where to start or what to do. This program works for beginners and also works for those who have been using Facebook for awhile. Our baby-step instructions make it easy for anyone to succeed. You will instantly know what strategies to implement to get real results quickly!

Inside FBinfluence

FBinfluence Secret Facebook Group

After signing up, I was sent to a registration form where I created an account.. from here I logged in and was presented with the member dashboard.

(For a while now I have been investigating WordPress membership site software and immediately recognised that FBinfluence was using Wishlist Member. WLM is one of the top membership software tools in today’s market).

The first thing I did was request to join the secret Facebook group, for FBinfluence members only. This secret group is a fantastic resource for connecting with other entrepreneurs who have also purchased this course, and are applying the strategies to grow their business on Facebook.

My request to join this secret group was approved almost straight away,

I then headed over to my new group and said a few hello’s,

Home

Once you login to FBinfluence, the Home tab has a introductory video where Amy runs through where to find all the different resources within the member’s area.

The Home page also has links to,

• the training modules
• tools and resources
• bonus material that compliments the social media training

Navigation within the FBinfluence member’s area is very simple to use .

Modules

FBinfluence has 20 training videos, spread over 4 Modules.

Each Module contains:

• 5 Videos – averaging around 20 minutes each
• Summary of objectives to learn for each video
• Downloadable content

Module 1 – The Foundation for Facebook Success

Ask Yourself ..

What do you want from Facebook? Why are you marketing on Facebook?

To help you sort through the many layers of Facebook marketing, there are 9 core rules to consider as you create your Facebook Page.

• The 9 Core Facebook Marketing Rules (just #2 can mean the difference between success and failure.)
• The Basics of a Branded Facebook Page – 90% or more do this one wrong!
• How to Create a Facebook Welcome Tab – this can be the most important part of your page.
• Your Facebook Dashboard Overview Do you know what the most important part of your dashboard is? It’s not what you think.
• How to Find a Community Manager for Your Facebook Page The right choice can make you a hero–the wrong one can make you a zero.

Module 2 – Growing a Lucrative Fan Base

Here’s What You’ll Learn..

With more than almost a billion active users, more likely than not, your brand will find an audience on Facebook.

• Finding Your Ideal Audience Inside Facebook Do you know “where” they hang out? You will now!
• 5 Proven Strategies to Grow Your Fan Base Why reinvent the wheel? These are proven to work.
• How to Use Facebook Marketing to Get More Leads Leads are the fuel of your business–here’s where to get them.
• How to Get Into the News Feed of Your Fans This one is the key to explosive growth.
• Social Plugins & Share Buttons: Best Options for Your Business Use what works the first time.

Module 3 – Creating Massive Engagement

Engagement Is The Key

Learn how to develop a relationship with your audience.

• Facebook Content: What to Post and When to Post Almost everyone gets this wrong.
• Surefire Strategies to Create Engagement
• How to Promote Your Events on Facebook Load your next event with raving Super Fans!
• How to Create Your Own Personalized Facebook Experiences
• Monitoring Tools to Track Your Facebook Success The simple, powerful tools for success.

Module 4 – Fans Into SUPER FANS

Find your fans, keep your fans, and turn them into SUPER FANS with Module 4 of FBinfluence.

• How to Deliver Impeccable Customer Service on Facebook Imagine the power of doing your customer service on Facebook.
• Turn Your Facebook Page Photos into Free Facebook Ads This killer idea is so simple you’ll kick yourself for not thinking of it sooner.
• Tips and Strategies to Supercharge Your Facebook Ads Stop losing money and start raking it in.
• How to Build an Online Store for Your Facebook Page Make a store that flows with Facebook and your customers will love to send you their money.
• The Instant Action Plan: 5 Advanced Tips to Get Momentum Today In 24 hours you can change your business.

Downloadable Content

The Download Center is located at the very bottom of each Module page, where you can download content.

I have downloaded the content from all the Modules and put it on my iPhone and iPad.. a great way to learn while you are on the go!

Resources 

The Resources page contains a library of wealth pertaining to each Module.

