Since February of 2009, Facebook membership has grown over 330% to the astonishing number of 474 million users.

Think about that.

Facebook’s membership is now over four times the size of this year’s Super Bowl audience. And advertisers were willing to pay upwards of $3M per 30-second TV spot for the 2010 Super Bowl.

What would they have paid if the Super Bowl had four times the 106 million viewers that tuned in this year?

Well, on Facebook, it costs a lot less to advertise and furthermore, your audience is a lot more captive than the ones typically situated in front of television sets. That is largely due to the interactive nature of Facebook usage. And with an ever-expanding list of applications designed to capture and hold the attention of its members, the opportunities for companies to promote product awareness on Facebook are nearly limitless.

There are two primary ways companies can budget for advertising costs on Facebook. The most popular is “cost per click,” which involves paying only for those instances where a Facebook member actually clicks through to a particular advertisement. It works by having advertisers bid on what they are willing to pay per click when certain keywords trigger an ad. The minimum bid is just a penny per click, so it’s an affordable way for even the smallest of startup companies to gain exposure.

Larger companies may consider using Facebook’s “cost per view” method, which allows marketers to bid on what they are willing to pay per 1,000 impressions (or views) of their particular ad.

Either way, the marketing opportunities on Facebook are not only less expensive than other traditional forms of advertising. They are also highly flexible and carry an impressive capacity for precision targeting. You can learn more about custom Facebook applications designed to enhance the awareness of your firm by visiting companies like AvenueSocial (www.avenuesocial.com) online.

All that said, it makes you wonder whether next year’s Super Bowl commercials will feature Facebook-ready car radios and mouse-clicking Clydesdales.

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