IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Maybe you put up a Facebook page a year ago, posted some status messages, and got a few hundred or even a thousand likes. "Now what?" you ask.

"Facebook has been working to make your 'likes' more valuable," explains Perry Marshall and Thomas Meloche, authors of Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising (Entrepreneur Press). "They have created an entirely new class of advertising—'TOCAS, Targeted Opt-In Customer Ads.' 'TOCAS' display only to customers who have 'liked' your page and only you, the creator of the page, can specifically target them."

Marshall and Meloche offer these steps to unleashing TOCAS power into your business.

Step #1: Build a Facebook Page

You can send Facebook clicks to any landing page that meets Facebook's guidelines. However, Marshall and Meloche recommend sending your clicks to a Facebook page.

"If you send your clicks to a Facebook page, the visitors land in comfortable surroundings," Marshall explains. "Their defenses are much lower, and they are likely to engage more frequently with your content."

Step #2: Acquire Fans

"Facebook provides the ultimate 'soft opt-in'—the 'like,'" says Meloche.  "If you get visitors to like your page, Facebook provides you with methods to reach out to these fans again—both free and paid."

Additionally, fans provide social credibility. If you are considering buying a new product, do you think it influences your decision if you know five friends bought and liked a particular brand? If you visit a business and see the pictures of ten thousand others who liked that business does it make you more comfortable? Of course it does. This is social credibility.

Step #3: Advertise to Your Fans

You have the ability to deliver low cost ads to your fans at any time.

A local shop with 5,000 Facebook fans can place an ad in front of them for as little as $1. Got a special event this weekend? Most of your customers will know, if you advertise on Facebook.

Perry Marshall, the most-quoted consultant on pay-per-click advertising, is the founder of Perry S. Marshall & Associates, a company that consults on maximizing advertising results. Thomas Meloche is the president of Procuit Inc., an agile software company that creates educational products and systems using the Facebook platform. They are the co-authors of Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising.

SOURCE Entrepreneur Press

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