For example, the Module 1 section (in the Resources page) contains the following topics:

• 9 Facebook Marketing Strategies to Build Super Fans
• 6 Daily Habits for Facebook Marketing Success
• Top 10 Facebook Pages and Why They’re Successful
• 7 Facebook Marketing Tips from World’s Top Pros
• Facebook Changes as of September 28, 2011
• Outsourcing for Your Facebook Page
• 15 FAQs about Facebook Pages
• Tutorial: Add an iFrame Application to your Facebook Fan Page – Fall 2012
• Valuable Facebook Resources

Each of these topics contains links to articles, case studies and tools, that further enhance and build upon the teachings provided in the videos.

Bonuses

There are five Bonuses that come with FBinfluence.

All of these Bonuses are designed to compliment the FBinfluence course and are fully downloadable.

Community

This tab links to the secret Facebook group.

This is a wonderful resource for networking with other like minded individuals and has over 1,200 members (at the time of writing).

A great place to ask questions and get your questions answered by your peers.

Support

This page contains support resources for any issues or problems including email and also has FAQs section.

Finally..

Keep an eye out for my upcoming reviews on each of the four modules and how they have helped my Facebook Page.

Continue reading: FBinfluence Review – Your All Inclusive Guide to Facebook Marketing

As someone in business, it would be foolish to ignore a channel as large as this one. If marketers are spending millions of dollars to reach a relatively small TV audience, why not take a portion out of that budget and spend it on targeted marketing on Facebook?

Despite all the great benefits of marketing on Facebook, however, many businesses fall flat on their face when they gave it a try. Like Adwords, Facebook Ads can spend thousands of dollars in hours with naught for result if you don’t know what you’re doing.

This guide will help you prevent that from happening, and it will help get fans, generate buzz and make sales.

1. Facebook Ads

Most beginners assume things will be free when they market on Facebook. Is it possible to hit a viral homerun and get yourself millions of fans overnight? Sure. But is it likely? No, not really.

The fact is, most successful “viral” ads and business presence on Facebook are backed by paid ads. Facebook invested millions of dollars to develop an ad system that rewards businesses for keeping users on Facebook, instead of leading them off-site. As such it is often cheaper to advertise your Facebook page than your website.

When you sponsor your Facebook page, you can use what is called “Sponsored Stories”, which a type of ad that displays in association with your friend’s name. Let’s say you’re friends with John, and John like Business X’s page. If the owner uses Sponsored Stories, an ad that says “John Likes Business X” – with your Business X’s logo right beneath and a like button.

You can be sure Sponsored Stories perform much better than regular Facebook Ads – and therefore have much lower cost per click.

2. Capture Leads

There’s always a chance a Facebook staff would stumble onto your page and not like what they see. When that happens, all the resources you spent on building up your following will be gone in one swift click – and unless you are a big spender with a dedicated account manager, there’s probably nothing you can do.

This is why you need to be consistently capturing email leads out of Facebook as a “back up”, be it with your Facebook posts that point to your website or an email sign up tab.

3. Like Gates

A “like gate” is a great way to generate your fan base. You know how you need a bribe to get people to subscribe to your email newsletter? Well, you need one to get people to like your page too. A like gate prevents users to view fan-only content, which can be anything from a video to a free e-book.

4. Consistent Quality Posts

We all know that the value of an email list is in the list’s responsiveness, not the size. That’s true for Facebook. Ask any social media pros and they will tell you that it’s not all about the number of fans you have. It’s also about “engagement”.

This is why you need to take time out of your busy life to scour the Internet for something interesting to post – and do this at least once a day. Consistent posting keeps your fans engaged. Not only will keeping them engaged builds your authority, they’ll also be there when you need to promote a particular campaign.

5. Integrate Social Plugins

Your website gets hundreds or even thousands of visitors daily, why not get them to follow you on Facebook too? You can do this by integrating Facebook’s social plugins, which consists of:

1. A like box, showing the portraits of their friends who liked your website. A great way to build social proof.
2. A like button for your readers to quickly share your blog posts or website content.
3. A Facebook comment plugin, which gives the user an option to automatically post their comment on Facebook.

All these plugins are designed to generate viral traffic. Make use of them!

