What’s New This Week?

Facebook Announces Tight Integration of 60 Apps to Timeline, More on the Way: Facebook now allows developers a tighter integration with Facebook’s Timeline. “More than 60 apps are immediately going live, including such favorites as Pinterest, eBay, Foodspotting, Airbnb and Foursquare.”

Check out the new apps to add to your Facebook Timeline.

Web Goes on Strike to Protest SOPA: Last Wednesday, many websites maintained a blackout in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill currently in the U.S. congress. You can find out more about SOPA in the infographic and video below.

SOPA infographic from AmericanCensorship.org.

Foursquare’s Explore Feature Now on the Web: Explore helps you find interesting things nearby and your check-ins allow Foursquare to personalize recommendations for you.

Explore is powered by check-ins and Foursquare Tips.

Here are a few more interesting infographics: 

Social Login and Social Plugins Increase Page Views: Gigya analyzed their data from 2011 to measure how their technology impacted their clients and they share the results in the infographic below.

"The results clearly show that on-site social technology brings real value to sites."

Integration of Email Marketing and Social Media: GetResponse shares some interesting research results on email marketing integrated with social media.

Do you have social sharing buttons in your emails?

LinkedIn’s CardMunch App Reaches Two Million Cards:  CardMunch is simple: “a quick camera capture of any business card using an iPhone enables professionals to digitize their collection of business cards, but more importantly get access to richer information about the person behind the card via their LinkedIn profile.”

Have you munched any cards?

HootSuite Reaches Three Million Users:  This popular social media dashboard continues to grow, adding a million users in the last six months.

Do you use HootSuite?

And don’t miss this:

Social Media Examiner presents Small Business Success Summit 2011! (online conference starts in February)

Join 25 experts, including including John Jantsch (author, Duct Tape Marketing), Anita Campbell (founder, Small Business Trends), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner and author, Launch), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Jesse Stay (author, Google+ for Dummies), Hollis Thomases (author, Twitter Marketing), David Siteman Garland (founder, “The Rise to the Top” and author, Faster, Smarter, Cheaper), Joe Pulizzi (founder, Content Marketing Institute and co-author, Get Content, Get Customers), Brian Clark (founder, Copyblogger Media), Lee Odden (founder, TopRank Online Marketing), Ramon Ray (founder, Small Biz Technology and author, Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses) and Lewis Howes (co-author, LinkedWorking)—just to mention a few (scroll down to see full list)! Go here to learn more.

What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.

With so much focus on managing the wall and running promotions, Facebook page security is often overlooked.

The good news is that Facebook’s security is actually quite effective. SSL encryption greatly reduces the chance of a page being hacked by a malicious script to take over the page or bypass its content.

However, while Facebook’s security from external threats is great, there are still threats that every page admin needs to be aware of.

So here are five ways to keep your page safe and secure.

#1: Moderate your page’s admins

Many companies collect page admins over time because they fail to remove old ones. Add up the social media managers, graphic artists, web designers and even interns, and pages can have dozens of admins.

However, administrative privileges to your business Facebook page should only be granted to a handful of people and only for as long as necessary.

Keep the number of your page admins small, ensuring that only necessary, current personnel have admin access.

I once did some design work for a company’s Facebook page, so I was given admin privileges. I was shocked to find they had nearly 40 admins, most of them student interns who were only with the company for a semester.

Years later, these former interns still had the same permissions as they did during their internships. Any of these people could, at any time, post new content to the page, remove content and change admin privileges for others.

Because admin privileges give an individual so much power over a company’s image and online presence, manage your admins as closely as possible.

It’s a best practice for companies to write Facebook admin rules into their HR policy: If a person is no longer involved in a Facebook project, their admin privileges need to be removed immediately, and whenever an admin leaves the company, their admin privileges need to be removed immediately.

#2: Be App-rehensive

Do research before you use a third-party application on your page. You need to know what information the app accesses and make sure the developing company is as committed to security as you are, because if they get hacked, your information could be compromised.

Any upstanding app will use SSL encryption, segregated databases, cloud-based redundancy, expiring passwords and expiring data purges, so look for these precautions from your third-party apps.

You also need to make sure the app doesn’t ask for more information or access than it needs. There are many “spammy” apps that provide limited functionality, but ask for lots of information and access.

If an app that does nothing more than pose a poll question wants access to your fans, the ability to post to your wall and a dozen other things, look elsewhere. A simple app with simple functionality doesn’t need all that permission.

Apps that require extensive permission also require extensive scrutiny on your part.

However, if you’re using something like a custom tab app, expect it to ask for advanced permissions. But clarify with the developer or the company what they’re doing with the information they access, why they need the permissions they’re seeking and inquire about the security precautions they take.

#3: Change and protect your password

I can’t imagine anyone in this day and age not reading that headline and thinking “well, duh.” Everyone knows they’re supposed to change their passwords regularly, and to something that’s obscure enough to throw even themselves.

However, there are so many instances of stolen passwords, I’d like to take it a step further: Never use the same password for two different web platforms.

