Facebook as a Marketing Tool......

Yes, we can use facebook as a marketing tool. How read following different features provided by facebook.Business can use it all or some for their marketing actvities. Also day by day Facebook users are increasing so you just can't ignore it.

Facebook Public Profile

A Facebook Public Profile is an ideal place for businesses to establish a beachhead within the social network. It is, also, one of the most overlooked.Businesses can set up a Public Profile at no cost.You can send regular updates to fans, and, unlike personal profiles, which are limited to 5,000 members, the number of fans you can have on a Public Profile is unlimited. In addition, you can set up a business page without having to provide a personal profile.

Facebook Events

Another useful Facebook feature, one that can be launched directly from your Facebook Public Profile, is Facebook Events. With it, you can let fans and others know about upcoming events and activities your business will be hosting.

Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups allow you to create or participate in as many as 200 affinity- or geography-based groups. Each can serve as a viral channel for extending your presence within Facebook, and each can be used as "fishing pools" to help you find prospects and build relationships. Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads resemble Google AdSense ads in that they are primarily text based, but they do allow inclusion of a small graphic.

Facebook Apps

One of the first things you'll notice when you begin participating in Facebook is the bevy of widgets (what Facebook refers to as "applications," or "apps" for short). The apps, created by third-party developers, number into the scores of thousands and cover every conceivable category, from games to music to travel to just plain fun (and just plain stupid).

Facebook Lexicon

Lexicon is Facebook's answer to Google's Zeitgeist. It is a tool you can use to spot and compare trends inside the network. In Lexicon, you input single words or two-word combinations and compare as many as five strings per query to mine and analyze millions of Facebook Wall posts.

Facebook Share

Facebook Share is a small button or hyperlink you can add to your website that lets visitors share the site with their friends on Facebook. Essentially, it's a way to drive traffic.

Facebook Connect

Facebook Connect is the next evolution of the Facebook platform. It provides a way for members to log in to other websites using their Facebook account and "connect" their Facebook identity, friends, and privacy settings to those sites.

Personal Profile

In social media, people relate better to other people than to brands. Face(book) it: We like to do business with people we know and trust.An ideal scenario is to have a brand or company presence via the means outlined above, and to supplement and extend that business presence with a personal one.

What benefits can be accrued?

Quite a few: brand awareness, personal engagement with your customers and prospects, a network that allows fans to easily and quickly share your message, and inexpensive advertising to boot. What's not to like?

Reference : "Yes, Facebook Is a Business Tool", by Paul Chaney