7. Call To Action

Facebook maybe a new media, but the old rules apply. If you don’t ask for an action, people won’t do anything. If you want people to like your page, say, “Click like if you… “. For example, “Click like if you think banks are evil.” If you want people to share, say, “Share this if you…”

You’ll be amazed how much a call to action affects your response rate on Facebook.

8. Contests

Holding a contest is one of the best ways to promote your page simply because people on Facebook like them. Who don’t want free stuff, right? Plus, you can run Facebook ads to promote your contest.

Take note, however, that Facebook has strict guidelines regarding contests. Make sure you give them a thorough read before starting.

9. Engage Others

In addition to engaging your readers and replying to their comments, remember to also engage with industry leaders and fellow business people in your industry. If you’re new, this is a great way to network and build your reputation.

If done right, you can even get their fans to like you too. The golden rule when it comes to engaging industry leaders is to always deliver something of value first – like a testimonial for them, or a well-thought out comment on one of their posts. Trust me, Facebook is not the place to “chat them up”. That’s for conferences.

Ally is part of the team that manages personal finance blogs in Sydney, Australia, which feature tips about ways to save money and frugality . Before joining the team, she was a Media Planner in McCann Worldgroup Philippines, Inc., with award-winning executions, including the Levi’s 501 “Live Unbuttoned” global campaign.

Continue reading: How To Push Your Business On Facebook

Is the inclusion of these many new features meant to benefit users? Or, is this more of a defensive strategy? Is Facebook playing Mr. Me Too and adding feature after feature just because other social networks have it? Is this sponge-like tactic (the soaking in of every conceivable feature) beneficial for Facebook, or is it leaving the Facebook waters muddled and diluting the quality of the service?

Recently added features

First off, let’s look at what Facebook has been up to. The largest, most fundamental change to come to Facebook in the recent months is the new Subscribe feature. If you’re unfamiliar with this, it is similar to Google+ and Twitter because you can one-way follow another Facebook user to see what they are sharing publically. This means that you do not actually have to be friends with the person to see their updates. It sounds a little creepy at first, but subscribe is intended to be used for journalists, celebrities, political figures, and other opinion leaders to share their thoughts. The average Facebook user will find no need to enable subscribing to their profile. However, they might use it to follow their favorite celebs.

Facebook has also added Smart Lists, which is an update to its largely under-used Lists feature. Smart Lists are Facebook’s answer to Circles from Google+. Instead of dragging and dropping, Smart Lists automatically categorizes your friends into lists based off how you are connected and how you interact with them. Further, Smart Lists also allows you to selectively broadcast to a narrow range of friends, just like how Google+ lets you select which Circles your post is visible to.

Reports have also been swirling that Facebook has a photo editing and filtering feature ready and awaiting launch. With the rise of social photo sharing apps and sites like Instagram, Facebook has apparently decided to work a similar service into its offering. Also, Facebook’s venture into music is also expected to be announced soon. Despite a large amount of speculation, little is actually known how the service will function. It is suspected that music you’ve recently played or are currently playing, from services like Spotify and Turntable.fm, will be visible on your profile.

Facebook has not only incorporated features from other social networking sites, but also from completely unrelated sites as well. Games, for example, have been a massive hit on Facebook with popular titles like Farmville and Mafia Wars. Additionally, with the rise of coupon sites like Groupon and Living Social, Facebook has also tried its hand at daily deals. But, due to little success, Facebook recently threw in the towel.

Better user experience?

So, back to my question, are users ultimately benefitting from the seemingly endless amount of feature inclusions and enhancements? Not to give a copout answer, but I believe yes and no. And, this really depends on how one uses Facebook.

I’ll start with “No” first. With every new feature there will always be people who decide, either consciously or unconsciously, to not use it. New features can create a headache for the occasional Facebook user or those who aren’t as computer-literate as others. For example, features like Deals, Games, and Music may appear to be spammy and detract from the ease of use and overall experience.

Also, certain updates may alienate users who have specifically chosen not to get involved with other social networks. For example, subscriptions work very similarly to Twitter and its inclusion may be adding a new level of confusion for no reason if people have already decided not to get involved with similar services.

