If Facebook was a country it would be the third biggest in the world. Because of Facebook's large membership, our clients at Online Design Bureau often ask if it still makes sense to build a website. Wouldn't it be better to focus on Facebook instead: they've got such a massive audience?

In the interest of full disclosure, I must add that we are a company that creates websites. We also engage in Facebook marketing and if Facebook was the holy grail, boy would we ditch web design and switch to a full service Facebook marketing company.

But why do we still make websites?

Well, stating that Facebook has such a large audience and therefore should be the main focus of a company is a bit of a reverse logic. While it is true that there are many people on Facebook, there are still a far lager amount of people on the web in general. And just because you have a Facebook Fan Page or group doesn't mean that you'll suddenly amass a lot of friends or fans - or even that your Facebook pages will get that many visitors. You can build it, but they won't come by some sort of bizarre magic.

Driving visitors to your Facebook page will differ greatly from driving traffic to a regular website, and it is true that social networks have traffic building mechanisms built in to them (e.g. the "like" button). But it is also true that you can integrate all these tools into your own website. Notice the social media bar at the bottom of this website, where you can interact between this page and the main social networks on the web.

But both marketing a website and promoting a Facebook page will cost you time, energy and money (they are sometimes interchangeable).

Social networks like Facebook however have an instability built-in that your website simply has not. Right now, Facebook is the hottest club in town. Everyone wants to get in, even though some are talking about leaving Facebook all together on Memorial Day. And that shows you how the web works, soon something else will come along and a new club becomes 'the place to be'. When that happens, all the time and effort that you've spent on building your Facebook presence will have been wasted. You might think that this is extremely unlikely, but it happens all the time. Three years ago, MySpace was the biggest, hippest club in town, today, it is a declining property.

It remains a strategic risk to put all your eggs in one basket and to put your entire online business presence on just one social network - a social network who's existence, popularity or even its functionality is not under your control.

That does not mean that you the power and attraction of social networks should be ignored.

We propose that you build your own Web site as a central hub and use other online resources like social networks, e-mail marketing campaigns and mini-websites as drivers of sustainable traffic.

The power of social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is is that it enables your clients and readers to share information over their network.

It is therefore important to do three things:

1. Have a presence on the most popular social networks
2. Integrate these networks into your website
3. Remain flexible enough to switch integration of networks with your website when the social networking landscape changes

Promoting yourself on social networks and building a website aren't mutually exclusive propositions. You build a website, than raise awareness of your website through profiles on various social networks. Make sure that everything in your profiles is linking to your website, because that is the place people can keep coming back to long after the social network has been reduced to an ancient city of ruins. Make sure that you actively engage the public on the most important networks (which currently are likely to be Facebook and LinkedIn) and feed the less important networks automated content from your RSS feeds and broadcasting applications (e.g. Ping.fm). Because social networks are more often visited than your website, it is also important to integrate them in your website and make it easy for your website visitors to connect with your social networking accounts. This creates a feedback loop between your website and the rest of the internet.

The era where your website was an isolated island in the wilderness of the internet are gone forever. Thanks to the advancements in SEO, social networking and RSS syndication the membrane between your site and the internet is as transparent as ever.

But you shouldn't count on the internet remaining as it is. The landscape is ever changing, and the roads that lead to your website are here today but could be gone tomorrow. Not to worry though, as old roads disappear, new roads will emerge, and central at them is your website and no-one can take that away from you.

If you aren't sure what Foursquare is, check our what is Foursquare guide.

Foursquare gives your users the ability to check into your venue, write reviews, post messages about your place to their wider network and find out other places nearby that might offer value for money.

Foursquare has therefore placed the power squarely in the hands of the consumer. They can freely share information about your business, and they can notify others nearby about your place.

That makes Foursquare a force to be reckoned with. But it is a force that you can use for good. Below, we'll share some tips on how you can grow your business with Foursquare.

Growing your business with Foursquare

Give your Mayor special perks

As mentioned previously, businesses give their Mayor's special perks, such as a free coffee, free entrance tickets and more. This adds to the competitive element, as anyone can snatch the title "Mayor" from the existing mayor. All they have to do is visit your place more often than the current mayor. Clearly advertise the benefits you'll give the Mayor in your establishment.

Give incentives for people to mention you on Foursquare

Offer a small discount to users who show you they've checked in.

Create a virtual Frequent Customer Card

Foursquare will tell you how often someone checked into your business. You can offer them a special offer, similar to what you would already be offering on your Frequent Customer Card on their 5th of 10th check-in.

Reward customer number x

Some businesses have a special reward for the one millionth customer (replace one millionth by whatever number you target). Some businesses offer a free tidbit to the first 10 customers who check in that day (something other than what they usually order, e.g. offer a free cupcake to go with their coffee). This will create a race amongst early birds, create more positive reviews of your business that will create awareness amongst users in the vicinity of your business.

Attract new customers

You can offer a free beer/soda/fries or whatever to the customer who tries your place for the first time. That gives users an incentive to come over and try out your establishment.

One of the best features on to drive new business is the "specials nearby" function. When a user checks in at an establishment near you, they are also notified about any deals offered in places nearby. This hands you a great opportunity to get new clients who might have otherwise checked in somewhere else.

Fill your business on a slow night

If Tuesdays are your slow days, you can offer a check-in special or discount. Or do what AJ Bombers did and play on users desire for hard-to-get-badges.

Encourage customers to come back

If someone hasn't checked in for a while, you can send them a special offer if they come back.

Sponsor the leaderboard

Foursquare's leaderboard is often checked,m as it shows the people who have earned the most points in any given city that week. Sponsoring the leaderboard will gain you plenty of exposure. One example of a business that sponsored the leaderboard is Pepsi.

