I recently attended the Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) Summit, and thought you'd be interested in the insight we gained into Facebook's latest direction as it relates to advertising. Of all the Facebook conferences I’ve been to, this one was by far the most enlightening. Without releasing any confidential information, here’s my list of the 9 core "take aways" for brands and agencies on how to think about Facebook in a different light that drives your businesses forward.

1. It’s about time we move away from Social KPI's.

Facebook is moving away from focusing on social KPI's (Likes, PTAT, etc…) and has started to move toward measuring success based on KPI's that businesses care about, such as CPA, Video Views, Online Sales and Offline Sales. Socialtyze feels that the two can be worked together with a singular goal of stimulating long-term customer relationships and sales.

2. You really should know thy customer.

Currently, you can retarget your customers via "Custom Audiences" (i.e., website visitors, e-mail addresses and Facebook ID's). Without question, "Custom Audiences" has been the most effective marketing method in driving sales.So, what are the next steps?Our next step is to build powerful customer databases that are tied to Facebook. This can be done through apps; with authentication and the right privacy policy, you can build a powerful connection to millions of customers who you can reach out to with relevant messages, whenever you want, based upon engagement and purchase behavior.

3. We need to close the loop.

By knowing and tracking your customers, you can close the loop between advertising, engagement and purchasing. You can then optimize, retarget, build loyalty and increase ROI.

4. It’s important to target people, not cookies.

With Facebook, you can target people, rather than cookies. Cookie blockers, multiple devices, and users turning off cookies make cookie targeting much less reliable.By targeting people, you can connect and track the same person across desktop, phone and tablet. 66% of digital users access the web through multiple devices and 30% delete cookies every month.What’s the difference in reach of a narrowly targeted audience? 38% online (cookies) and 98% Facebook (Nielsen, Aug 2013).

5. Brands need to utilize Facebook’s third party data partners.

It’s worth working with a Facebook PMD, to align with third party data companies that will allow you to make the connection between your advertising and offline purchasing. In addition, we can create A / B testing to measure the effectiveness of your ad dollars.

6. It’s time we start creating & targeting Look-alikes.

Once you gather in-depth data on your best customers, work with a PMD to build new ones via look-alike targeting.

7. Don’t forget to capitalize on the rapid ascent of mobile.

There is no question that Mobile is on fire. It now accounts for 49% of all Facebook revenue. FB's Mobile users were also up 40% to 874 MM in 3Q13 from a year prior.So what can you do as a brand?Shape your ad strategy with mobile in mind. Focus on building and/or upgrading your mobile apps to build your databases, engage/convert customers, then measure and optimize.

8. Just be relevant.

Advertising can be more about ADDING to life, rather than ADVERTING customers away from what they really want to do.Brands can, and should, be much more relevant in their messaging. Ads need to inform, entertain and engage users. Make an effort to truly connect with customers. Use smart data tools to help you understand what your customers care about most.Use copywriters and designers that know social and rely on advice from your data partners to create the right message and optimize to constantly improve.

9. Should you double down on Facebook Advertising?

Socialtyze believes in the power of social media, and we are particularly confident in the power of Facebook.Why? For all the above reasons I’ve listed, but also because:

"It is where you can find all the people that matter to you, where they find what matters to them."

In short, most of your customers and potential customers are on Facebook, and they are using it as a stream of information to gather updates on things happening in and around their lives. It shapes their opinions on what to do, who to see and what to buy. We want our clients to be an integral part of those updates, particularly for their best and most influential customers.In addition, by the numbers:

• Unparalleled Reach: 1.1 Billion Active Users; 750 MM Active Users Per Day
• More Time on Mobile than Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Tumblr combined.
• Incomparable User Data

If you’re curious what our 10th take away is, reach out to us! John@Socialtyze.com.