Remember the PlayStation Network debacle from 2011? No matter how careful you are with your passwords, your information can be stolen if a website you use regularly gets hacked. So if that message board you post on or your fantasy sports league’s website gets hacked, and you use that same login and password for Facebook, your page could easily be hacked.

It does get tricky managing numerous passwords and changing them frequently, so sign up for a password management program like Passpack to keep things straight.

Save time when logging into online accounts with the Passpack It! login button. Works on your iPhone, iPad and Android too.

#4: Moderate the wall

This might not seem like security in the classic sense, but your page needs to be safe for your users; which means you, the admin, need to be active on your page. If you’re working for a big brand with thousands of fans but you aren’t moderating the wall, opportunistic scammers can take note and post malicious links or content that undermine your brand’s image or reputation.

Then your wall fills up with links to help an African prince post bail (he’ll repay you several hundred-fold, honest!), get a credit report (just enter your credit card info!) and lose weight fast (just visit this site to… whoops, you’ve got malware!).

Most Facebook users are savvy enough to recognize a scam, but you don’t want your fans to even have to think about clicking a link on your wall. So moderate all posts to your wall and make your page a safe place for your fans to visit.

#5: Take advantage of Facebook’s Blocklists

Along the lines of providing a safe haven for your fans, use Facebook’s Moderation Blocklists to keep undesirable content off of your wall.

Click on “Edit Page” and then “Manage Permissions” to access and update your list. Simply type in the words you want filtered out and the Moderation Blocklist will screen not just your fans’ posts, but comments to posts as well. All blocked content shows up in a spam folder that’s visible to you, but not your fans.

Keep undesired content off of your wall with Facebook's Blocklists.

While you’re at it, try adding some “spammy” keywords that have nothing to do with your brand.

What do you think? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

In this article I’ll reveal a number of applications that make it very easy to add functionality to your Facebook page.

Custom Tabs: What You Need to Know

You may have seen some Welcome pages on Facebook that encourage new visitors to Like the page. You may even be given an incentive such as a free report or, in Tim Ferriss’ case, a free chapter of his book. This is sometimes referred to as fan-gating, meaning only fans see special content.

Tim Ferriss gives away a free chapter of his book to those who become fans.

A brand may also be using a Facebook custom tab in many different ways, as Social Media Examiner covered in the post 8 Powerful Ways to Use Facebook Landing Tabs.

But how do you create these custom tabs? You can create a custom tab on your Facebook page with an iFrame application.

First, what are iFrames? iFrame stands for Inline Frame and is basically an HTML document embedded inside another HTML document on a website. An iFrame pulls the content from one website into another. So in the context of Facebook, an iFrame pulls the content of another website into an area on your Facebook page.

iFrames are very powerful because anything you can create on a website, you can bring into your Facebook page, providing a unique and rich experience for your community.

How to Use iFrames

To use iFrames on Facebook pages, you have two different choices. You can build an application from scratch or you can use one of the third-party applications available. In this post, I won’t cover building an iFrame application from scratch. You can learn more about that on Tim Ware’s post: Tutorial: Add an iFrame Application to Your Facebook Fan Page – 2011 Edition.

In this post, I cover the top 10 iFrame applications that you can use to easily create your custom Facebook tab. These applications are available from third parties (i.e., not Facebook) and make it very easy to create a professional Welcome page or whatever you choose to display.

Typically you’ll need your own graphics or HTML code to use these applications. Some are more customizable than others with drag-and-drop features that allow you to easily add videos, pictures or your email option forms.

Many of the third-party apps will “host” your content for you. Your content in this case will be either your image or your HTML code that you’re using to create your mini-webpage within your Facebook tab.

If you’re using an image, it’s best if it’s 520 pixels wide by 800 pixels high at maximum.

Many of these third-party apps also have the “fan-gating” or “reveal” option (also called “fan-only content”) where you have to Like the page before you see the next page. Giving visitors something for free (i.e., a coupon, a free chapter, a free report) is an added incentive to Like your page.

How to Install an iFrame Application

Before we get into the various applications, I want to cover how to install an application on your page.

Some of the applications will be installed from the websites given below (and I’ll indicate when that’s the case).

Other applications can be installed from the Facebook App page (the special page designed for the app you want to install). In those cases, you will click the “Add to My Page” link in the left-side bar and typically a drop-down menu appears to select the Facebook page where you would like to add the app.

Use the drop-down menu to add this application to your Page

After you have added the application to your Page, navigate to the Page and then it should be in the left side-bar.  If not, you can go to the Page dashboard by going to Edit Page and then select Apps and find it listed there.

Top 10 iFrame Apps

#1: Wildfire

Wildfire has several Facebook applications, most notably their contest and sweepstakes apps.

Their iFrame app is currently free and works very well. But, per their blog, they may start charging for the app at some point in the future (if you install it now, you’ll be grandfathered in for the free option). Wildfire is easy to install right from their website and has the option for fan-gating.

