The newly revised, expanded, and hot-off-the-press Facebook Marketing Bible: 40+ Ways to Market Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook – August 2009 Edition is now available!

The Facebook Marketing Bible has been purchased by thousands of agencies, marketers, social application developers, entrepreneurs, and educators, and is the leading resource on Facebook marketing today. It is also available in French, Spanish, and Italian. (A special edition with additional content designed for agencies and big brands is also available.)

The densely-packed Facebook Marketing Bible contains four detailed sections: Tools for Guerilla Marketers, Tools for Advertisers, Tools for Application Developers, and Tools for Webmasters. Each part outlines the best available channels and strategies for reaching your audience inside Facebook. Please see the full table of contents below.

In addition, Inside Facebook is happy to announce that through August 31st all customers who purchase the Facebook Marketing Bible will also receive a free $25 Facebook Ads advertising credit, courtesy of Facebook (see terms). Now that Facebook has crossed the 250 million active user mark, there’s never been a better time to reach your target audience inside Facebook.

The August 2009 edition includes updates on the following topics:

• The latest updates on Facebook Pages (public profiles), including the new “Facebook Fan Box” widget. We’ve broken down all the new elements piece by piece and offered detailed and specific advice for marketers hoping to reach more users inside Facebook than ever before – including details on why marketers should choose Facebook Pages over Facebook Groups, key SEO strategies every Facebook Page owner should know, and the latest updates to Facebook’s Insights dashboard. See the table of contents below for more details.
• The latest updates on Facebook’s advertising tools, including several powerful new targeting features. With Facebook’s new “connection” targeting, birthday targeting, and time scheduling tools, advertisers now have the ability to reach their target audiences better than ever before. Learn how to use these new tools to get the most out of your performance marketing dollars. Plus, check out ways Facebook is experimenting with virtual currency gifting and branded virtual gifts.
• The latest details on Facebook’s new “Open Stream” API and what it means for marketers, publishers, and developers. With the new Open Stream API – which just opened up to everyone last week- Facebook has released the power of the Facebook stream to live anywhere developers can put it – including publisher websites, desktop applications, and mobile phones. Find out exactly what you can do with the new Open Stream, and what it means for the future of the Facebook Platform.
• The latest details on Facebook’s new “Pay with Facebook” virtual currency payment program for application developers. Find out the latest on what Facebook’s new payment program means for the future of virtual currency payments on Facebook (and Facebook revenues) – including Facebook’s latest international currency efforts.
• The latest tools for webmasters to drive more traffic to their site and build more social context through Facebook Connect and Facebook Share. With Facebook Connect (now available in dozens of languages) and Facebook Share, publishers have new opportunities for both enriching their sites with deeply social features and leveraging Facebook’s powerful feed system for driving traffic to their site. Get new details on metrics early Facebook Connect partners are seeing, and learn how to optimize your Facebook Share integration.
• New tools for advertisers to target their Facebook Ads better than ever before. With enhanced Facebook targeting tools, advertisers now have the ability to reach their target audiences in much more powerful ways. Learn how to use these new tools to get the most out of your performance marketing dollars. Plus, check out ways Facebook is experimenting with virtual currency gifting and branded virtual gifts.
• Plus, more updates on Facebook’s “Live Stream” widget for live events on your website or Facebook Page, recent rule changes for Facebook Platform ad networks, and more.

Purchase this report The Facebook Marketing Bible – Current Edition Buy PDF: $49 USD OR Buy PDF + 1 Year of Free Monthly Updates: $149 USD

For those interested in learning more, click the purchase link above. The price is $49, or $149 with 12 months of free updates emailed directly to your inbox. As always, please make suggestions if you’d like to see more attention paid to any topic!

