Facebook is NOT welcoming of the marketing efforts of its users; and often, family and friends on Facebook are ANNOYED by marketing efforts. Both of those statements are undeniable. So trying to "market on Facebook" requires good sense, firm control, and an understanding of how Facebook might work for marketing purposes.

Twitter is probably more effective for marketing messages, but even with Twitter, try to make sure that over 75% of what you post is either personal interaction, promoting good free content or other people’s material.  It is acceptable to monetise your content on free social media platforms because even though the platforms are provided to us free of charge, we are also providing the content that allows the network to exist.  For example, if no one posted on Twitter, they’d be broke.

But post in moderation, with good sense, and with a priority on relationships as opposed to sales.

Why is it That Social Platforms Are So Effective for Marketing?

People are social, by nature, so they love recommending material they like. Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms have a rapidly expanding user base. Legitimacy is demanded as people will give honest and public feedback. The platforms are accessible and easy to use by design, even by people with few technical skills.

On the whole, marketing across social platforms is free, but be aware that doing it badly can cost dearly.

Why Is Facebook So Significant to Messaging and Marketing?

As of February 2012, Facebook has more than 845 million active users worldwide and Facebook is the number one social networking site in terms of activity and subscriptions. What started as a “garage” initiative by Mark Zuckerberg has now become the biggest phenomenon on the Internet.

A user interface that allows for quick communication and the ability to create fan pages and groups at the click of a button are what make Facebook extremely popular. Another important reason for its massive popularity is the wide variety of social applications that have been developed and made available within the Facebook environment.

Facebook provides a wide variety of avenues to communicate with the audience, which opens up an entirely different world of possibilities to have a fruitful dialogue with customers. Some of these methods used widely by marketers are:

Advertising: The first opportunity, which is the most obvious one, is advertising on Facebook. The difference, however, is the fact that you can create your own advertisement in a matter of minutes and also specify the details of your target group in terms of demographics and types of discussions where you want your advertisement to appear.

Fan Pages: Facebook allows every brand, as well as individual users, to create fan pages for their favourite celebrities and their own homegrown businesses. Large brands have also created their official pages on Facebook that have a huge, immediate fan following around the world. The fan page has the immense benefit of conveying first hand information about the brand and also to collect immediate and frank feedback from customers.

Branded applications: One of the most effective ways to encourage a user toward your brand is by creating an application; this could be a game or a contest, with your branding coming across subtly through it.

What makes Facebook even more exciting is the way it allows you to target your communication sharply just to the customer segment you want to attract. It also provides analytics and page insights that give good feedback and measurement on the activity that occurs.

Facebook is envied by other platforms and Internet companies because, for the time being, they own the social graph. If Google has mapped the Internet's URLs, Facebook has mapped the Internet's personal relationships and connections, and that's extremely valuable. Why else would a company with virtually no physical assets to speak of (other than offices, servers, and data centers) be worth billions of dollars?

Tips for Using Facebook to Market a Message

If you're thinking about marketing (or messaging even without the purpose of profit), here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Facebook, like any other online platform, has terms of use. Respect them or be prepared to be banned as well as criticised harshly.
2. Facebook is about relationships. You don't have a "relationship" with a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman – so don't be one on Facebook.
3. Being personal is everything. Successful Facebook marketing campaigns revolve around personality.
4. There isn't a magic formula for making any message "go viral". You can't control a virus - that's what makes them viral.
5. People like Facebook for entertaining stuff. In fact,
entertainment is defined as "holding one's attention". Keep this in mind.
6. Facebook ads are more personally targeted than ads anywhere else.
7. Being "liked" can work very, very well for your message.
Being "unliked" (no, there's not a button, but it can happen) can bury you.
8. Facebook is in control. Always remember this and never, never assume its available tools won't change. They have done and they will continue to do so.
9. Don't build a business on Facebook marketing - or Twitter marketing - or newspaper ads, radio ads, TV ads, or leaflets dropped from hot air balloons. Build your business on a great product, a great message, and great relationships.

That’s it!