Once you install the app, you’ll see this screen on your page where you can either upload your custom image from your computer or add your custom HTML code.

Add your Image or your HTML content within the Wildfire application on your Facebook Page

#2: Involver

Involver also has a suite of Facebook applications and their iFrame app is called Static HTML.

To install it, just go to the Involver website and click “Install” next to the Static HTML app. Involver also allows fan-only content and one of the nice things about Involver’s app is that you can easily add multiple custom tabs by clicking “Add a Second Static HTML Application.”

You can add additional custom tabs by clicking Add a second Static HTML application

Involver allows you to use two applications for free. If you want to use more, you have to switch to their paid plan. So if you’re currently using two of their other apps on your page, you’ll have to uninstall one of them to add the Static HTML app, unless you want to pay Involver.

#3: TabPress

TabPress is a free iFrame application developed by HyperArts that can easily add fan-only content. Install TabPress from the Facebook application page by clicking the “Add to My Page” link on the left side of the page under the profile picture.

TabPress does not host images, so you’ll have to upload them to a site and reference them using HTML code such as <img src=”http://www.yourwebsite.com/images/yourimage.jpg”> or wherever you have the photos hosted. Or if you have HTML code, just enter it in the boxes as shown in the image.

Enter your HTML code within the application on your Facebook Page and then Preview your tabs by clicking the Preview buttons at the top

#4: TabSite

TabSite allows you to create multiple tabs within your custom tab so that you can create a mini-website. You design your custom tab on their website and then load it onto your page.

You get two tabs for free. If you want more tabs, there’s a monthly fee. You can see the app in action in the figure below where each blue bar takes you to a different tab within the tab.

An example of a custom tab on Facebook with multiple tabs. Each of the blue bars navigates to a new sub-page.

#5: Static HTML: iframe tabs

Static HTML: iframe tabs is another free application and it doesn’t host your images similar to TabPress as mentioned in #3.

I found this app to be more accepting of some of the HTML and CSS tags than some of the other apps. To install it, go to the Facebook app page as linked and click “Add to My Page” on the right column. This app also allows FBML tags if you used those in the previous Static FBML app that came before iFrames.

Add your HTML code within the Application on your Facebook Page. If you have FBML tags in your code, check the Enable FBML box.

#6: iwipa

iwipa is a cool free iFrame application that’s somewhat easier to use if you don’t know how to do HTML coding.

You can add banners, slideshows, videos and pictures in a visual environment. They have some nice video tutorials to help you out. To add iwipa to your page, go to their Facebook app page and click on “Click Here to Install” on the left-side bar.

You design your custom tab within their website and then add it to your page.

The iwipa application on Facebook has some handy tutorials embedded in their custom tab.

#7: Lujure

Lujure is another iFrame app that’s easy to use (if you don’t know coding) with their drag-and-drop design area.

Their free option comes with one tab and they have the fan-only content capability. Install this application directly from their website. They do require billing information even to install the free version.

An example of a custom Welcome tab created with Lujure.

#8: Hosted iFrame

Hosted iFrame is free for up to 25,000 fans and you can have up to five tabs. They have an easy place to add your Google analytics code. They’ll host your images up to 25 MB.

To install just click on the green “Get Started” button on their Start Here tab.

Configure your custom tab with Hosted iFrame on their site and add it to your Facebook Page afterwards.

#9: iFrame Engine

iFrame Engine has a free version that allows for one page with one tab and does have fan-only capability. Their upgraded model is a one-time fee, which I like because you aren’t paying that monthly fee for the life of your page (that adds up!)

iFrame Engine has a video tutorial on their Page to show you how to set it up.

#10: FaceItPages

FaceItPages has easy-to-use templates that allow for multiple tabs, embedded pictures, videos and more. The free version doesn’t allow for multiple tabs and is more restricted as to what you can add.

FaceItPages has lots of examples of their templates in action.

You can always try one of these applications and if it isn’t working for you, try another.

If you’re creating a Welcome tab that you want people to land on first, make sure you change the Default Landing Tab in the Manage Permissions area of your Facebook page dashboard.

New applications are being added all the time, so watch for newer, easy-to-use iFrame apps.

What do you think? Have you used these applications to create a custom tab on your page? I’d love to hear from you. Leave your comments in the box below.

The American ice cream retailer, known for pounding and slapping customized creations on a “cold stone,” has long been a favorite of ice cream lovers – enthusiasm that has helped churn out 1,459 locations in the U.S. and 16 countries.

Like many retailers, the company long relied on traditional advertising to spread the word. But a YouTube video contest in 2005 set the company on a social media course.

Today, Cold Stone continues to innovate outside the kitchen, recently releasing what may be the first eGift feature on Facebook, and running contests that get thousands engaged even more deeply with the brand.

The payoff goes well beyond greater customer engagement; Cold Stone’s promotions add to the bottom line by moving people from their computers to physical stores.

$10,000 from eGift Sales

If you’re on Facebook, you’ve likely either given or received a virtual “gift” or widget from a friend, an icon such as a birthday cake or heart. These virtual tokens of affection allow friends to express their care.