Table of Contents

Introduction

I. Tools for Guerilla Marketers

1. Profile Page

2. Pages / Public Profiles

• “Facebook Pages 2.0″
  • The New Wall Tab – Making Pages More Dynamic and Viral
  • Status Updates – Now for Pages, Too
  • Application Boxes – Changing Places
  • Tab Management – Choosing a Landing Page
  • Conclusion – Facebook Learning from Twitter, Pages Getting Better
• The Future of Sharing on Facebook: A Hybrid Public/Private Model
• Branded Virtual Gifts on Facebook Pages Opening New Doors for Viral Advertising
  
• Adding Custom Modules to Your Page
• Strategy: 4 Reasons Why Marketers Should Choose Facebook Pages Over Facebook Groups
• Strategy: I’ve just created a Page. How do I promote it?
• Group to Page Migration
• Guidelines for Promoting Pages Outside Facebook
• Official vs Unofficial Pages
• Key SEO Strategies Every Facebook Page Owner Should Know
• Vanity URLs for Facebook Pages
• Which Celebrities are the Most Engaging on Facebook?
  
• Ways Page Owners Can Restrict Content for Underage Users
• How to Import Your Blog into Your Public Profile
• Page Invitations
• SMS Subscription Service for Pages
• Updating Facebook Page Status Via Text
• Getting Page Status Updates Via Text
  
• More Features Coming Soon
• Interesting Conversion Rate Metrics from Adobe Students Facebook Campaign
• Marketers Actively Bidding for Generic Facebook Pages
• Facebook Upgrades “Insights” Metrics Dashboard for Page Managers
• Facebook Disabling Stream Publishing for Generic Pages

3. Groups

• Strategy: What about spamming existing groups?
• SEO
  

4. Events

• Events API
• Events SEO
  

5. Notes and Photos

• Events API
• Events SEO
  

6. Messages

7. Status Updates

• Public Timeline Search

8. Share / Posted Items

9. Mini Feed and News Feed

10. Feed Importing

> Data: Latest US Facebook Age and Gender Demographics

> Recommended Strategies for Guerilla Marketers

II. Tools for Advertisers

11. Social Ads

• How Specialty Brands are Driving Sales on Facebook
  

12. Engagement Ads

• Summary of ad units available to Facebook advertisers
  1. Sponsorship Units on the New Facebook Home Page
     • Social Video Ads
     • Sponsored Virtual Gifts
     • Events Ads
     • Pages Ads
     • Polling Ads

  2. Advertising in the New Facebook News Feed
  3. Advertising on the Profile Page (and other pages)
     

13. Virtual Gifts

• The Future of Virtual Gifts on Facebook
• Scheduled & Holiday Virtual Gifts
• Facebook Testing Virtual Currency Gifting Program with Branded Virtual Gifts
  

14. Performance Ads

• Radius and Language Targeting
• Connection Targeting
• Time Scheduling
  
• Multiple Currency Support

15. Localization Opportunities

16. Integrated Opportunities

17. Facebook Platform Ad Networks

• List of Leading Facebook Platform Ad Networks
• What eCPMs do apps charge? Data from Facebook application developers
• Facebook Bans Platform Ad Networks for Deceptive Ads

18. Facebook Platform Application Sponsorships

• List of Leading Facebook Platform Sponsorship Resellers/Rep Firms
• Strategy: Why sponsor applications when I can sponsor Facebook itself?

19. Specialized Facebook Platform Advertising Service Providers

> Recommended Strategies for Advertisers

III. Tools for Application Developers

• Strategy: What is the Right Way to Market Through Facebook Applications?
• Strategy: Where do most new application users come from?

