One of the leading thinkers of the social web, Paul Adams, writes about how small groups of friends are the key to influence on the social web in his book, “Grouped” (a must read for all aspiring Elegant Pirates). His thoughts, condensed below for your reading pleasure, will teach you how to navigate the murky waters of social marketing, and ultimately make you one of the elite few who utilize Facebook as an asset rather than a liability.

Evolution Has Gone Digital
People have maintained social networks for over 10,000 years. They are synonymous with humanity, and they facilitate communication within our very social species. Ultimately it is the communication in conversation, advice, and recommendations that greatly motivates how we act and what we buy. The feature most fundamental to being human is increasingly manifesting itself online.

Make your user experience incredibly social. Build it around people, rather than the individual experience. Look at what Zynga has done to gaming, and what Spotify is doing to music.

Sow the Seeds of Your Business Where They Will Grow 
Typically, people have five friends in their inner circle, 15 people they are very close to, and 50 people that they communicate with semi-regularly. Each person uniquely connects multiple groups together. Connected groups are required for ideas to spread.

Create content that is likely to resonate between close groups of friends. Focus on getting your message spread in a group as much as you do in getting it to spread between groups.

Their Best Friends are Your Best Friends
Those who are close to us hold a disproportionate amount of influence over what we buy. Facebook allows us to identify close friends within groups, and allows us to hone in on these relationships.

Build your social media campaign around the strong ties between friends. Add recommendation incentives to your page, and utilize Facebook’s “Sponsored Stories” feature.

Identify Interests and Affiliations
Never has it been easier to identify the type of people who are most likely to adopt and spread the message you have for the world. As users (stupidly) post increasingly sensitive and personal information online, businesses find it easier to target those whose interests and affiliations coincide with their brand. Facebook offers an almost empirical formula for reaching out to these certain individuals. 

Use Facebook Groups to identify Market Mavens in your field (see Three Laws of Viral Growth).

Welcome to the Genuine Network
People love reviews. At first glance it might seem that a forum of unfiltered feedback for your brand is its own unique form of business hell. But reality paints a different picture. Visible feedback from users is powerful. Criticism makes you real. Statistically, for every negative review that is posted on Facebook, there are eight positive ones.

 Embrace the feedback. Do not edit out criticism. Respond to it in a timely and elegant manner. Other users will see how you’ve handled one of their own, and love you all the more for it.

Emotion Always Trumps Rationality
Your Facebook Feed is the ultimate proof that rational thought is almost non-existent in the Social Network. Though this may be infuriating, it actually serves as a great benefit to brands that want to generate buzz. Creativity is the new currency in online marketing.

Rather than trying to start a craze by toting a “x% off sale” through Facebook, create a cool shout-out on something like Mother’s Day… hell, you could even create your own holiday.

Small Requests are Leading to Big Change
Asking someone to deviate from their normal behavior to adopt your product is incredibly difficult. In fact, it is the most significant challenge faced by every business. It is a battle against basic biology; humans are evolutionarily hardwired to resist change as a safety mechanism for their survival. Facebook makes that transition easier by allowing you to interact in the smallest of ways with your customer. These small interactions are crucial in paving the way to an eventual acceptance of your brand.

It all starts with a “Like”. Any saucy comment or question can garner “Likes” to your target audience.

It is the Beginning of the End for Interruption Marketing
From endless commercials to idiotic pop-ups, interruption marketing has become the industry standard…and people are sick of it. Recommendations from friends are becoming the absolute most important and credible source of marketing. Facebook allows you to facilitate recommendations  within a small, connected group of friends, which in turn make your brand trustworthy and relevant.

Don’t even think about engaging on interruption marketing. Focus your resources on tailored marketing to small groups.

Good Luck Pirates