This July, Cold Stone made eGifting more tangible. Now you can send Facebook friends a code for an actual ice cream creation eGift, ranging from $5 to $7, right from the Cold Stone Facebook fan page for delivery via Facebook or email. Like a gift certificate, recipients can instantly redeem the gift at any of the retailer’s American locations by showing a printout or the code on their mobile phones.

Cold Stone’s eGift Social uniquely allows Facebook friends to send codes for tangible gifts.

For a viral effect, the eGift shows up in the recipient’s News Feed on Facebook, so all friends can see it.

One of the first brands to enable eGift Social, created by First Data Corporation, Cold Stone links its social media presence directly with sales.

“The strategy, and really our goal, for eGift was more for that everyday gift,” said Suzanne Schutz, vice president of marketing at Cold Stone Creamery. “So, Veronica is having a bad day. I see that she posted something on her Facebook status. Very easily from the office in 2 minutes, I can spend $5 and send her an ice cream, and it makes her day.”

So far, the results are impressive, delivering on Cold Stone’s goal of increasing revenue for its many franchisees.

“We’ve sold in just over a month and a half, about 2,000 eGifts and we’ve added roughly $10,000 in incremental sales to the franchisees,” Schutz said. “Franchisees love it because they don’t have to do anything. It’s no extra labor. It’s all done in the virtual world, if you will, and then they just watch the sales come in. So they love it. We love it. Our fans love it. It’s definitely a win-win.”

Coupon Boosts Sales More Than 1%

In direct response to Facebook fans’ requests, Cold Stone decided to run a 2-for-$5 coupon campaign. The retailer posted the offer on its Facebook page and notified contacts by email.

Just 3 weeks in, fans had printed more than 500,000 coupons, with more than 20,000 of those from Facebook. Clearly, the campaign went well beyond just pleasing customers.

“Since we launched the campaign, we’ve seen sales increase just about 1 to 1.2%,” Schutz said. “We’ve seen a redemption rate of over 14%. For me as an advertiser, that’s a great ROI. For traditional advertising we would have spent upwards of $500,000 and we would have seen less redemption. I think our average redemption was .02%. So far, it exceeds what traditional advertising and print do.”

Fans ‘Eat Up’ New Flavors Contest

A summer flavors contest additionally drove fans to the company’s Facebook page and stores. Nearly 4,000 people entered the contest requiring them to post creative comments of 50 words or fewer about one of three featured summer flavors available in stores.

While official judges chose the winners based on originality, all entrants could share their entries and encourage their friends to vote for theirs. Entrants shared the news more than 3,000 times and more than 1,800 people voted through the application created by Wildfire Interactive.

“We saw 66,000 new fans over about an 8-week period,” said Anne Christenson, director of social marketing. “Obviously, it helps us gain some fans.”

The winners earned a trip to the Scottsdale, Arizona headquarters to work with the Cold Stone taste master on creating their own flavors. From there, Cold Stone will pick its favorite flavor to roll out at stores across the country in 2011.

A new flavors contest brought in 66,000 new Facebook fans.

Lowering the Cost of Sales

Cold Stone has made social media a major part of its marketing strategy, setting a goal of increasing traffic to stores by 3% through social media and non-traditional advertising like email, while reducing advertising spend.

“My main priority is profitability in driving sales,” Schutz said. “It is a lot less expensive than traditional advertising, say, a national billboard campaign or newspaper insert.”

The retailer focuses on four or five key promotions throughout the year, getting the attention of customers through Facebook, email, Twitter and YouTube. On YouTube, the company posts footage from events like its annual “World’s Largest Ice Cream Social,” which benefits Make-A-Wish Foundation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1NHu5nldUc

So far, every campaign with social media has brought a spike in store traffic and sales. Combined with lower marketing costs, the team has truly added to profit margins.

Currently, Cold Stone averages a cost of about 39 cents per coupon redeemed, compared to $3.60 per redemption with print advertising. Now more than half of the company’s advertising budget is dedicated to non-traditional activities like social media.

All that contributes to the company’s goal of raising sales for its many franchisees.

“We let our fans know about our new product launches or programs like eGift and our new flavors. And, in turn, we hope that our fans get excited about it, and then that drives them into our store, and ultimately makes the sale,” Schutz said.

How is your organization successfully driving visitors from social media sites to your shopping carts or cash registers? Let us know your comments in the box below.

Well, look no further.  In this episode of Social Media Examiner TV, Mari Smith shares her favorite Facebook apps and explains what they can do for your business.

Be sure to share your feedback and see the show notes below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRfAmOAVPFk

Watch to the video to find out:

• How to automate your blog updates to your Facebook page
• What apps can help you build your Facebook community

Here are a few more things you’ll learn about Facebook apps:

Using Video and Chat Apps

Mari suggests a few Facebook apps that improve engagement and connect with your audience using chat and video.

