"If you are not on Facebook, you are not my friend"

Facebook, the brainchild of US-born Mark Zuckerberg, has been credited for creating a connected world - a global playground - where people come to play, talk to one another and warn each other about dishonest and boring brands, including brands that damage the environment. It's also contributed to the social networking fever that has gripped humankind, revolutionising marketing (and revolutions) and sending brands scrambling to get a pie of the world's third-most populous market.

"People talk about us regardless"

Vorster, whose company has helped put the likes of LG, Land Rover, Rolex, Volvo, Nike and SuperSport on Facebook, said: "People talk about us regardless. So let's get into the conversation, direct the conversation and use the conversation. Facebook and its users are evolving my life, my terms, my decision, my needs, and maybe your product."

There are 3.7 million Facebook users in South Africa, according to Native media director Cherylann Smith, who also presented at the forum. "There is an assumption among many marketers that Facebook is a free medium that will deliver hundreds of thousands of new customers. That's not the case," she said.

"Yes, it has a massive audience, but that audience isn't necessarily on the site searching for brands. There are few brands out there with the clout to spontaneously generate an audience, so you need to think about how you're going to proactively build your fan numbers." [Not that having huge numbers of fans is the be-all and end-all of a Facebook campaign: it's how you interact with your fan base that counts. This was one of the key takeouts from the forum - managing ed]

Smith added: "The obvious options are Facebook ads, which can be cheap and effective and promoting your Facebook page on your dotcom site. On top of this, you can leverage your employees to include the brand's Facebook address in their email signatures and get them to tell their friends.

"Any other marketing campaign"

"On top of that, look at it as any other marketing campaign: reach out to bloggers and journalists, email your best customers and put signage in your retail stores." [Don't forget about on-pack, either - managing ed]

Meanwhile, Vorster urged brands to adopt the Mindshare's ABC (ambitions, barriers and challenges) Facebook approach, which he said consists of targeting passion, minimising pain and leveraging praise. Brands must engage with a communication challenge that requires dialogue (challenge), an idea that they love to share (ideas), a conversational journey with the consumer (journeys) and a tactical planning of earned conversations (distribution).

However, Smith warned: "Marketing is rarely free. Facebook has the potential to reach a massive audience, but it's a competitive marketplace for attention, so you need to fight for your fans.

"Of course, once you've got your fans, you've got to make sure you use them well. A massive fan base left disengaged can quickly lose interest. However, with the right community management strategies, your Facebook fan base can be a powerful tool."

Smith said: "The question really is, why not? Why aren't you there?"

Life without Facebook would be a sad place, concluded Vorster.

Facebook Connects is being hosted by Habari Media, in collaboration of AdVantage magazine. The Cape Town leg is taking place today, Friday 18 February.

You can download many of the presentations at www.habarimedia.co.za/facebook-connects.

Updated at 11.50am on 21 February 2011.