Additionally I feel that subscriptions remove the personal aspect of Facebook. For me, Facebook’s original appeal was its simple way to connect with friends and family. Twitter, on the other hand, was great for people who wanted to connect with celebrities and opinion leaders. If I wanted to talk with friends, I went to Facebook; if I wanted to hear what went wrong in Kim Kardashian’s life, I went to Twitter. Now, through subscriptions, the persona, family and friends aspect has been pushed aside in favor of a creating a platform for connecting with everything: friends, family, brands, and public figures.

Now, there are also reasons why some users are benefitting from the Facebook sponge. The obvious benefit is that Facebook is becoming an all-in-one place for every social media need. Due to the aggregation of so many features, Facebook is eliminating the need to be involved with multiple social media sites. This could be an attempt to help simplify the user’s overall social media experience.

Facebook’s new features also have the ability to open user’s eyes to new things they may not be familiar with. Especially if Facebook is teaming up with other companies to provide games and music, users are given a greater opportunity to discover. Many of these services can also be used outside of Facebook as well, but Facebook’s possibly selfish goal is to ultimately have users only use Facebook.

Thankfully, Facebook has realized that many of its users may not be interested in a variety of the new services and features. Fortunately for those people, the new features seem to be opt-in as opposed to opt-out, and aren’t required for the traditional uses of Facebook. We’ll see if Facebook continues the copy-cat features trend. Whatever the case, I hope that the semi-customizable user experience stays to appease both those who are favor and those who oppose new features.

How do you feel about all of the new Facebook features? Is it detracting from the experience? Or, do you like them and wish for more? Share your thoughts.

About the author: August Drilling works in the marketing department at CliqStudios.com, the online supplier of kitchen cabinets including oak kitchen cabinets, and is a blogger, social media enthusiast, and Apple aficionado. 

Continue reading: The Facebook Sponge: Is Facebook Adding Too Much?

If you are an early adopter like me and can’t wait until 2 October 2011 for Facebook to roll out the newly announced Timeline feature, then here is how..

Verify your Facebook Account

If you haven’t already verified your Facebook account with either a mobile phone number or credit card number, you’ll be asked to do so before you can try the new features – this post will show you how.

Facebook Developer Page

Login to the Facebook Developer Page – if this is the first time you have done this, a Request for Permission popup will appear.. click on <Allow>.

Click on <Create New App>,

Enter anything you want in the App Display Name and App Namespace fields, agree then click <Continue>,

Prove you are a human and fill out the Captcha,

On the next page click on Open Graph,

Now enter any verb and noun in the following fields, then click <Get Started>,

On the next page scroll to the bottom and click <Save Changes and Next>,

Click <Save Changes and Next> again,

Finally click <Save and Finish>,

Done!

Login to Facebook

Now login to Facebook and you will see this,

Click on <Get it Now>.. Success!

Take the tour and enjoy!

If you want to get into your timeline from another computer, the address for this developer’s version is located at this URL: http://www.facebook.com/[yourusername]?sk=timeline and of course [yourusername] is your own Facebook user name.

Alternatively, just wait until 02 October 2011 and it will go live to everyone.

Don’t Forget to Connect on Facebook!

Continue reading: How to Enable Facebook Timeline NOW

Have you ever wondered about what you can do to be more secure on Facebook?

Have any of these questions ever crossed your mind?

• What can you do to protect your Facebook account when accessing it in public?
• What should you do if someone hijacks your Facebook account?
• How you can use Facebook’s advanced security settings to protect yourself?
• How can you help in keeping you and your friends safe and secure while online?

Facebook have put together a Guide to Facebook Security that’s fun to read and easy to understand.

In only 20 pages, they explain how to protect your account, avoid scammers, and configure advanced security settings.

If you’re not using one-time passwords, secure browsing, or even tracking your account activity, this guide shows you how.

It even explains why account thieves and malware pushers want your account.

This guide explains how you can:

• Protect your Facebook account
• Avoid the scammers
• Use advanced security settings
• Recover a hacked Facebook account
• Stop imposters

Download this free guide to Facebook security here.

Continue reading: A Guide to Facebook Security

Facebook continues to be the most powerful social network on the planet with over 750 million active users.

Businesses simply cannot ignore Facebook as part of their online marketing strategy.