• Find out how Vpype helps you connect with your audience with live video
• Have a look at Justin.tv‘s Live Justin video app and add a tab to your business page
• Use Clobby to set up a chat lobby on your business page to stimulate conversation with your fans

Connect Foursquare to Your Business Page

Mari goes through the steps you need to connect Foursquare to your business page:

• Claim your business on Foursquare to make sure Foursquare knows you own your business
• Add your app to your fan page to install a Foursquare widget on your business page

Choose the Right Facebook Apps for Your Promotions

Mari reviews the latest Facebook rules for contests, sweepstakes and drawings.  You’ll want to listen to this to make sure you understand these rules and how third-party Facebook apps can help you run contests.

Here are the three Facebook promotional apps mentioned by Mari:

• WildFire
• Fan Appz
• Vitrue

Find out what else Mari has to say about Facebook apps and which ones you should try out on your business page. Don’t forget to listen for the Facebook marketing tip Mari shares at the end!

If you enjoy this episode of Social Media Examiner TV, make sure to tweet about it (use hashtag #SMEtv), share it on Facebook or even embed it on your blog.

We want to hear from you! Which Facebook apps do you use? Which ones work for you?  Leave us a comment below. Also let us know what you’d like to see in future episodes.

So he set up a Facebook fan page with the help of his parents. In just one week, he got more than 1,200 fans and raised $400!

“I can understand using Facebook for a fifth-grade science project,” I hear you saying. “But how do I use Facebook to market my business? I keep hearing that I should include social media in my marketing campaigns, but I don’t have a clue how to do that.”

You’ll be happy to hear that your clueless days are over.

A recent Nielsen report showed people spend 7 hours a month on Facebook, but only 2 hours a month on Google, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN.  That’s a huge opportunity.

One of the biggest names in Facebook marketing has written a Facebook marketing textbook just for you. Mari Smith partnered with Chris Treadaway to write Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day.

Yes! It’s another “Hour a Day” book. So you know you’ll be getting the equivalent of a college semester’s training in the privacy of your own home, at your own pace.

Facebook is every marketer’s dream, because in no other medium can you:

• Show your ad to 1,000 people for only 20 cents. Not 20 cents apiece, 20 cents total.
• Create lifelong fans of your business for only 27 cents per fan.
• Target divorced male executives between the ages of 40 and 55 who have an MBA from Harvard Business School and work at specific companies in Chicago.

Targeting Customers With Surgical Precision

You can target Facebook members by location, age, sex, education, language and even by their workplace. So you could target your ad to married men over 40 with a college degree who work for a particular company. You can throw in a couple of keywords that members list in their profiles to get even more specific.

And Facebook asks its members for a LOT of information! Not only gender, birth date and location, but also favorite TV shows, college major and even religious and political views!

“Facebook advertising is perhaps one of the most effective and inexpensive ways available to target specific people based on profile data that they have entered voluntarily,” write Smith and Treadaway.

But Facebook isn’t just about ads. And that’s just as well, because Facebook ads are the same, interruptive, “in-your-face” form of traditional advertising in a new medium. Many Facebook members may just ignore them.

“Although Facebook’s pay-per-click model of advertising offers competitive rates… Facebook users have been consistently obstinate when it comes to responding to advertising on its profile pages,” write Smith and Treadaway. “As an advertiser/marketer, Facebook has an extremely large, desirable audience that [has] refused to click ads.”

“Facebook members are typically not in the habit of clicking on ads,” say Paul Dunay and Richard Krueger in Facebook Marketing for Dummies. “They are on Facebook for social purposes, as opposed to browsing and discovery.”

Facebook Is More Than Just Ads

Fortunately, there’s a lot more you can do on Facebook than just running ad campaigns. But only if you follow the primary rule of social media marketing: Find your evangelists and then give them everything they need to help you market your business for free.

Before you even begin a social media marketing campaign, you need to answer the following questions:

• What is the goal of your social media campaign? Increased sales? Better customer service?
• How will you measure success? What metrics will you use?
• Do company executives view social media as a risk or an opportunity?
• Do you have employees who are interested in helping with the campaign?
• Can you provide enough interesting content on a regular basis to attract potential customers and keep them engaged?

And your company executives will have to answer the following questions:

• Should you promote your brand, your company or your products/services?
• Will you need a policy governing what information can be shared on social media?
• Will every update have to be approved in advance? By whom?
• Will you communicate directly with customers via social media?
• Will you manage the project internally or outsource it?

And this will be a team effort. No single person has all the skills necessary to run a large corporate social media marketing campaign. And the leader of the team has to be “one part visionary, one part marketer, and one part politician,” according to Smith and Treadaway.

Here are some Facebook metrics you can track:

• Number of new Facebook fans
• Number of wall updates/posts
• Number of likes and comments
• Number of customer interactions
• Amount of money spent on advertising
• Advertising cost per fan

This is just a taste of what you will find in Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. The authors cover the gamut of Facebook marketing, beginning with Facebook basics and working through to Facebook analytics, Facebook Connect, and Facebook apps. They end the book with interviews from six industry experts who predict how Facebook may evolve.