20. Profile Box

• 5 Things Developers May Not Know About the Facebook Redesign
• Profile Integration: Tour of New Facebook App Settings

21. Application Tabs

22. Application Info Sections

23. Designing Feed Stories

• Strategy: Designing High Performance Feed Items
• News Feed Optimization: Strategies and Techniques

24. Feeds 2.0

• Feed Forms
• Feed Clustering
• Action Links
• Policy Update: All Feed Story Calls to Action Must Now be Action Links
  

25. Feed Publisher

• Publishing in the Feed with Feed Comments

26. Requests / Invitations

• Policy Updates: Requiring Invites to Access Hidden Features, Offering Incentives for Invites, Ads on Profile Page Prohibited
• Strategy: Facebook’s Evolving Approach to Platform Governance
• Sending Application Invitations to Non-Facebook-Members

27. Chat Invitations

28. Facebook Notifications

• Chat Integration: Facebook Wants More Synchronous Notifications
• Policy Update: Bulk Pre-Selection Prohibited
• Facebook Turns On Instant Notifcation Popup Alerts
  
• Spammy Affiliate Marketers Sure to be Shut Down
  

29. Email Notifications

• Updates: Email’s Status as Core Application Marketing Channel in Doubt

30. Application Bookmarks

31. Application Directory & About Pages

• The Publisher Comes to Application About Pages
  

32. Status Updates & Donations

33. Demographic Restrictions

34. Verification

35. Translations

• Data: Stats on Facebook Apps Built for International Markets
• Tutorial: Translating Your Applications Using Facebook’s Crowd-sourced Translation Service

Purchase this report The Facebook Marketing Bible – Current Edition Buy PDF: $49 USD OR Buy PDF + 1 Year of Free Monthly Updates: $149 USD

36. Analytics Tools

• List of Leading Third-Party Facebook Platform Analytics Providers
• New Metrics for Developers with Facebook Profile Redesign

37. Search Engine Optimization

38. Mobile

• Facebook for iPhone and Connect for iPhone

39. Customer Service

40. Custom Tags

41. Open Stream

• What Does Facebook’s “Open Stream” Mean for Marketers?
  

42. Pay with Facebook

> Poll: Which viral channels do Facebook users hate most about apps?

> Recommended Strategies for Application Developers

IV. Tools for Webmasters

43. Facebook Connect

• Overview: Integrating Facebook Connect with Your Website
• Related: Google Friend Connect
• Examples: 40 Sites Live with Facebook Connect Today
• Variety of Facebook Connect Plugins Now Available for Blogs and Wikis
• Citysearch: Each Item Shared Through Facebook Connect Generates 30 Clicks
• Facebook Connect Available in Dozens of Languages
  

44. Comments Box Widget

45. Live Feed Widget

46. Fan Box Widget

47. Facebook Share

Conclusion

Recommended Partners

One month after Michael Jackson passed away, his Facebook Page has become the first (by a big margin) to reach 10 million fans.

Fans from around the world are continuing to leave Wall posts in honor of the music legend and upload new photos to the Page. In addition, the most recent updates from the Page’s official administrator have received nearly 50,000 likes and several thousand comments each.

However, while the Page’s administrator was updating the Page at least daily through July 17, there hasn’t been an update in nearly 10 days. While Facebook Pages are effective tools for businesses and celebrities to reach their audiences, what happens when celebrities pass away? How long into the future will the administrators and fans of the Michael Jackson Page still be posting content?

Before Jackson’s death, the singer had about 800,000 fans on Facebook, while Barack Obama’s Page had the most Facebook fans at 6.4 million. Today, Jackson’s Page is the first in history to cross 10 million, while Obama’s Page still has the second most at nearly 6.5 million, followed by Vin Diesel and Megan Fox, according to PageData.

	Name	Fans
1.	Michael Jackson	10,002,006
2.	Barack Obama	6,484,430
3.	Vin Diesel	5,354,934
4.	Megan Fox	4,373,612
5.	Facebook	4,334,943
6.	Dr. House	4,295,343
7.	Will Smith	4,021,809
8.	Starbucks Coffee Company	3,699,369
9.	Coca-Cola	3,525,290
10.	Lady Gaga	3,440,941
11.	Adam Sandler	3,316,588
12.	YouTube	3,157,070
13.	Mafia Wars	3,016,774
14.	Ashton Kutcher	2,877,140
15.	South Park	2,814,783

Check out the top headlines and insights this week from Inside Social Games – tracking all the latest developments at the intersection of games and social platforms.