We spoke with top marketing book authors and Facebook brand managers.

Take your Facebook marketing to a new level with these hot Facebook marketing tips direct from the top pros in Facebook marketing.

#1: Give people a reason to become fans

Richard Krueger

“A Reveal tab offers first-time visitors a clear call to action.

By encouraging the visitor to first “Like” your fan page in order to receive a free trial, coupon or even specialized information, you can significantly increase fan conversion rates, while giving real value in becoming a fan,” says Richard Krueger, co-author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies.

TruTV's Operation Repo fan page challenged fans to get their friends to become fans for access to a never-seen-before episode.

TruTV's fan page saw a 400% increase in fan conversions during the video promotion because they gave people a reason to become fans.

#2: Stay on topic

Daniel Sundin

“People who Like your brand on Facebook expect your posts to be at least somewhat related to your brand or industry. Keeping your focus so narrow may seem limiting, especially if you’re the one crafting the posts each day. Instead, think of it as a creative challenge,” says Daniel Sundin, community manager at PETCO.

Sundin gave the following tips:

• Write about a current event and tie it to your brand or industry.
• Find and share a funny YouTube video loosely related your brand or industry.
• Ask your audience to post questions, pictures or stories about your brand to your wall.
• Repost the most interesting content back out as an update.

“Remember, Unliking a page is just as easy as Liking it. A single odd or off-topic post could get you booted from the stream,” said Sundin.

Petco continues to engage their community with updates that are always on topic.

#3: Ask the right kind of questions

Amy Porterfield

“One of the best ways to get your fans talking on Facebook is to ask interesting and entertaining questions. But did you know there’s a right way and wrong way to ask questions on Facebook? When done right, you can significantly increase your fan engagement and build some great relationships,” says Amy Porterfield, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies.

“The trick is to ask questions that are easy to answer. Questions that require just one-word responses tend to get the most engagement. Remember, people LOVE to talk about themselves, so when you make it about them, they are more likely to jump into the conversation,” added Porterfield.

For example, Zappos asked a fun, easy-to-answer question. They asked, "What was your first concert?" They even attached a great video of one of their employees answering the question too. The response from this question was fantastic!

#4: Include pictures in your Facebook updates

Guy Kawasaki

“Twitter is a link economy, whereas Facebook is a picture economy. So just about every status update should include a picture. Ideas for pictures include customers, your product or service in action, employees and events. There’s no such thing as a bad picture,” says Guy Kawasaki, author of Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions.

“And one more tip: crop your pictures. For example, no-one needs to see people’s feet. Remember that Facebook is going to present a tiny version of the picture, so you need to get up close, personal and cropped,” said Kawasaki.

Guy inserts a picture on almost all of the updates on his Facebook pages.

#5: Celebrate your milestones

Ekaterina Walter

“Did you reach a milestone? It can be one important to you or one important to your fans. Celebrate with your fans!

Even if you think it’s something small, pull them in, thank them, celebrate with them like you would with your friends,” says Ekaterina Walter, social media strategist for Intel.

Notice the high level of engagement on this Facebook update!

#6: Get creative when your Facebook readers are most happy

Mari Smith

“Facebook has a Happiness Index that shows a spike of 10% on Fridays. As a marketer, you can take advantage of this increase in sentiment by doing something creative,” says Mari Smith, co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day.

“About once a month, I host ‘Facebook Friday’ (similar to #followfriday on Twitter), where I invite all my fans to promote their own pages, links to their blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. In addition, I know from other studies—and from my own fan page reports from PageLever —that my fans respond best to photos.

“By giving your fans specific times to cross-promote, network and create more visibility for their own pages, they’ll be less inclined to do so outside of these windows, plus you’ll elevate your leadership and increase your news feed optimization,” said Smith.

Here's an example of a recent Facebook Friday event Mari hosted, where she shared an image that garnered 215 comments and an additional 440 wall posts by small business fan pages. Plus, her page views doubled to almost 4,000 views, and she gained 224 new fans in one day.

