For the past several years there’s been only one player in town: Google. So marketing experts have recommended, quite correctly, a two-pronged approach of working on search engine optimisation (SEO) for long-term traffic and Google AdWords/Display Network advertising to instantly drive potential customers to your site.

I’d hate to calculate how many hours I’ve spent learning, practising, analysing, adjusting and worrying about AdWords in particular. This is because of its near-legendary ability to drain the deepest pockets unless strict limits are set and extreme vigilance exercised. And it’s been a big success for me. AdWords has driven the success of several of my businesses and is currently performing admirably in the run up to Christmas for MakingYourOwnCandles.

But there’s always the danger that by focusing solely on one channel, however huge, you might miss the supertanker creeping up behind. Facebook is that supertanker.

If you’ve ever put your name on any marketing guru’s list, I’m pretty sure you’ll have received plenty of emails attempting to sell you the latest snake oil and presenting Facebook as the undiscovered country:“there’s gold in them thar hills” apparently. Naturally, I ignored them, put off by the hyperbole.

However, I was forced to look again when I created a promotional game for a client recently. I’d advocated creating a version for their website and a slightly enhanced Facebook game. I understood, in principle at least, the power of having players recommend the game to their Facebook friends through status updates so, given that it took relatively little effort to integrate into Facebook it was a no-brainer. After all, Facebook is now neck-and-neck with Google.co.uk when it comes to visits.

We published the application on a Monday and shut it down on Wednesday evening with 60,000 games having been completed and our server in need of an upgrade. And this was with zero publicity.

Even a stubborn goat like me pays attention when a lion bites his arse.

Here are four ways, then, to promote your business via Facebook.

1: Facebook Ads

You might think that Facebook Ads are the equivalent of Google AdWords. They are not. Remember that AdWords are triggered when a user is actively searching for something. If my ad appears when the user Googles “Christmas cake kit” then I know that they are interested in Christmas cake kits and I have fighting chance of selling one to them.

Contrast this with Facebook, where the ads appear alongside standard Facebook pages. I might be uploading a photo of Dizzy the dog and see ads for “Portsmouth Bucket List”, “Terry Pratchett Audiobook” and “Festive Walkman phone” displayed on the right hand side. This exposes the techniques and futility of the platform. I live near Portsmouth and I read Terry Pratchett so these have both been harvested from my profile. But right now, I’m uploading a picture of my dog and the chance of me allowing myself to be interrupted long enough to click on the ad, let alone buy the product, is negligible.

If anything, Facebook Ads are equivalent to Google’s Display Network (aka Adsense) network and anyone who’s marketed that way will know how much lower the clickthrough and conversion rates of the Display Network are compared with AdWords.

I am unconvinced by Facebook Ads at present. They were completely ineffective for PassYourTheory and the platform is going to have to mature greatly before it becomes as worthwhile as even Bing’s Pay-Per-Click platform.

2: Promote a business through a Facebook Page

If you have a business, you should have a Facebook Page. Not because they are especially effective (although they can be) but because they involve almost no effort at all. It’s a trivial job to set the page up to pull your blog posts into the wall, so that it’s always updating and these updates are then seen on the walls of everyone who “likes” that page.

How much effort to spend on your page depends on your business. You can integrate email service MailChimp and shopping cart BigCommerce (amongst others) directly into your page, along with a huge number of other applications so, for some businesses, a Facebook page might just be enough. I expect this to be an area that sees increasing attention from both business owners and Facebook over 2011.

3: Promote a business or product through Facebook Apps

Creating a worthwhile Facebook App is no easy task. The documentation is incomplete, often out of date and, crucially, hardly indexed at all. However, if you do create a game or app that appeals to your audience it can result in a stratospheric response in very short order – just make sure you’re prepared for the potential rush (a virtual dedicated server is ideal, I use Memset).