If your prospective customers are spending more time on Facebook than any other site, shouldn’t you be there too?

Social Media Examiner gives this book a 5-star rating. Be sure to grab a copy if you want to master Facebook with only an hour a day.

Have you read the book?  Do you think Facebook will change the way businesses connect with customers? Please leave your comment in the box below.

Stelzner is a well-known white paper writer, author of the book Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged and founder of Social Media Examiner.

But he literally had to be dragged kicking and screaming onto Facebook.

“I thought it was just for college kids,” Stelzner says. Then a friend he respected invited him to join, so he did.

But within a short period of time, he stopped updating his Facebook page. “I spent a lot of time on Facebook and frankly accomplished little. At least on Twitter I knew I could strictly talk business.”

So he just fed his Twitter updates into his Facebook profile and fan page. “All along I was treating my Facebook page like Twitter. I thought that by simply posting updates I would build a loyal following.”

Things changed when Mari Smith showed him the right way to use Facebook.

Watch the above video to learn more about Stelzner’s Facebook story.

Create a Facebook Page

Armed with that knowledge, he created the Social Media Examiner Facebook page in March 2010. By July of the same year, the page broke the 12,000-fan mark.

“And these folks are active,” he says. “They post questions, support each other, reply to our questions and promote our articles. A vibrant community was building right before my eyes. Almost overnight, Facebook quickly became the number-one source of traffic on Social Media Examiner.”

You may have heard that Facebook is one of the most cost-effective ways of advertising on social media. “Nowhere else can you target users as surgically as you can on Facebook [and] you can do it for a fraction of the cost of the same targeting on other Internet properties and offline outlets,” write Mari Smith and Chris Treadaway in their book, Facebook Marketing an Hour a Day.

Build a Community on Facebook

But according to Stelzner, Facebook marketing isn’t just about placing ads on people’s pages. He compares Facebook to the Social Media Examiner site. People can comment on the articles, others can respond to those comments and everyone who goes to the site can see all these comments. “FaceBook is like the comment section of our blog taken to an extreme.”

“Facebook has 500 million users,” he says. “That means that your customers are already on Facebook – a huge percentage of them. And they’re on there almost every day. I’ve heard that 250 million people are on Facebook every single day.”

And a recent Nielsen study found that those 500 million people are spending an average of 7 hours a month on Facebook. But they only spend 2 hours a month on Google, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN.

“If people are already on Facebook and they’re already spending an enormous amount of time there,” Stelzner says, “then how can you get them to notice you? That’s where the marketing comes in.”

And that’s why Stelzner created Facebook Success Summit 2010.

16 Facebook Lessons From 22 Top Experts

Scheduled throughout the entire month of October 2010, the summit was designed to give you all the tips and techniques you need to master Facebook for business use. You will receive 16 hours of training from 22 Facebook experts. They’ll cover everything from setting up Facebook pages to growing an active fan base.

And because this conference is online, you can attend the sessions in the privacy of your home or office. For a fraction of the cost of a traditional conference. No airports, rental cars, hotel rooms or expensive restaurants. All you need is a computer, computer speakers, and a high-speed Internet connection.

When you register, you’ll receive an email with a link to a website and your login information. At the appropriate times, just go to the website and login. That’s it!

Just look at some of the speakers you will hear:

• Mari Smith and Chris Treadaway, authors of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Brian Solis, author of Engage!
• Paul Dunay and Richard Krueger, authors of Facebook Marketing for Dummies
• Jesse Stay, author of I’m on Facebook, Now What? and FBML Essentials
• Justin Smith, founder of Inside Facebook and author of Facebook Marketing Bible

You will also hear how companies are implementing their Facebook marketing campaigns, including Microsoft Xbox, Intel, SAP, Cisco and the Washington Redskins.

These social media pros—the world’s leading Facebook experts—will be your personal trainers during October 2010. They will teach you everything you need to know to successfully market your business on Facebook. You’ll learn how to:

• Develop a Facebook marketing strategy
• Customize your Facebook page
• Start a Facebook advertising campaign
• Create a community around your product or service
• Optimize your News Feed to take advantage of viral marketing
• Use Facebook analytics and apps

“The marketer’s job has changed from creating and pushing messages to one that requires listening, engaging, and reacting to potential and current customer needs,” says Erik Qualman in his book Socialnomics. “Consumers are looking to peers for recommendations on products, services, health issues, and more via social media. Today, 76% rely on what others say, while 15% rely on advertising.”

And Facebook is the biggest social network in the world.

So are you ready to dump traditional, interruptive, “in-your-face” advertising in favor of social media marketing? And can we please stop calling it an “advertising campaign” and start calling it “customer engagement”?

Your customers and competitors are on Facebook – isn’t it time you joined them?  Click here for summit details.

If you don’t agree, read these articles on Social Media Examiner:

• 3 Reasons Facebook Trumps Twitter for Business
• 5 New Studies Show Facebook a Marketing Powerhouse

If you DO agree, grab your place in line for this first-ever online Facebook marketing conference. Their online venue holds 2,500 attendees (and their last event sold out)!

