Introduction
The idea of Facebook marketing seems odd, doesn’t it? For most people, the social network seems like a way to connect awkwardly with high school friends or to see family pictures from relatives far away. However, a handful of businesses know the true power of Facebook. They know that reaching one influential person on the site could create the next viral sensation, bringing them both brand notoriety and significant revenue.
We’d like you to join this group. In the following pages, we show you how to attract a bigger audience, what to say to get your brand known, and why Facebook will soon be the most effective social media tool in your marketing arsenal. And, as with every book in this series, we do so with a level of clarity that will make even novices comfortable.
How This Book Is Organized
This book is divided into five main parts.
Part 1, Strategic Facebook Marketing, covers the basics, including your Facebook plan, how campaigns differ in the online world, and what you need to get your business page going. We tell you specific ways to integrate Facebook into your marketing plan, including determining cost effectiveness, your niche, and your public image/voice.
Part 2, Your Business on Facebook, explains the different types of business pages, how to build relationships, and what visitors you’d like to attract. Here you find out how to make your page from scratch, deciding between personal, Fan, and Group pages, and establishing a relationship with your customers using Facebook.
Part 3, Engaging Customers on Facebook, introduces ways you can keep visitors coming back for more, even after they’ve made a purchase. We include extensive discussions on viral videos and interactive games, which can bring people to your Facebook page, as well as curated News Feeds and fan maintenance, which can keep people coming back to your page.
Part 4, Facebook Measurement and Sales Tools, profiles the many, many ways the social network can help you track progress, market penetration, and sales. As we show in the chapters, Facebook provides lots of statistics for you to track the effectiveness of your campaign and cool tools, like Facebook Places, that can provide virtually free advertising for you and your business.
Part 5, Mastering Facebook, discusses the advanced ways you can make Facebook work for you. Once you’ve gotten the basics down, we show you ways to make an effective marketing team, find an effective consultant, and maintain and strengthen your business image on Facebook.
We also include appendixes for your reference. Appendix A is a glossary of common online marketing terms. Appendix B is a list of great books and online resources. If you need an overview of Facebook itself, Appendix C provides good stats on the popular social network. Finally, Appendix D is a quick checklist of what you need to prosper on Facebook.
Extras
There is always more to learn about online marketing. Each chapter in this book contains useful sidebars under the following headings:
 | DEFINITION |
Check these sidebars for definitions of Facebook marketing words that may be unfamiliar to you.
 | FRIENDLY ADVICE |
Here you’ll find tips, hints, and insights to help you understand Facebook.
 | WATCH OUT |
These are warnings about marketing strategies you’ll want to avoid.
 | FEEDBACK |
Check these sidebars for tidbits you may not have heard before.
John would like to thank his wife, Kimberly Ella, who has always supported him and taught him the meaning of unconditional love and friendship, his daughter, Lucy Love, who is his ultimate fan, and the many people in his personal and professional life who have encouraged him to live a life of truth, integrity, and passion.
Damon would like to thank his family, his fiancée, Dr. Parul Patel, John Wayne Zimmerman, and agent Marilyn Allen for bringing him to the project, media mavens Rachel Weingarten and Jennifer Abernethy, and the readers who have supported his previous books.
Trademarks
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be or are suspected of being trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and Penguin Group (USA) Inc. cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.