Benchmark your progress

Foursquare offers tools that give you information about your customers. You can see who's checking in, what times are the busiest for you business (in terms of users) and what the ratio of male vs female users is. You can also offer instant promos, e.g. offer a customer who hasn't come by for a while a special discount.

Check out what your competitors are doing

Foresquare's page for businesses allows you to see what others, including your competitors are doing.

Start appealing to the Web 3.0 Generation

These tips should put you in perfect position to start competing for more customers from the Web 3.0 generation. For businesses that offer excellent service, word of mouth marketing has never been this easy.

More info on Foursquare for business.

Foursquare is an online service for your mobile device or PC. You can "check into" the various places where you arrive. If the location you arrive at isn't entered yet, you can enter it for yourself. That way, Foursquare is mapping every building in every city of the world.

The person who checks into a specific place most often can become the "Mayor" of that place. This has created a competitive element amongst Foursquare users, who battle with each other to become the Mayor of popular locations, whether they are supermarkets, coffee houses or museums. Businesses and public places have incentivised this behavior by offering the Mayor free coffee or free tickets. Samsung recently gave away 3D televisions to the its users who checked in at an event.

Why is Foursquare useful to users?

The above sounds like nothing more than a game. But Foursquare has a bigger vision than having people compete to become the Mayor of a specific place. This competition element serves a greater purpose: mapping the world and adding useful tips and TODO's to every location. Say for instance you check into a restaurant: Foursquare will provide you with reviews, what others thought were the best meals on the menu or perhaps suggest an alternative restaurant that had more positive reviews.

Why is Foursquare useful to your business?

The above description of Foursquare's usefulness to users already gives you a clue: Foursquare users will inevitably list your place of business, list reviews, and make business compete based on user reviews. If your place can give give incentives to its customers to write glowing reviews, you could even attract visitors who originally intended to visit a nearby competitor.

By enlisting on Foursquare, your business receives a new advertising channel. Foursquare enables you to offer promotions to new customers, reward frequent customers and create a mutually beneficial relationship with your best customer, the "Mayor" of your location (since the Mayor is the most influential promoter of your business). Creating excellent customer relationships with your Foursquare network will enable you to grow your peer reviews and will notify new visitors of the sweet deals your customers discovered at your place. Since updates are shared among the friends of the Foursquare users, your business will also be recommended to their wider network.

How to promote your business on Foursquare >>

At Online Design bureau clients often ask us if they should create a Facebook Group or a Facebook Fan Page. To most people they don't look all that different, but trust us, they are very dissimilar.

Facebook Groups are recommended for common interests. If you are a member of an organization, you can use Facebook groups to create events where people can gather to discuss common interests, or post relevant information and allow members to respond with comments.

Facebook Fan Pages have the same interactivity as groups, but with much more room for personalization. Just as a group, a fan page has a wall and a discussion board (optional), but there is much more possible than with a group. On a fan page you can use Facebook applications, flash and html code.

The big differences:

Send messages to members:

In a group you can send a message to the group and depending on their settings on Facebook, they can receive an email in their inbox. A fan page does not allow you to send messages, but you can send members an update. Updates are seen less often than messages, since they aren't emailed.

Google index:

Fan pages are indexed in the Google search results, group pages are not.

News summary:

A new message on your Fan Page wall will be seen on your 'fans' stream, but a post in a group will not.

Targeted news messages:

A fan page enables you to speak to a section of your members. For instance, you can send a message to all people from a particular location. A group doesn't allow you to pick and choose a demographic who the message will be sent to.

Deny members:

A fan page doesn't allow you to to deny members. Anybody who wants to become a fan can do so. A group on the other hand can be open to anyone, it can also only accept people after you invited them and you can even make your group secret.

Support applications:

A Fan Page supports applications, a group does not allow this.

Invite based e-mail:

In a group you can invite people based on an email address. With a fan page you cannot do this.

Vanity UR Ls:

A vanity URL is a short Facebook URL where your name is mentioned, eg http://www.facebook.com/pages/Online-Design-Bureau/122098354960 . Fan pages can create vanity URLs, groups don't allow you to do this. Vanity URLs are a great way to have your Facebook fan page found in Google. You can also set a vanity URL for your Facebook profile http://www.facebook.com/username.

Statistics:

A fan page allows you to review in depth statistics about interactivity, demographics and other factors, but a group will not allow you to do this

Widgets / fanbox:

You can turn your fan page into a widget on your website or blog. Groups don't give you that option.

Event inbox:

If you create an event on your fan page, you can not mail that event to your members, but a group will allow you to do this. So if your organization runs lots of events that you want your users to be aware of, you'll want to create a group, not a fan page.

Visible to non-members:

Fan pages can be viewed by anyone, including people who have no profile or aren't logged into Facebook. In other words, someone who has no Facebook profile can find your Fan page on Google and look at it. Groups will not only be invisible to Google searchers, they require the user to be logged into Facebook. Groups can also exclude certain members.

Anonymous:

The name of the Fan Page creator does not appear on a Facebook Fan Page. If you set up a group, your name appears on the page.

Overview:

If your company, brand, celebrity or band aims to build a long-lasting conversation with your audience, you should choose a fan page.

A group is not recommended for commercial use, but is better suited for personal projects you don't want to feature on your profile page and where a smaller scale interaction is expected.

You can follow these links to create your Facebook Group or a Facebook Fan Page.

The Facebook fan page of Online Design Bureau.

It is a simple trick, but no-one seems to know about it. So do me a favor, tell no-one, and don't retweet this, ok?

What do you do when your YouTube video is starting to attract less visitors? Simply change the category your video was posted in to another relevant category. It's sounds so simple, but it works every time.

The arrow in the graphic below shows the date when the video's category was switched.

So there you have it, a simple trick to dramatically increase the amount of times your video is watched...