ComScore reported that the popular networking site surpassed 100 million U.S. visitors in a single month, joining the elite list of sites (including Google and Yahoo!) that have also reached this milestone.

This major success led to another Facebook record as founder Mark Zuckerman reported they had reached 350 million users in total.

And the impressive stats don’t stop there.  ComScore also reported that Facebook took up 5.5% of all time spent online in the U.S. during the month of November.  Considering how big the “online world” actually is in terms of web pages, this was no small feat!  Check out this image:

Image taken from mashable.com

About the same time the Facebook stats surfaced, Morgan Stanley released The Mobile Internet Report. This report covers an array of trending themes, including an in-depth look at Facebook’s place as a social networking giant and soon to be “close partner” to the expansive world mobile.

Based on Morgan Stanley’s report, here’s a snapshot of Facebook’s reach, impact and marketing advantages:

Facebook Usage Stats

These stats may shock you:

• Shared content (web links, blog posts, notes): 3.5 billion/week
• Photos uploaded: 2.5 billion/month
• Videos uploaded: 14 million/month (more than 19,000 per hour!!)
• Events created: 3.5 million/month
• Users who have signed on with Facebook Connect: 80 million total across 80,000 websites since it launched in December 2008

The Power of Facebook Apps

According to Facebook, they currently house over 350,000 apps. Here are the top Facebook apps*:

1. Farmville (63 million) 
2. Causes (35 million)
3. Café World (28 million)
4. Mafia Wars (26 million)
5. Happy Aquarium (24 million)
6. Pet Society (21 million)
7. FamilyLink.com (21 million)
8. Yoville (20 million)
9. Texas HoldEm Poker (19 million)
10. Farm Town (18 million)

*These stats fluctuate slightly each week depending on usage. 

Here’s an interesting fact:  7 out of the 10 apps above are actually social games. Social games are those played on social networks where there is a level of interaction with others (taking turns) and you can see others’ actions as the game progresses.

Because social gaming is currently the leader in app development, marketers can take advantage of this as they look for ways to cross-promote and engage with their audiences via new platforms.  It comes down to meeting your audience where they are already spending a good portion of their time.

Wonder if Facebook app development is a lucrative opportunity?

Here are two examples of successful Facebook app developers.  Zynga, one of the largest developers of social games on the web, has developed 36 Facebook apps, reported $67 million in ’09 revenues and 183 million active users.

Playfish, also an online game developer, has created 10 Facebook apps, reported $30 million in ’09 revenues and 60 million active users.  Pretty impressive when you consider how the top apps on Facebook are used solely for enjoyment.

To put the success of Facebook applications into perspective, the Morgan Stanley report listed a few impressive real-life examples. Here are two of our favorites:

Facebook Rivals a Guinness World Record:  Currently 7 games on Facebook get more monthly active users than all players on World of Warcraft (an online game that holds a Guinness World Record for most popular multi-player online game of all time).

Facebook Rivals the Home of the Quarter Pounder: According to the report, “It took McDonald’s more than 55 years to open 32,000 restaurants worldwide, compared to only 4 weeks for Facebook users to open more than 1.5 million virtual restaurants on Playfish’s Restaurant City app, a game in which users start their own restaurants, employ friends as chefs and waiters and compete with other restaurants in their area.” Wow!

Facebook Takes on the Mobile World

Here are some more interesting stats:

• It is estimated that 17% of Facebook users currently access the site using a mobile device, and that number is estimated to skyrocket to 90% within 5 years.
• Mobile Facebook users are 50% more active than non-mobile Facebook users.
• 1 million users commented on their friends’ status changes on mobile devices within the first 24 hours of the mobile feature’s launch.
• There are currently 180+ carriers in 60 different countries promoting Facebook mobile products.
• Here’s a graph to show Facebook’s steady rise of mobile users:

Image taken from The Mobile Internet Report by Morgan Stanley Research

There is no doubt that Facebook is in a class of its own in the social networking arena.

Do you think Facebook can stay on top? Do you use Facebook more often than other social media tools?  Have you had any major successes with Facebook? Let us know about your own Facebook experiences!

Here are our top five articles (in order of popularity) from this year…

#1: Five Must Read Social Media Marketing Studies

Here’s a quick overview of the this article:

Study 1: By 2010, 26 Million (1 in 7) U.S. Adults Will Use Twitter Monthly

The study by eMarketer found the following: “In 2009, there will be 18 million U.S. adults who access Twitter on any platform at least monthly. That represents a 200% increase over 2008 levels. Usage will reach 26 million U.S. adults in 2010, a further 44.4% climb.“

Study 2: Americans Spend 17% of Online Time on Social Media Sites

As popular social media platforms continue to grow their numbers of users, it is logical to conclude that Americans are spending more time on social networking sites.  According to a study by The Nielsen Company, among those paying the most attention to this recent trend are advertisers. Online ad spending increased by 119% to $108 million in August 2009.

