Facebook, a social networking site which has recently shot to stardom on the Internet, is a great channel for marketers to leverage on. As of this writing, it has an Alexa ranking of 7 and a PageRank (PR) of 8. This shows that Facebook is one of the most popular sites, with tons of traffic and potential.



So what makes Facebook became one of the best places to market on the Internet? Facebook is very different from other social networking sites like MySpace or Friendster. One of the major differences is that it is an open platform for application developers to post their applications on it. The best part is that applications can viral easily on Facebook, reaching out to millions of members worldwide.

Initially when I just joined Facebook, I was quite irritated by the amount of "application spams" that I have received from my friends asking me to add the whole list of applications. But after sometime, I actually gave in and added the applications. To my surprise, some of these applications are really very interesting and prompted me to add more so as to explore them.

From this experience, I realised that Facebook has actually became one of the best platform for viral marketing, using applications such as games, quiz, groups, etc. When you are invited by your friends to join a certain group or add a certain games, you will be more receptive to do so. Although there will be rejections at the beginning, but after some persistent effort from your friends, you will eventually add them, because it is free after all!

One very interesting thing that I will like to share is that once you have added a certain application, it will be shown on your profile page. Do you know that marketers should take note of this opportunity to market their products or services? Take for example, there is a game called "PetrolHead". It is a game whereby you can buy a car with points and race with your friends to earn more points. With more points, you will be able to get better cars. Eventually you will be able to get into the billionaire clubs and get cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.

Naturally a person will want things to look good on his or her profile page, just like putting up a nice photo. So by displaying the car on your profile page, you will at least try your best to get a better car every time. The key here is that if you want to get a better car, you need points. To get points, you can either race a limited 10 times per day, or to invite more friends to join this game too. Once you have finished up your races, do you think that you will invite some friends to join this game so as to earn more points to buy a Ferrari?

Facebook is a platform that is ideal for easy viral marketing. This explains why it is so valuable to businesses and marketers to leverage on it and marketing their products or services on it.