1. Why You Should Consider Facebook for B2B Marketing By Laura P. Thomas, ABC

2. A presence online that can’t be ignored “With about half of Facebook’s 400 million users checking in daily, the social networking company has established itself as one of the Web’s most popular destinations.“ Of the online population, 47 percent visit Facebook daily, according to Nielsen, nearly rivaling the 55 percent that watch TV. Facebook daily use easily beats out other traditional media like radio (37 percent) and newspapers (22 percent). - Published: April 18, 2010

3. Getting bigger than Google For the week ending March 13, 2010, Facebook claimed 7.07 percent of U.S. Internet visits, while Google was right behind the social network with 7.03 percent, according to metrics firm Experian Hitwise.

4. Not just for home use A study published by Network Box, a managed securities company who researched 250 IT managers, notes that more business internet traffic goes to Facebook than to any other Internet site. The analysis of 13 billion URL’s used by businesses in the first quarter of 2010 indicated that 6.8 percent of all business internet traffic goes to Facebook – an increase of one percent since the last quarter of 2009.

5. A tool of small business A difficult economy has helped spur small businesses to adopt social media marketing in greater numbers, according to “The State of Small Business Report” from Network Solutions and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. Social media usage increased to 24%, from 12% the year before.

6. An impact on purchase decisions A December 2009 MarketingSherpa survey indicated that learning about specials and sales was the top motivation of those who friended or followed a brand online, supporting the results of earlier surveys. But looking for savings was followed closely by learning about new products, features or services.

7. Yeah, but what about business? Businesses may not come to Facebook intentionally to do research for a purchase decision, BUT… Facebook’s sheer number of users means decision makers at businesses of all sizes are there -- possibly daily, AND… That means our challenge as marketers is to provide content their friends will share thereby creating an endorsement of our companies that WILL impact purchase decisions More than 80% of business purchase decisions begin with search.* The word of a stranger will not hold up as much as the word of someone known and trusted. * Social Media B2B: http://socialmediab2b.com/2010/03/b2b-social-media-search/