The Open Source Marketer

About a month ago Google announced plans to start introducing a set of standards to allow software developers to write programs for Google’s social network. This was a direct response to Facebooks published API for creating Facebook Applications or add-ons that can be shared among friends within Facebook.

Since then I have been hearing a lot about marketing with Facebook and how Internet Marketers are using demographic data in ways that they have never been able to before. Of course, this all sounds interesting, but is marketing on Facebook the same thing as marketing on Google Adwords or any other ad network out there?

The answer is yes and no. Yes, you can run a pay per click (PPC) campaign in Facebook and yes, there are banner ads in Facebook. But these more traditional methods of advertising online are not the real juice when it comes to marketing within Facebook. What is truly remarkable about advertising on Facebook is that you can market to specific demographics and there is a viral component to Facebook applications built into Facebook itself.

So, with all this in mind, it seems to me there are two very important questions you must answer:

• 1) How do you effectively market on Facebook?
• 2) Will marketing on Facebook work for you?

Fortunately for me I am already getting some answers to these questions through Ed Dale’s Immediate Edge program. He and Dan Raine have been testing the Facebook market using Facebook applications and so far the results have been extremely impressive and they are sharing what they learn with the members of the Immediate Edge for free. In fact I watched several of Ed’s videos this morning on the subject and here is what I can tell you.

Marketing on Facebook will be extremely profitable for those who understand the environment and the culture. There are a lot of psychological elements to Facebook marketing and anyone who wants to make Facebook marketing work for them will have to understand how it all fits together.

This also means that marketing on Facebook may not necessarily work for everyone. I know this statement seems a little exclusionary, but because the factors are different than what most marketers are used to it just makes sense to say right up front that not all things will be marketable on Facebook.

But honestly, no one product or service is universally marketable everywhere. Some things lend themselves to some markets better than others. Really, this is the whole point of establishing demographics and targeting markets in the first place.

The main take away from all these discussions is simply this; Facebook marketing is on the radar of Internet Marketers and the first rounds of profits will go to those who learn now what works and what doesn’t. Even if Facebook itself does not come out on top as the leader of social networks, the reality is that the lessons learned today will be carried on and applied to other social networks. So, it is important to start the learning process today so that we will be able to act when the time comes.

If you are interested in learning for yourself what Facebook marketing has to offer, then I recommend you take a look at the Immediate Edge and the things they are doing there to test and understand the power of Facebook. I know I will be paying particular attention to this within the next several months as things unfold.

Embracing changes,

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

PS. Don’t forget to read Rich Schefren’s Attention Age Domination Report. He offers up some great advice on how to cut through the information noise that is keeping people from hearing your offer. There is a lot in there that can also be applied to Facebook marketing as well.