Facebook Marketing Toolbox Resource Center 

Myth or fact? "If I run a contest on Facebook, it'll go viral."

According to this plain-speaking ebook by marketing technology company Bulbstorm, that's Myth No. 1. Here's why:

"Facebook's commitment to generating revenue takes precedence over your desire for free and exponential growth, no matter how utopian the case. After all, it's their platform and they'll charge if they want to."

The rest of the ebook is written in a similar vein, but don't be misled by its breezy tone. Bulbstorm is aiming to help you avoid wasting money or running afoul of Facebook's promotion guidelines.

Here are a few more myths:

• "Forget the rules! I'll just run a contest on my Wall."
• "I have to get Facebook approval to run a contest."
• "One prize is enough, and it shall be an iPad."

You like case studies? This blog post has them right here, from 1-800-FLOWERS to ZipZapPlay. Social Fresh has compiled an international set of success stories using Facebook advertising or marketing efforts, especially Sponsored Stories and fan engagement initiatives.

This blog post summarizes each case study and links out to the full report for companies in just about any category you can think of: classic B-to-C verticals like travel, CPG, food, hospitality, liquor, clothing and technology, B-to-B focused reports in financial services and insurance as well as government-sponsored initiatives from the United States, Canada and India among others.

A few highlights from the list of case studies:

• Carnival Cruises used Sponsored Stories to grow its fan base and increase daily visits to its Facebook page.
• The Sydney Opera House used Facebook Ads, Reach Blocks, Premium Like ads and Sponsored Links to develop a highly targeted fan community and increase fan engagement with its Facebook Page.
• P.F. Chang's restaurant chain used a Facebook coupon app, Facebook Ad targeting and Sponsored Stories to boost traffic to local restaurants and build its fan base.

This complimentary tool examines your Facebook Page data, generates what it calls an "EdgeRank score" and creates an infographic that analyzes your page's interactions. Use this score, which is more like an educated guess, to benchmark your Pages' performance and look for ways to improve.

This tool doesn't generate an official EdgeRank score for your Facebook Page, like a PostRank or Klout score. That's because the actual numbers in Facebook's EdgeRank formula, which determines your Page's visibility in your fans' newsfeeds, aren't public information.

However, EdgeRank Checker's developers have built their own algorithm based on calculations Facebook gave to application developers in order to explain why some Pages are more visible than others in newsfeeds.

This content-rich blog is a smartly written roller-coaster ride through the wild world of online marketing and advertising, with a heavy focus on the do's and don'ts of Facebook marketing and advertising.

The content dovetails well with the personality that characterizes aimClear itself, a Minnesota-based digital marketing and PR agency headed by the legendary Marty Weintraub, author of the book Killer Facebook Ads.

The link above points to just the Facebook-tagged posts. Although many are written in an over-the-top, "OMG!" tone, they are fact-based and focused on showing you how to make Facebook work for your marketing program.

Below are two interesting posts you should check out:

• "aimClear's Roadmap for Facebook Ads: Building A Better Channel Together," a well reasoned outline of suggested improvements to Facebook's ad structure, with rationales and lots of screenshots. Definitely for the advanced Facebook marketer.
• "Targeting Facebook Users By Mobile Devices Used," which shows how to use Facebook's mobile targeting feature with a host of suggested scenarios, such as marketing an iPad app for gluten-free recipes.

Promoted Posts provides an economical way to make your posts more visible in your fans' newsfeeds.

Most posts on Facebook brand pages show up in only 16% to 30% of their fans' newsfeeds, unless the page has a high EdgeRank rating. Promoted Posts buys you a wider reach for a specific post for the price of a sandwich and coffee (or two, depending on how much reach you want to buy).

This post includes a slideshow that takes you step by step through the process, showing you key moves such as how to set up and pay for a Promoted Posts buy and how to read the follow-up statistics showing what percentage of your fans likely saw your post.