Monday, July 20

• What do Apple’s iPhone Patent Applications Mean for the Future of Social Gaming?
• Designing Social Games: Q&A With John Earner, VP Product Management at Playfish

Tuesday, July 21

• PayoutHub Enabling Tournament Based Monetization for Social and Online Games
• Playdom Brings Mobsters to the iPhone

Wednesday, July 22

• Ubisoft Launches Its First Facebook Game: TickTock
• TrialPay Offering Virtual Currency Payment Platform for Social and Casual Games
• Adknowledge Acquires Super Rewards

Thursday, July 23

• PlaySpan Launches Virtual Goods Marketplace Inside Facebook with Spare Change
• OpenFeint Adds Private Networks to Its Social Gaming Platform
• Raptr Adds Cross-Platform IM Support

Friday, July 24

• Spymaster Adds Facebook Connect Support

Last month, Facebook suspended two Facebook Platform ad networks from operating on the Facebook Platform due to deceptive practices and bad user experience. The ad networks were allegedly presenting Facebook users with misleading advertisements inside third party applications (i.e. suggesting a user’s friends had taken an action when they hadn’t), and sometimes putting Facebook user data on outside landing pages in ways that violated Facebook’s privacy policy.

Since then, those ad networks have not served any ads on Platform applications as far as we’re aware, though other Facebook Platform ad networks have continued to use Facebook profile photos in their advertisements in acceptable ways. Nevertheless, rumors have been spreading in recent weeks that Facebook changed its policies to allow advertisers to incorporate Facebook users’ photos more liberally than they had been allowed to before. Today, Facebook issued the following statement to “debunk” those rumors:

The advertisements that started these rumors were not from Facebook but placed within applications by third parties. Those ads violated our policies by misusing profile photos, and we already required the removal of those deceptive ads from third-party applications before this rumor began spreading.

We are as concerned as many of you are about any potential threat to your experience on Facebook and the protection of your privacy. That’s why we prohibit ads on Facebook Platform that cause a bad user experience, are misleading, or otherwise violate our policies. Along with removing ads, we’ve recently prohibited two entire advertising networks from providing services to applications on Facebook Platform because they were not compliant with our policies and failed to correct their practices.

Facebook has always had a very open approach to third party ad networks on the Facebook Platform. Those ad networks are allowed to use friends’ photos in ads as long as the creative is not deceptive and does not violate Facebook’s privacy policies. While third party ad networks do sometimes cross the line, Facebook has shown that it is willing to take substantial punitive action to protect the long term viability of the ecosystem.

At the end of the day, Facebook wants the Facebook Platform to both be a safe place for users and offer developers large, sustainable monetization opportunities. The company has an important responsibility to monitor the ways that third party ad networks are incorporating user data, and at the same time wants to help developers figure out the best ways to monetize through Platform advertising. Ultimately, Facebook may need to either having a more stringent vetting process for third party ad networks doing business on the Facebook Platform or create additional privacy settings to give users the option to disallow any Platform ad networks from accessing their profile information.

It’s also worth noting that, separately, Facebook has incorporated user photos in Facebook Ads (the ads that run through Facebook’s own advertising system) for a long time. For example, see the thumbnail photos next to the home page ad at right. However, Facebook reiterates in its blog post that, “These social ads always require that you and your friends have taken an express action to indicate your connections with the product or service and that no data be shared with the third party.”

Facebook allows users to turn off this setting by going to their Privacy Settings page, choosing “News Feed and Wall,” and clicking the “Facebook Ads” tab.