#7: Activate Facebook fans (don’t just collect them like baseball cards)

Jay Baer

“Your Facebook audience is a club, not just a list, and you cannot satisfy the intellectual and sociological cravings of a club through one pithy status update each day. Get creative. Get interesting. Get successful,” says Jay Baer, author of The Now Revolution.

“Recognize that the vast majority of your Facebook fans are indeed fans. Why would you Like a brand that you don’t actually like? These are your best, most enthusiastic customers who have taken the initiative to raise their hands in the Facebook environment. Don’t bore them to the point where they lose interest.

“Create a robust, ongoing calendar of engagement programs whereby your company gives Facebook fans the opportunity to receive special insider info, tell you what they think about future product and marketing plans, access unusual fan-only deals or learn more about the people behind your brand,” Baer added.

Here's Jay Baer providing fans a unique look into a place he wrote about in his book.

#8: Run a Facebook contest

Andrea Vahl

“Everyone loves a contest and a chance to win. If you need a little excitement on your Facebook page, a contest will spur your community to action. Hopefully you will also get the benefit of people sharing your contest with their friends,” says Andrea Vahl, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies.

“There are several different types of contests you can run: a photo contest, a video contest or a sweepstakes where people just enter their name and email to win.

“To run a Facebook Contest, you’ll need to use a third-party app such as Wildfire, Strutta, North Social, Easypromos or Shortstack. You can also create your own iFrame app to accept the entries, but that will require programming. Facebook has many rules about how a contest or promotion can be run that you should read here: http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php. The main thing to consider is that you cannot automatically enter people who Like your page or post a comment on your wall.

“Your prize does not have to be expensive to garner a lot of entries and good buzz. Social Media Examiner’s Michael Stelzner ran a very successful contest using the Strutta application and gave away a business launch package including one-on-one coaching. He received 80 photo entries, took his fan base to over 1,500 Likes and got fantastic publicity for his new book, Launch.

“If you give away something your audience is interested in, you will create great buzz for you and your Facebook page,” says Vahl.

Recently, the Facebook page Chocolate for Breakfast ran a contest giving away a box of truffles and had over 700 entries and over 400 new Likes in one week using the Wildfire application.

#9: Try out Sponsored Stories

Ben Pickering

“Earlier this year, Facebook introduced a new form of advertising: Sponsored Stories. These ads display activity from your friends in a fixed ad position on the page,” says Ben Pickering, CEO of Strutta.

“For example, if I Like your page, use your app or check in at your location, you can display an ad to all of my friends sharing that activity.

“Why would you pay to have something that is already in the news feed for free?

First, because the volume of activity in the feed can easily overwhelm any one update.

Second, and of particular importance to those running apps on their page, is the fact that stories published from an app are subject to user feedback.

“That means that if many users hide or block posts from your app, subsequent content is likely to be deemed of low quality and won’t surface in the news feed.

“Sponsored Stories ensure that activity on your page or app is still prominent. And because the ads contain actual activity from friends instead of generic advertising copy, they are a powerful consumer-to-consumer marketing tool,” said Pickering.

Here's an example of a sponsored story.

#10: Measure your Facebook marketing!

Jan Rezab

“Measure your Facebook marketing efforts as well as you can. Measure unique users, fans, conversions, clicks, activity, retention, loyalty and many other metrics.

“Only if you measure those will you be able to fully understand your fans, and next time you’ll come with an even better targeted offer,” says Jan Rezab, CEO and co-founder of Socialbakers.

You can find comprehensive brand dashboards, where you can analyze the engagement of your Facebook pages.

#11: Find the best tool to measure your Facebook marketing

Victoria Ransom

“Once you have your marketing calendar all set and you are engaging your Facebook fans daily, spend some time to find the right tool to measure your Facebook marketing,” says Victoria Ransom, founder and CEO of Wildfire Interactive.

“Over time you’ll be able to see your progress as well as your competitors’ progress and adjust your social media strategies,” she added.

In Wildfire's Monitor comparison, you can see several points of very quick growth for multiple brands. One particularly interesting data point occurs in mid-June, where Dickies' social presence on Facebook takes off like a shot. If we do some research into their Facebook fan page activity during that time, we see that this is when Dickies started a promotion for their fans, a giveaway where they chose the "Dickies American Worker of the Year."