4: Promote an external website through Facebook Like

The single simplest way to integrate into Facebook is to add a “Like” button to your critical website pages or posts. Just pop along to  Facebook’s Developer site, fill in the form and Facebook will give you the code. When a visitor clicks on the button this page is posted to their wall, along with an optional text update (incidentally, it’ll appear higher up their wall if they choose to add text). Their friends see the update and, hopefully, some of those will visit your site too.

Worth the effort?

Given that options 2,3 and 4 are free (putting aside the cost of development in 2) this would seem to be good news. However, Facebook has a dark side. Take, for example, the MailChimp application which was unceremoniously removed by Facebook without warning and without explanation.  Now, it’s perfectly right and proper for Facebook to check whether applications obey their policies, none of us want spam posted to our walls, for example. However, the very least developers should expect is an explanation of the reason for withdrawing the app.

Imagine the scenario. You’ve spent weeks/thousands of pounds developing a Facebook app that is fundamental to your marketing strategy. You have comprehensively followed the published policies and load-tested your application to death. You launch, success arrives. Facebook kills the application.

This sort of Soviet-style thumping fist makes “Google slapping” look like two Premiership footballers in a catfight. It could literally destroy a business if they’ve based their marketing on a Facebook app and they have little option other than to guess what might have been the problem, give the app a new name and launch it again with fingers crossed.

Facebook might argue that it doesn’t derive income from apps directly and therefore can’t afford anything more than an automated system of approving and checking applications. Well, if that’s the case, I would happily pay a reasonable fee before submitting my app just to get the sort of information I need to keep on the straight and narrow.

Remember, Facebook has complete control over content it hosts. It can delete pages, kill applications and close accounts – and you might never find out why.

The answer? It’s always made sense to base your marketing on multiple channels. The three biggest online channels are Google, Facebook and email lists. Rely on only one of these and you’re exposed to disaster if, for whatever reason, that channel becomes blocked. Keep on top of the current policies and best practices and you improve your chances but sometimes these giants act without obvious logic, as MailChimp found, and if you only have one marketing leg to stand on, your business will keel over.

For an online business, the “relationship” marketing begins when they arrive at the site and continues throughout and beyond the buying process. It’s obviously at arm’s length and that’s why it’s essential to work hard on giving a human personality to your site. As an example, at MakingYourOwnCandles.co.uk, we’re currently putting a gift in each of our orders. Not entirely unusual, perhaps, except that we’re not announcing it in our promotional materials and the gift is being personally hand-labelled with a gift tag. When the customer opens the package, they find an unexpected gift addressed personally to them – with the only strings being those wrapped around the tag. This adds the human touch to what could otherwise be an impersonal transaction.

For more traditional businesses that use the internet as a marketing medium, this personal touch is easier to add and more important. Some businesses seem to view the internet as a replacement for more traditional marketing, but the best of them will marry the two together.

Here’s an example. My family and I are moving from Milton Keynes to Waterlooville on the south coast in May (exchange of contracts permitting). I don’t know many people who actively enjoy the process of moving and the pivotal day, is of course, when completion happens and all your worldly goods are packed up in one or more lorries and driven away. We used an online quote service to generate a shortlist and invited three companies to visit us and come up with an estimate.

The representative of Firm 1 walked around our three-bedroom townhouse sucking his teeth and making comments like “lot of stuff you’ve got here” and “this’ll be expensive”. He gave us a rough figure on the spot and, sure enough, when the quote arrived a few days later it matched this off-the-cuff estimate – and it was frighteningly high.

Firm 2’s representative turned up a couple of days later. In complete contrast to the first, he made extensive notes about exactly what was to be moved, went through in methodical detail what the process was, what they would do, what we were expected to do and what packing materials they’d provide. He was personable and, because he would also be the team leader on the day, he gave us confidence that we could trust the company with our stuff. His quote, delivered a couple of days later, was lower than the first but still expensive.

Finally, Firm 3’s representative was somewhere between the two. His quote was 50% lower than Firm 2’s, his manner professional but he didn’t make the effort to ensure all our questions were answered and to make a connection with us.

