In some ways Facebook is over taking Google as a site that people use the most on the internet. It is quite clear that people use it in a different way but they are there for a long time and so can be targeted. Google is still and is likely to remain the king of search but Facebook is the place where people hang out.

An important thing to remember about Facebook is the age group that use it. On the whole most of the users are between 18 and 30. That is not to say other age groups don't use it but that is where you will find the biggest market. For that reason the business that will do best on Facebook are those that target that age group.

So how do you use Facebook as a marketing tool? Well the first thing you will need to do is set yourself up with a profile. This can either be a business profile or a personal one. Once you have done this you can then get access to their advertising section to place PPC adverts on the site. If you are targeting the 18 to 30 age group you might find that a PPC campaign on Facebook will be more effective for you than one on Google. On Google you will be finding those people searching however on Facebook you might get people who are not searching but are still interested in what you are selling. This gives you a really good chance of a bigger audience.

Other things that you can do on Facebook is to set up a group on your business area and encourage people to join it. By doing this you can keep people up to date on what you are doing and over time get more and more people to visit your website. This is time consuming and may take a while before it has any real effect but is a great way of getting people interested in you and what you do.

Another great thing to consider is the relationship between Facebook and Twitter. I think we are all aware of the benefits of Twitter to keep people up to date on what you are doing. Facebook is set up so that you can link your account with Twitter. So every time you post something on Twitter it is also posted to your Facebook account. Anyone that you are friends with will then see what you are doing on Twitter. In my opinion this is the best way to get the most our of both Twitter and Facebook.

With the internet expansion we are seeing it is important to get inventive and to find as many ways of advertising your business for free. By using social networking sites like Facebook you can have a big impact. It might not be the most immediate form of advertising but you will find that over time you can get a great market penetration by using Facebook and other similar sites.