#12: Learn to make sense of the volumes of data currently available on social media

Chris Treadway

“Businesses that succeed will make sense of the currently unmined volumes of data that have been crowdsourced through social media. They’ll use it to get more intelligent and they’ll use data to create better, more intelligent and more targeted marketing campaigns.

“Experiment with data mining, data-driven analysis and intelligence now, because that’s where we are heading,” says Chris Treadaway, co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day.

As you study the data that's already available, you'll be able to figure out how to target your audience on Facebook.

#13: With Facebook, you now need to consider your brand as a network

Paul Dunay

“Smart brands are tapping into their Facebook audience to get instant feedback, ideas on new product design, how to market better and what topics are trending with their audience.

“Some marketers are reacting to social media, but smart marketers are proactively using social media to drive their business,” says Paul Dunay, co-author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies and Facebook Marketing for Dummies, second edition.

Use your Facebook marketing within your social network to drive your business.

Want to learn more about Facebook marketing?

Watch this video from Mike Stelzner (founder of Social Media Examiner),

If you’re not fully leveraging the power of Facebook, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most businesses still haven’t figured it out.

There’s one easy way to take your Facebook marketing to the next level. By attending the web’s largest online Facebook conference, Facebook Success Summit 2011, you’ll become empowered to use Facebook to gain more exposure, better engage customers and grow your business.

The great part is you’ll be learning from 19 Facebook experts (including the 13 mentioned in this article).

It’s the web’s largest online Facebook marketing conference. Go here for a free sample and to learn more.

Have you tried any of these hot Facebook marketing tips, or do you want to add Facebook tips of your own? Let us know! Please leave your comments in the box below.

Continue reading: 13 Hot Facebook Marketing Tips From the Top Pros

Why is Facebook such an effective marketing tool? In part, because it has become such an important part of people’s lives. But Facebook also allows people to connect and share with their friends about everything that is important to them, including the brands that they love.

A word of mouth recommendation has always been the most trusted, effective form of marketing. Facebook simply allows the 1 to 1 phenomenon of word of mouth to become scalable. People who like and interact with brands on Facebook can share their interactions organically to their entire network through the News Feed. On average people on Facebook have about 130 friends, and with over 500 million people on Facebook, each interaction has the potential to create word of mouth at a scale that has never before been seen.

Continue reading: Social Graph: The New Word of Mouth

Facebook is so much more than just a page on a site. For brands, Facebook opens up a world of tools that let you engage and interact with people. Of course, in order to be effective it’s important to understand these tools, how they work, and how they fit together.

A Page is your brand’s home on Facebook, where you can have a conversation with your fans, build a community and create a long-lasting relationship.

Native Apps and Custom Apps let you use Facebook’s interactive tools for deeper engagement, or develop your own applications for a custom experience.

Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories let you feature your fans in ads or extend your message through interactive elements like polls or events.

Facebook Platform tools let you plug the functionality of Facebook right into your brand’s website by letting people log in, comment, share, and more.

Places and Deals let people check in to your stores or physical locations on their mobile devices. You can use Deals to reward customers for their check-ins.

And each interaction results in a story in the News Feed, which is shared with that person’s friends.

Continue reading: The Facebook Jigsaw: How All the Pieces Work Together

If you’ve been on Facebook, you’ve probably seen Facebook Ads. These little guys show up on the right-hand side of the screen, and even though they look unassuming, Facebook Ads can do pretty marvelous things.

For one, Facebook Ads can be highly targeted. Brands can choose who sees their ads based on that person’s likes and interests, age, and location. Which means that if you have an ideal target audience, you can reach them on Facebook. And since people on Facebook use their real identities, you can be sure you’re getting in front of the right audience.

Facebook gives you a lot of different formats to choose from. Many let you dial up engagement by including things like polls, events, videos, or the Like button, and let you feature your fans’ names in ads that appear to their friends.

Sponsored Stories take people’s interactions with your brand, like comments or check-ins, and increase their visibility by displaying them on the right-hand side of pages across Facebook.

Your audience is on Facebook. With Facebook Ads, you have exactly what you need to reach them.

Continue reading: Tips for Facebook Ads