So, who do you think we went with? Yep, Firm 2. We did negotiate a price reduction but they’re still 25% more expensive than Firm 3. Oh, and there was one other quote which was lower than any of the others –  it was delivered entirely online without visiting the house and we discounted it because of this.

So, the quality of Firm 2’s personal marketing meant they not only secured the job against competition from two others but also at a premium! This is a great example of how it’s possible to compete on something other than price (rarely a good idea) and secure business in difficult times purely through successful human to human marketing.

And just as an extra bonus, which admittedly is difficult to replicate in general, Firm 2 gets a link to its site via the photo at the top of this page.

From a marketing point of view, it’s an obvious message for Dixons to be pushing. But in reality, as we all know, one of the great merits of Windows 7 is that most of us don’t need a new PC to run it. I use it happily on an old Advent laptop with 1GB of RAM and a Pentium Dual-Core processor; David Bayon runs it on his Atom-powered Samsung NC10 netbook. If there was ever an edition of Windows that didn’t mean “time for a new PC”, this is it.

With Microsoft getting so much right in Windows 7, it’s a disappointment to see it permitting (perhaps even supporting) such a misleading marketing slogan. And I think it’s a mistake. In the coming years Windows is going to be increasingly threatened from multiple directions — by a buoyant Apple, by emergent operating systems such as Chrome OS and by cloud-based mobile computing. Surely as the battle grows Microsoft will want its best foot forward, in the shape of a satisfied user base. The last thing it will want is to be weighed down by still-lingering resentments over Vista.

Yet this slogan seems designed to deliver precisely that outcome. Dissatisfied customers won’t appreciate being told they must write off their old PC to escape their unsatisfactory OS. Many who can’t afford a new PC will stick with Vista and remain disgruntled with it. And those who know the truth – that any machine that runs Vista will run Windows 7 better – will resent Microsoft’s apparent collusion in an attempt to get them to waste money on an unnecessary new PC.

I’ll qualify that a little. The MS press release says, “Windows 7 will have two main SKUs [versions]: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional. This is where we will focus our marketing and communication across consumers and business customers.”

In other words, the only ads you’ll see paid for directly or indirectly by Microsoft (including adverts for new computers) will include one of those operating systems. The rest will be hidden away from mainstream view.

I’m sure that, sitting in the Microsoft boardroom when all this was decided, that did in fact make sense. Because when you’re sitting in a lovely clean boardroom sipping your decaf espresso, it feels like you’re in control of what the world will do. The terrible truth is, you’re not.

Because in reality, it’s consumers and manufacturers that make decisions over what they buy. Acer, Dell, HP – they’re the ones that will decide which versions of the operating system go onto their netbooks, not Microsoft. Just like Acer derided Vista Home Basic as a sub-OS, declaring “Premium is the real Vista”, so they’ll decide what to load onto their machines.

But let’s take a look at the different versions and see if we can work out the real reasons Microsoft opted for them.

Windows 7 Home Basic

“…the entry-level SKU for value PCs in emerging markets, meant for accessing the internet and running basic productivity applications.”

Now, you can only get this in emerging markets, so theoretically you won’t find it in the UK at all. Except maybe Norfolk. But one of the features MS has stripped out is multi-touch, despite the fact that the latest PCs aimed at “emerging markets” from the likes of the OLPC project and Intel’s Classmate PC actually include a touchscreen.

What possible value is there in stripping out this feature? Why not just have one Windows 7 Home – which everyone will understand – and ship that everywhere?

The only reason that makes any sense is cost – that by stripping out features MS can charge more to the rest of the world. But even then, why is it called Home Basic? Why not just roll it into Windows 7 Starter? Talking of which…

Windows 7 Starter

“‘Starter’ is a limited functionality SKU with an application limit designed for small notebook PCs in all markets”, goes the fluff.

In other words, Microsoft has stripped out even more features than you’ll find in Home Basic. No live thumbnail previews, no ad-hoc wireless networks, no Mobility Center.