Study 3: In 2010, Over 50% of Marketers Will Be Using Social Media

The “2010 Media Planning Intelligence Study” by the Center for Media Research, examined the likelihood of marketers including social media in their 2010 marketing plan.

Study 4: Blogs Most Useful Social Media Tool, Say 51% of Businesses

McKinsey Quarterly’s “Global Survey” examined companies’ overall assessment of the value of different social media technologies.

Study 5: 75% of Marketers Plan to Increase Social Media Use in 2010

The study by the virtual events provider Unisfair showed that marketers are most focused on attracting and keeping customers in 2010 and they plan to use social media to make this happen.

Click here to see the full article.

#2: Five Ways to Promote Your Facebook Fan Pages

Have you ever wondered, “How do I promote my Facebook fan page?” or “Why do I even need a Facebook fan page?” This article reveals five ways to use the power of Facebook to grow your fan base.

Here’s a snapshot of the five fan page strategies:

Strategy 1: Invite People From Your Facebook Friend Lists

Segment personal friends and professional colleagues into lists and invite these lists as groups to your Facebook fan page instead of sending individual invites. This is the easiest and fastest way to jump-start your fan base.

Strategy 2: Find People With Facebook Search

The updated Facebook Search feature (see the Search bar at the top of Facebook) gives you a view into conversations of your friends and status updates that may even show you who may be looking for the services you provide.

Strategy 3: Attract People With Facebook Social Ads

Social Ads provide advertisements alongside your Facebook sidebar, which show related actions your friends have taken on the site. It is possible to tailor ads to your friends and their interests, which makes it more appealing for them to take action because you are interested as well.

Strategy 4: Facebook Fan Page Twitter App

The Facebook Fan Page Twitter application is a great tool that brings your Twitter following back to your fan page. When you post a status update, a link or a photo (you can choose) on your Facebook fan page, there will be an update to Twitter with a shortened bit.ly link back to your fan page.

Strategy 5: Facebook Fan Box Widget

The Facebook Fan Box Widget is a great feature to add to your blog or website. This widget allows you to show your fan base and allows others to become fans instantly.

Click here to see the full article.

#3: How to Add a Retweet Button In Your PDF Documents

One growing trend on Twitter is the retweet button showing up on websites everywhere.

The retweet button allows any reader to easily post a tweet into his or her Twitter account.  And it’s not just any tweet, but one that’s prefabricated by you and links back to the original landing page where your document resides.

A retweet button in your PDF file empowers readers to easily share your PDF with their fans as well as allows readers to show their appreciation of your work by simply clicking a button. It also provides steady streams of traffic to your PDF file (because as people discover the file, they will retweet it if they like the content), plus allows you to know precisely who is sharing your document (for marketing engagement)

Check out the entire article to learn the 6 steps to add retweet buttons to your PDF files.

#4: Three New Social Media Studies Worth Reading

Here’s a quick overview of the this article:

Study 1: Social Media Engagement Big Challenge for Many Businesses (Deloitte)

Survey results from a Deloitte study (2009 Tribalization of Business Study) pointed to some key challenges that organizations are facing as they move toward integrating online communities into their social media strategy.

Study 2: Social Media Used as a Discovery Tool by 18% of Online Population (Nielson Company

This study by Nielson Company examined the relationship between social media and user search options.  The report compared social sites to search engines and portals like Yahoo! Of those surveyed, 18% reported social media sites as core to finding new information.

Study 3: Businesses Slow to Incorporate Social Media Into Practice (BIA/Kelsey)

Although numerous recent reports show how businesses plan to incorporate social media into their 2010 marketing mix, a recent study by BIA/Kelsey reported that many small- to medium-sized businesses are slow to incorporate the strategies into their plans today.

Click here to see the full article.

#5: How to Create Headlines That Go Viral With Social Media

If you are struggling to get more clicks and bookmarks on your articles, there is one area in which your content might be letting you down: your headlines.

Without a compelling headline, you will not attract attention, and your article will not spread as easily. If you do write a killer headline then you will get more clicks, more bookmarks, and your readers will be compelled to share it with their friends and contacts.

Compelling headlines grab attention, identify a targeted group, are specific, generates curiosity, and promises powerful benefits.

To grab your audience where it counts, you want your headlines to show empathy and make your readers feel. Here are three popular headline emotional hot buttons:

Boost and Slam—What is the best/worst/most/least? Compare and contrast.
Laugh, Cheer, Snigger or Cry—Human interest that tugs the heartstrings work.
Outrage, Anger, and Righteous Indignation—Listen to talk radio or the talking heads and their jabbing fingers on any cable news network.

Check out the entire article for more emotional hot buttons and a free PDF of 102 Proven Headline Formulas.

As we move into the new year, we are looking forward to sharing with you the latest trends and insights in the social media world.  On behalf of all of us at Social Media Examiner, we wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year in 2010!

So, now it’s your turn.  What do you think of our top 5 social media articles for 2009? Which article resonated most for you?  What social media topics do you think will hit the “Top 5” list for 2010?  Let us know your thoughts!