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Guess where users are spending more time — TV or mobile/web?

For the first time, mobile/web wins– at 197 minutes per day versus 168 minutes. That would seem to be 6 hours per day, but it’s actually closer to 4, since most people have their phones while watching TV.

So what, and what you should do about it?

Mobile is where your customers are, whether you are a real-estate agent, B2B company, pizzeria, marketing consultant, or whoever. This year, smartphone penetration in the United States passed 50%. You can buy ads on Facebook mobile in the newsfeed for 30% less than what you’re paying for RHS (right-hand side) ads.

Are you taking advantage of this discount, plus the fact that on iphones, your page post ads will take up the whole screen? Learn the techniques here. You’re busy. And a few minutes to learn to set up these ads to run on auto-pilot for the next year is worth your time.

How many items are being liked on Facebook each day?

Answer: 2.7 billion. And since January 2009, Facebook has accumulated 1.3 trillion likes, according to Andrew Bosworth, engineering director.

So what, and what you should do about it?

Fans for the sheer sake of fans is vanity, at best, and wasting money at worst. But legitimately lighting the fire on worth of mouth– to get your best fans (real world customers) talking about you is no different than getting more reviews on Yelp, Zagat, or wherever. In fact, the head of Bing search told me it influences search engine rankings.

You’re competing in Google and Facebook to “show up” in the search results and the newsfeed. Forget the black magic about EdgeRank (Facebook themselves even tells authors like us to not mention the term, but to call it “the algorithm). Instead, focus on more interactions, since that’s the signal both engines use. Yes, comments on your site affect Google rankings, too, in the same way that directory reviews affect your local rankings, if you have a store or office.

To get more “votes”, which then influences search rankings, run page post ads on Facebook. Promoted Posts are easy to run, too. Just make sure you’re targeting the right audience in your geography and interest segments, as opposed to all friends of your fans. Oh, and this helps your newsfeed exposure on Facebook, too. Bonus!

Putting a like button on your site and implementing fbconnect will also help you get more interactions, even when people aren’t on Facebook. And my favorite, get them to be a fan via text here.

What’s a Facebook fan worth?

$1.07 according to research released by the Wall Street Journal. But some fans are worth more than others.

Facebook says the average Facebook user has 130 friends, but that the average fan has 320 friends. Why? If you’re a fan of one thing, you’re likely to be a fan of many things and also more likely to be someone who is less sensitive about privacy, plus more interested in sharing.

We know the average cost per click on Facebook is about 70 cents and the average CTR (click-through rate) is 0.040%, in case you’re wondering how well you’re doing compared to others.

But the performance for a fast food company promoting pictures of bacon will perform quite differently than a plastic surgeon promoting new research on laser varicose vein removal. Not apples to apples. One is going for likes and the other is going for leads.

So what, and what you should do about it?

Comparing against broad averages is fruitless. All that matters is real ROI for your business– the metrics you choose. The majority of case studies out there either worked in very special circumstances (they have a well-known brand, had a supporting direct mail budget to drive traffic, got unique news coverage, are in a different industry than you, or didn’t actually drive success). Ignore them.

65.8% of statistics are made up. So if you want phone calls, measure phone calls with one of many call tracking tools. Or if you’re low tech, just ask people how they heard about you.  If you are a marketing consultant, forget about mass and target people by their job titles and where they work, as sneakily outlined here.

How much of your ad budget is being wasted?

50%, according to the famous quote by John Wanamaker. But he doesn’t know which half.

With few exceptions, online performs better than print, magazine, or other offline marketing. The yellow pages is nearly dead— 500 million directories printed each year, which is half a billion, and 24 million trees cut down. That’s a lot of door stops, kindling, or whatever other clever uses you can think of.

Should you stop print advertising altogether? We know many businesses that have make the switch cold-turkey, never looking back. But certain vertical directories and still good, so it’s not a black and white issue. It’s yellow.

What we do know for sure is that micro-targeted ads on Facebook, no matter what the industry, are massively effective. For example, running sponsored results– in other words, dominating search results on Facebook for whatever keywords you choose.  Get these for 5 cents a click at a 12% CTR.

Don’t screw it up

There is no magic bullet, but with the right strategy for your business, you can select the right tactics for your business. And that means rapid cycles of posting content, amplifying it, and repeating it– as opposed to spending a lot of time perfecting your website or spending a lot of time just doing just one other thing. Look at how to run quick combinations, as seen on Social Media Examiner.

You’ll likely not have success if you just hire a consultant without being in charge of your social strategy.

If you’re a consultant, don’t be like this guy who pinged me while I’m writing this article. The world of cold-calling is dead. Write great content, sharing it freely on your blog and influential sites. One of the best examples of passionate storytelling while sharing deep expertise is right here.

When EF Hutton talks, other people listen

Big data, more noise, not enough time, too many tools. Break through the clutter by getting your best customers to do the work for you. That’s why we are so bullish on Facebook Sponsored Stories and highly targeted page post ads as the theme of this article.

But you have to generate the great content (not merely good– but amazing) that people will talk about. Then you use ads to amplify it. You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken sh!t. But even if you can’t write content, interview the people who are pros and place the conversation on your blog. They will likely promote your interview to their audience, too!

The new age of inbound marketing is the death of the traditional sales channel. You lead now with expertise and the word of what your loyal customers say about you.

How does this impact your marketing plans in 2013?

Let me know in the Heyo Facebook community, tagging me at @dennisyu. I’ll answer every question you ask. Just might take me a bit of time to get to it, but I promise to help!

Meet Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is the Chief Technology Officer of BlitzMetrics, a digital marketing company which partners with schools to train young adults.

Dennis’s program centers around mentorship, helping students grow their expertise to manage social campaigns for enterprise clients like the Golden State Warriors, Nike, and Rosetta Stone.

He’s an internationally recognized lecturer in Facebook Marketing and has spoken in 17 countries, spanning 5 continents, including keynotes at L2E, Gultaggen, and Marketo Summit.

Dennis has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, National Public Radio, TechCrunch, Fox News, CBS Evening News and is co-author of Facebook Nation – a textbook taught in over 700 colleges and universities.

He’s a regular contributor for Adweek’s SocialTimes column and has published in Social Media Examiner, Social Media Club, Tweak Your Biz, B2C, Social Fresh, and Heyo.

He held leadership positions at Yahoo! and American Airlines and studied Finance and Economics at Southern Methodist University as well as London School of Economics. He ran collegiate cross-country at SMU and has competed in over 20 marathons including a 70 mile ultramarathon.

Besides being a Facebook data and ad geek, you can find him eating chicken wings or playing Ultimate Frisbee in a city near you.

You can contact him at dennis@blitzmetrics.com, his blog, or on Facebook.