In fact, you’ll only be able to use three applications at the same time. Rather like Vista with 1GB of RAM (boom boom).

The reason surely isn’t because Windows 7 Home Premium will struggle to run on a netbook. We’ve already seen that it’s actually quite happy with a 1.6GHz Atom processor and 1GB of memory, and that’s testament to the abilities of Steve Sinofsky’s team of developers: in terms of running on old-spec machines (relative to the date of release that is, I’m not claiming that Windows 3.1 was more memory-intensive!), Windows 7 is the leanest OS we’ve ever seen from the company.

Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate

I’ve never seen the point of Vista Enterprise, despite the best efforts of Microsoft employees to persuade me otherwise. The idea is essentially to “reward” loyal (and large) corporations who buy Windows through Software Assurance, but to me it seems more like a punishment to every small business out there.

And, just as with Vista, Windows 7 will reward big business with some excellent, security-based features that in my view are essential for all sizes of business.

They’ll get BitLocker (essentially hardware-encyrpted hard drives), DirectAccess (which should make it incredibly easy for remote employees to access their company network, even if hidden behind a corporate firewall) and AppLocker (which allows IT admins to strictly control which apps can run on company hardware).

Of all those, it’s BitLocker that’s of most interest – just count the number of business laptops released with a TPM chip inside – but the only way a small business can get that feature is to buy the laptop and then use the “in-place upgrade” to Ultimate.

Why oh why can’t Professional include these sorts of security features, which are growing ever more essential? Oh yes, money.

Deep breaths

In short, I feel that Microsoft’s marketers and accountants have been short-sighted and let down the engineers who have made Windows 7 a fantastic product.

Six different SKUs might make sense to MS board members, but in the cold light of day it won’t make sense to the general public. And now all the Microsoft haters out there have yet one more reason to give the company a good kicking.

“A PC without Office 2007 is like a wagon without wheels.” Well, for starters, if Microsoft believes that’s so then why on earth isn’t it bundling Office 2007 with Windows?

And secondly, it really isn’t. Office 2007 is fantastic, but there are lots of different ways to create documents and crunch numbers without spending the extra money on Microsoft Office.

Perhaps the advert should read “A PC without Office 2007 is like a slightly awkward wagon that you won’t enjoy using quite so much as a PC with Office 2007.” Equally catchy, I’m sure you agree.

Techno Leader
Is very advaned in technical matters. He knows what he wants: “The best and up-to-date”. He wants best performance and he is not price-sensitive. And – he can afford it. He is affluent and young.

Techno Rational
Shares the same positive attitude towards technology as Techno Leader, but his comparatively lower income makes him less ready to pay a premium for brands.

Conventional
Can be seen as a “follower”. He looks at what his neighbours have and buys the same as long as the brand is known and fulfils basic design criteria. He is young and uses the computer more than others for online meeting portals.

Practical and Value
Is a “no-frills” person. He does not use the computer intensively. He doesn’t care about brand. It has to be simple and very cheap. Consequently he seeks discounts and buys in independent stores. Many live in single households. This segment is found often in Germany.

Simple and Easy
Is “helpless”. This segment needs computers, but has very limited knowledge. Computers should be easy to use, no extras are required. Trusted brands give them some reassurance and they are willing to pay more for a hotline. Is much older than average and many are female.

Trendy
Also values simplicity for computers and cares a lot abou the brand she purchases. He is also younger and more sensitive to design than the Simple and Easy segment.

There’s something in the air. In fact, look closely and you can see it. Up there, white and fluffy, and apparently full of exciting new technology. You see, all the best new technologies are moving to the cloud, and if you haven’t moved your data to the cloud yet… well, heaven forfend.

I’ve just deleted filed two press releases in the space of two minutes that sell themselves on the back of cloud computing. The first was from respected backup specialists EMC: “EMC has today announced its first major step into cloud computing as EMC Mozy and Lenovo will now offer unlimited online backup for SMBs” to quote the first line – head to Lenovo’s Protect My Data site for details.