Pay attention to the subtitle of this ebook, a complimentary download from inbound marketing company HubSpot: "Getting Started with Facebook to Achieve Business Goals." Everything in this detailed handbook is designed to keep your eyes on the business prize when you're creating and managing your Facebook presence, whether on your official Page or when using Facebook's advertising platforms.

Even if you're already a Facebook pro, don't skip the introductory sections on Facebook basics and how to create your Facebook profile. Then, take the time to comb through Section 3, which walks you through the process of setting up and managing your Facebook Page, and especially understanding how EdgeRank (Facebook's visibility formula) and ad targeting work.

(Disclosure: HubSpot is an advertiser in Web Digest For Marketers.)

Mari Smith is one of those rare creatures in the Social Media jungle: a Facebook marketing expert who really walks the walk instead of talking somebody else's talk. If you're looking for ideas you can use to launch or buff up your Facebook presence, her Facebook Page, which we link to in this review, is an excellent place to start.

If you haven't already clicked "Like" on Smith's Facebook Page, you'll end up at one of the best "Welcome" tabs we've ever seen. Her entire Page also is a textbook example of organizing and presenting information as well as how to exploit Facebook's engagement features.

While there, wander through the 24 tabbed sections on Smith's Page, pointing to everything from her Wall to her list of Facebook resources and her "BIG LIST of Apps."

This tool helps you decipher and interpret all the data your Facebook Pages generate, but it goes one step further: It shows you how to use the numbers to improve your performance.

First, PageLever figures out the obvious statistics - page views, impressions, increase/decrease in fans, demographics including gender and location - and benchmarks them for changes over time.

Next, PageLever generates in-line explanations or advisories showing what your Pages are doing right and what you should fix to raise visibility and attract more fans.

PageLever's analysis of a Facebook Page we administer for a high school show choir showed we were posting too many low-engagement wall posts and not enough high-engagement features such as photos and videos. Once we added more pics and rehearsal videos, we saw engagement go up via more clicks on posts, probably because we were more visible in our fans' newsfeeds.

PageLever offers a two-week trial period; after that, metered plans range from $34 to $94 a month at time of writing as well as an unlimited option.

Watch this video before you put another dollar, pound, franc or mark into Facebook Places marketing. Jordan Williams, manager of digital engagement for outdoor equipment retailer REI, walks you through the challenges his company faced as well as its achievements when testing its first Facebook Places effort.

In the video, Williams explains to an audience at the 2011 BlogWell conference how he and his staff ran its "Donations Instead of Deals" campaign, in which it aimed to donate $100,000 to charities using Facebook Places check-ins.

Results: REI reached its donation goal quickly. The campaign generated 18,000 check-ins (compared with a total of 4,600 check-ins collected previously on Foursquare) and higher incremental store traffic (no numbers given). The campaign supported REI's core charitable-giving goals and boosted store employees' own Social Media savvy when they helped to troubleshoot the check-in process for frustrated customers.

However, this video is most valuable for Williams' warts-and-all assessment of the challenges as well as the benefits of using Facebook Places. His presentation and answers to audience questions are more honest than most case studies we've seen.

Socialbakers adds competitive intelligence to a standard metrics dashboard allowing you to compare or monitor several Facebook Pages at once - say, yours and a competitor's - on major engagement measures.

Their paid Engagement Analytics service (programs start at $50/month for a single account) analyzes your data on standard Facebook measures (users, activity, wall posts, etc.) but also allows you to enter other pages or even sign up for monitoring reports from key brands in your marketing niche.

If you're not ready for the paid service, you can peruse the site's wealth of Facebook statistics. Scroll to the bottom of the home page and check out the categories that interest you. Categories include "Entertainment," "Beauty," "Drugstore," "Ecommerce," "Telecom" and "Media/News/Publishing."

Note: If you're a native English speaker, you might notice some curious uses of the language. These likely are translation issues because Socialbakers is based in the Czech Republic; they don't affect utility or performance.