Update: We asked Facebook for clarification about its policies regarding Platform ad networks and whether any changes were planned. According to Facebook’s Barry Schnitt:

We have a number of stated policies that are applicable here, including:

• The data section of the platform guidelines indicates that just because a developer gets access to user data doesn’t mean that they can use it
• Developers are not allowed to pass user data they get from FB to ad networks.
• Apps cannot break the law, and there are rights of publicity issues that come into play here. Facebook is granted permission in the terms to use a user’s photo in an ad but this permission does not extend to developers or ad networks.
• Not doing anything misleading (indicating a user has taken a quiz when they haven’t is misleading)

SRR 9.2 and 9.3 are also applicable:

• You will make it clear to users what user data you are going to use and how you will use, display, or share that data.
• You will not use, display, or share a user’s data in a manner inconsistent with the user’s privacy settings without the user’s consent.

Finally, we’re looking at additional policies that would more specifically address socially rich ads in Platform.

One month ago today, Facebook started testing a new version of the “publisher” that allows users to choose who can see their status updates and posts.  Unlike previous versions of the publisher, the new version puts significant emphasis on much more open sharing – for example, the first privacy option in the list is “everyone.”

While the new publisher – an important stepping stone toward the future of Facebook Search – is still under testing, Facebook’s research team is asking users how open they would describe themselves as being in recent surveys.

The first question in the two-question survey asks users how much they would agree with the statement “Facebook cares about its users’ privacy and security” on a scale from 1 to 5. The second question asks users to choose which of the following best describes themselves:

• Very open – I wouldn’t mind if everyone could see all of the information I share on Facebook
• In between – I don’t mind if everyone can see some of my information, but certain information I only want to share with my close friends or family
• Private – I only share things with people I know

While ultimately everyone falls somewhere “in between,” it’s possible that Facebook could use data it’s collecting to shift how far down the open side of the spectrum it goes with broader rollouts of the new pro-public-sharing publisher in the coming weeks and months. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Facebook take a more gradual approach, as some users are bound to misunderstand the new settings.

Ben Mezrich’s “The Accidental Billionaires,” the famously embellished story of Facebook’s early days, is coming to the big screen in a movie that will be produced by Kevin Spacey, Spacey told MTV yesterday. The film will be called “The Social Network” and may start shooting as soon as later this year.

It won’t be the first time Spacey has produced an adaptation based on a book by Mezrich, who Facebook VP of Global Communications and Public Policy Elliot Schrage says, “Clearly aspires to be the Jackie Collins or Danielle Steele of Silicon Valley.” Last year, Spacey produced “21,” based on Mezrich’s “Bringing Down the House,” the story of how MIT students gamed Vegas.

While Facebook’s founders probably won’t appreciate some of the liberties the film will take with Facebook’s history (Mark Zuckerberg refused to be interviewed for Mezrich’s book, preferring instead to work with David Kirkpatrick on his upcoming authorized story), it will mean that Facebook will be in the entertainment headlines and the topic of discussion around the watercooler even more as the film approaches.

“We’re at a very early stage,” Spacey said. “But I think it’s on the fast track. I think the film — they want to do it and maybe even do it this year. So it’s gonna happen. But I have no clue as to who may be in it, because ultimately that will be [up to] the director.”

With 250 million users, Facebook continues to grow by leaps and bounds. But despite the astronomical growth, some users still delete their accounts for one reason or another. However, Facebook is trying interesting tactics to keep users from leaving. Just when you go to your Account Settings and click on the “Deactivate Account” link, you are forced to think twice about your heartless decision:

How can you make the final move when brought face to face with all the wonderful photos you share together? It’s a clever approach to user retention that has worked well for virtual pets sites in the past (who often ask, “If you leave, who will take care of Fluffy??”). If you have a hard time leaving, you’re not the only one: time spent on Facebook only continues to rise.

Back when Facebook opened the username registration process 5 weeks ago, it said at the time that once users chose a username, it would be theirs forever – no changes allowed. Today, however, Facebook has added a way for users to make a one-time username change.