The second is from F-Secure, which has just launched Wellbeing 2009, its new and trendier name for its suite of security products: Internet Security 2009, Anti-Virus 2009 and Home Server Security 2009.

Apparently, with this release “F-Secure is the only anti-virus vendor to have an ‘in the cloud’ real-time protection network deployed globally”.

Now I don’t dispute for a second the marvellousness of both these new sets of technologies, but the brutal reality is that the first has very little to back up its cloud claims. So far as I can see, it’s another online backup service (and don’t get me wrong, because Mozy is among the best).

This is in stark contrast to the F-Secure press release, where the cloud computing tag is completely justified. The central idea is that any PCs protected with F-Secure take a “fingerprint” of any files that are suspected of being malicious.

F-Secure’s ferocious fleet of servers then analyse the file and if it’s suspicious they’ll feed that information to all the other PCs protected by F-Secure’s technology (DeepGuard, to give it its marketing spin).

The problem is, cloud computing is just going to become another marketing term used without any great thought to describe any service delivered over the internet. And in the end, all that will happen is that people will get confused and ignore it.

Which is a shame, as real cloud computing is – as that F-Secure example shows – a very powerful thing.

PC Pro inboxes see their fair share of press releases that are full of rubbish about the ‘user experience’ and providing customers ’solutions’ to problems that really don’t exist.

It seems to have reached a new zenith this week: in a presentation from a major IT company – regarding a relatively sedate new offering  – I saw some of the worst examples of marketing-speak that have ever darkened my inbox.

It was relentless: first, I was being told that the said product will provide an ‘exceptional HD experience’. Call me naive, but all of the HD footage that I’ve already seen has been pretty exceptional when it’s been on hardware that can handle it – and that could come from any one of several businesses. The company then promised that they would be ‘executing on [their] strategy’ with the new products. Call me naive, again, but a company that doesn’t execute its strategy will soon be calling in the administrators and closing its doors for good.

It’s evidently a quiet product, too – although the company in question just can’t say so in those simple terms. Instead, there’s the mystical-sounding ’sensitive acoustics’ so that our poor, technology-afflicted eardrums will cope.

The hyperbole continued: ‘momentum’ was mentioned more than once, and ‘competitive stack-ups’ sounds like a fantastic idea for a pancake eating competition, but less so for a new piece of computer hardware. And then there’s the ‘leading edge’ of the market, ‘mainstream positioning’ and ‘unprecedented performance’. There wasn’t the chance to have just passive cooling, either – instead, we’ll be offered a ‘passively cooled solution’ when the time comes for us to embrace ‘price-performance leadership’.

None of this was my favourite piece of marketing babble, though. The company will be, apparently, aiming to ‘leverage the technology to win in the mainstream space’.

I’m sorry, but that barely means anything and it leaves me sleepy and disinterested rather than enthused about the new products coming out way. There’s nothing wrong with saying that the company in question wants people to buy its new mainstream products. It certainly makes a lot more sense and will probably attract a lot more people. Instead, we get this sort of thing – probably dreamt up by a boardroom full of suits who think that they sound suitably executive and professional – with little regard for what the most important people here, the customers, want to hear about new, exciting hardware.

I’m all for innovative marketing, but I think Toshiba’s hard disk team may have gone a little mad. Head over to www.harddiskdriverevolution.com and you can play a game all about – well, it’s obvious really – saving the world through the medium of hard disks.

You play an everyday IT support person who receives an email from the head of the secret service. You’re then thrust into a cupboard with a foxy lady complete with jumpsuit, who accompanies you through a devilish maze of exciting escapades. You shoot people! You crack a safe! You discover all about the latest industrial grade Toshiba hard disk!

I suppose it must work to a certain extent. After all, I’m giving it publicity here. But is this really the way to get the attention of time-poor IT professionals?