If you’re still living under a rock without an Internet connection, you’ve probably never heard of social networking or Facebook.  But, for the rest of us, Facebook is an important aspect of Internet marketing for your business.

What? You thought Facebook was for college kids looking for poker games or teenagers looking for the latest photo of the Jonas Brothers?

If so, you’re sadly mistaken and you need to get your buttocks over to Facebook pronto and start mingling!

Here are the top ten reasons you need to be using Facebook to promote your business online:

10. It’s Free - Facebook has paid advertising available, but creating an account and using it to your advantage is absolutely free! If you interact with people and engage in regular activity, you will get more traffic, more subscribers, and…you guessed it…more money.

9. Laser Targeted Advertising – Facebook Advertising gives you the ability to test out your niche with laser targeted ads in a very specific group at an affordable price.

8. Increase Visibility - You don’t want to be the one left behind and you definitely want to be where all the eyeballs are. Facebook has millions of eyeballs daily. Are you there? Can they see you?

7. Google Loves Facebook – You can create both a personal profile and a “Page” for your business. Google happens to love Facebook and you will likely see your business Facebook Page indexed and ranking well in a short amount of time because Google is always sending out their little spiders to that neighborhood.

6. Research Your Niche – Take a look at Facebook profiles and Facebook Groups. Facebook users give up mass amounts of information about themselves. You can research your niche demographics easily and free just by surfing Facebook!

5. Brand Yourself – You’ve likely begun to realize that a business profile and a personal profile have started to become equally important. The ones who personalize their brand will be the leaders in the niche in the years to come.

4. Networking - It’s called Social Networking for a reason. be social and network! Engage in conversations, groups, and use private messaging to connect with your peers and customers. Building relationships online is crucial for the success of your business.

3. Easy Ice Breaker – Facebook was built to connect with people, and unlike the real world, it is much easier to find and approach highly successful people and actually have them reply to you. It really levels the playing field and more and more people are becoming less “untouchable”, regardless of their success level.

2. Meet Business Contacts – There’s more than 250 million active users on Facebook right now. It’s not just “friends” anymore. People are making deals, creating joint ventures, gaining new customers, and increasing business in general using Facebook on a regular basis.

1. Your Competitor Is Using Facebook – Maybe you don’t see this as important enough to be number one, but read the first line of number two again. How many people in your niche are on Facebook? If you’re not getting in front of them,  making connections with potential customers, subscribers, etc., then who is? That’s right, your competitor! Stop fighting it. Join Facebook.