Facebook reported 750 million active users at last count.  This alone is reason enough to leverage Facebook advertising for brands, products and services since a majority of consumers are likely to be on Facebook. Recently, Facebook launched Facebook for business which put Facebook’s powerful marketing tools in the marketer’s hands.   Also, the recent launch of Vodafone 555 Blue in South Africa proves that we can no longer sit back and see Facebook as a fun trend. This phone is built in partnership with social networking giant Facebook and is aimed at emerging markets. Facebook advertising is therefore, a must have in every business’s promotion plan.

Getting started with Facebook advertising is not difficult. Begin by listing your goals for your Facebook advertising campaign. You have to remember that while people enjoy hitting the “like” button, they are not so excited about being redirected to a page outside Facebook.  Focusing on driving likes and engaging your fans is a better option compared to expecting them to leave Facebook and go to your website or other unique landing page.

Make sure you visit Facebook’s help center where there is a full tutorial on how to get started, running your ad and Facebook’s policies and so on, to help you launch your ad campaign.  You can target your ad based on demographics like such as age, education, connections, location and also set a budget for your campaign. At most, it shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes to have your first ad up and running.

Facebook has an option where you can target users whose friends also like a particular page. This will help you underline your ad’s message by reaching out to your user’s connections. When you choose this option, your ad will also include the users’ friends with their names next to the “Like” icon, and this will help you increase your ad’s CTR. This option helps you take advantage the users’ preferences, which will strongly influence the success of the ad.

Monitor and test your ads. Does your ad have a catchy image and strong call to action? It needs to grab the attention of users browsing around Facebook.  Consider refreshing the ad’s image periodically as users can get tired of seeing the same thing over time and will ignore it. This will, in turn, result in your ad underperforming. Make it a point to create new ads frequently and test them so you get the best ROI.

Facebook ad stats and dashboard will help you track your ads and the number of clicks, actions, and more. Facebook Insights helps you monitor the user’s interaction and engagement with your ad.  You can also make use of Facebook’s power editor feature, an extension of Google Chrome that helps you manage ad campaigns.

Social media marketing will evolve on an ongoing basis, benefiting businesses that decide to leverage it for their brands. Facebook’s advertising in particular, because of its sheer size, is an effective way to interact with your market and attract fans to your page from where you can engage with them on a regular and ongoing basis.

Mobile is an important channel that marketers have to consider, thanks to the growing popularity of mobile devices like smart phones and tablet devices like the iPad.  These devices have revolutionised the way users communicate and interact with information. It hardly comes as a surprise that advertisers, publishers and developers are all vying with each other to leverage mobile platforms to connect with their target market. Today, the mobile device should play a crucial part of a business’ marketing strategy.

Many businesses enter the mobile sphere by developing apps that users can use.  These apps can tie in with the business’ marketing goals and objectives, like increasing brand awareness and sales.  It is important for the marketer to understand those aspects of the business that are easy to deliver or can be enhanced by a mobile app that is both functional for the user and plays a part in achieving the business’ goals.

Optimising for mobiles

There is a growing audience for tablet devices and marketers need to ensure that their websites are optimised for tablets like the iPad and others. For sites that sell physical products, chances are good that tablet device owners will use it to shop online.  Here are some aspects to consider in optimising your site:

Using flash

Sites that depend on flash can be at a disadvantage because even if you can see your flash content, a big part of the mobile audience can neither see it nor interact with it. When this happens, a tablet version of the site becomes necessary to keep those users engaged – this means excluding flash.

The interface

Tablets and smart phones are user-friendly and if your website has complex navigation with drop down menus and mouse-overs, these must be simplified for tablets. Tablet users must also be able to tap and use links rather than have to click on them. Links and buttons must especially be prominent and spaced appropriately so that they can be used comfortably with a finger, unlike the accuracy of a mouse.

Filling out forms

On virtual keyboards, one of the most cumbersome activities is that of filling forms on a website. These must be simplified as far as possible.

Ultimately, it is site metrics that point the direction you must take. This involves understanding the types of devices that access your site, and also which types of tablet devices exit before converting. After you get the numbers on the tablet audience that uses your site and is interested in your product, the next step is to test, followed by optimisation so that your site’s tablet users are happy and you benefit in the form of increased sales.

Not long after Google+ was launched, Facebook for Business was rolled out.  As it turned out, Facebook scored points since Google+ for businesses is not public yet.   In fact, businesses that rushed to build their profiles were unceremoniously banned by Google.  Still, it is only a matter of time before Google+ for businesses is officially launched. Between the two internet giants, though, for businesses, it is not Facebook or Google, but a question of how to leverage Facebook and Google+ to connect with your market and grow your sales.

Let us take a brief look at what Google + and Facebook are offering businesses today:

Google +, Google’s social networking project is already very popular. Google’s other products Picasa, Google Maps and so forth are incorporated into Google+. Like Facebook’s news feed, Google + has a “Stream” where user updates appear. Google + has four major elements:

• Circles – where you can categorise your friends, work colleagues, family members  and any other groups separately
• Hangouts – a way for groups of people to gather online via live video chat
• Huddles  – Group mobile chat that helps interact with many people at once
• Sparks – a collection of things you like and would like to keep track of

Facebook For Business launched this just after the launch of Google +   offering access to Facebook’s powerful marketing tools to grow your business. These tools include:

• Pages – These can be used by businesses can build their business profile and interact with their fans or people who ‘like’ them
• Ads - Businesses can reach the people they want with ads targeted by age, location, interests and more
• Sponsored stories – This option leverage friends talking to friends using viral marketing
• Platform – With this tool businesses can turn their website into a social experience with plug ins and custom apps

Facebook versus Google+

Right now, Facebook reports 750 million active users and looks like the best option for businesses now since most of them are using Facebook to some extent, anyway, through individual or business profiles. Google+ had 10 million users in July 2011.  Here is an interesting infographic that shows the basic differences between Google+ and Facebook.

It is acknowledged that social search and mobile are the future of marketing.  Google has already begun to include social media metrics to evaluate website quality and credibility. The acceptance of Google + will allow it to customise search results.

Businesses and individuals will use Facebook and Google + with equal fervor. After all it is for the business to promote themselves in an appealing way that motivates users to “share”  “like” or “+1” content.