Why the change in policy? Most likely, Facebook was getting a lot of customer service complaints from users who chose a username they weren’t happy with, and decided to give users a second chance. For example, there are cases like Logan Chandler, who probably wasn’t thinking about future job interviews when he chose his username, or Mike Pence, who chose his friend’s name (Obie Fernandez) as his own username as a practical joke. (Some users who chose trademarked usernames have also had their usernames revoked by Facebook at the request of the rights holders.)

Now, all you have to do to make your one-time username change is head over to the Facebook accounts settings page, where you’ll see this new section:

It will be interesting to see how central of a role Facebook usernames play in the future of Facebook identity. Currently, they play a relatively minor role (though they drive a lot of SEO for Facebook and Facebook Pages), but they could play a more prominent role in the future.

Vodafone will be offering one week of free access to Facebook for its UK mobile broadband service users as part of the provider’s “Free Friday” promotion series. The free access to Facebook is the first in the series to last an entire week instead of just one day, and it marks the launch of Facebook text alerts for Vodafone UK users.

Customers will be able to log in to their Facebook accounts on either their mobile phones or computers using Vodafone broadband service. Vodafone customers will also be able to upload photos and videos from their phones to Facebook, but standard messaging fees will still apply for these services.

Friday also marks the beginning of Facebook text alerts. Customers can receive SMS alerting them when someone pokes them, adds them as a friend, sends them a message or writes on their wall – the usual Facebook text alerts. Facebook continues to work with mobile carriers to roll out support for its SMS services – just last week, T-Mobile launched Facebook SMS alerts to customers in the United States.

The Free Friday series was launched in May, when Vodafone offered free mobile internet access to customers for one day. Last month, customers received one free day of music downloads to mark the company’s launch of DRM free music. With the new Facebook campaign running for one week, Vodafone is giving their customers time to get used to using Facebook on their mobile devices, so it’s more likely they’ll continue using the service when normal fees apply.

With Facebook’s growth amongst users over 35 (and over 55), family applications have been doing very well on the Facebook Platform. In fact, just this week, FamilyLink.com announced that its popular Facebook application We’re Related has reached 50 million registered users after seeing substantial growth over the last six months. The app helps Facebook users connect with relatives to share information and photos, and has seen the largest influx of people in the 45-54 demographic, which mirrors recent trends in overall Facebook use.

“We are excited about the growing user base and especially about the activity of the users,” said Jason McGowan, Chief Social Officer for FamilyLink.com. “As the number of We’re Related users grows, so does the number of connections people are making to their families, now surpassing 300 million.”

We’re Related has been extremely popular for a while, remaining in the top 10 Facebook applications for more than a year. The application identifies relatives in users’ networks, and recommends people that may also be in users’ family trees. Once a connection is established, family members can share stories and photos. Information is kept private among a designated list of relatives.

The largest number of new users is coming from Facebook members 35 and up, with 45-54-year-old users representing the quickest-growing demographic. FamilyLink.com reports seeing this age group tripling in size over the last six months. This isn’t surprising, as overall Facebook usage is starting to skew more towards this age group, possibly due to younger users being out of school for the summer, or migrating towards newer social media outlets like Twitter.

It’s also to be expected that the services offered by We’re Related would appeal to the 45-54 demographic. Many of these users are joining Facebook for the sole purpose of staying in touch with their children, and to share photos and news of relatives that may not be local. Genealogy has always been a big business on the internet, and FamilyLink.com offers a free alternative to expensive pay-for-research sites when looking for relatives or studying a family tree. In fact, FamilyLink.com recently conducted a survey which revealed 40% of We’re Related users noted the application’s services as major factors in their decisions to join Facebook.

“Facebook has always been a personal tool for managing relationships,” said McGowan. “We’re Related fits that context perfectly. We are looking forward to future growth, continual innovation, and offering new functionality to our loyal users.”