Honda is teaming up with a very popular Facebook application and online game. It's one of the fastest ways to get your product noticed on the internet today - by making a game or smartphone application for it. Honda is on the ball with their social networking venture.

The ads are on display in Facebook virtual game "Car Town," as Honda advertises on the social-network site for the first time today. The game allows users to collect and customize cars, and it has 3.1 million users. It was released on Facebook two weeks ago by Cie Games Inc.

"You can have 200,000 people drive past a billboard on an L.A. freeway every day, but you don't have the same level of engagement as when people select "Car Town,'" Steve Center, Honda's vice president for advertising, said in an interview. "Marketers and game developers will discover they are building powerful channels and that there's enormous property for sale."

With total ad spending on Facebook estimated at $1.28 billion this year, according to EMarketer, social media is vital to marketers.

Companies now view social media as a core part of their online marketing spending, said Victoria Ransom, the founder of Wildfire Interactive Inc., which has helped various global companies build social marketing campaigns.

So next time you're racing people on your friend's list down a course in "Car Town," make sure you stop and take a look at the all new Honda CR-Z hybrid.

Or come in to a real life dealer and check out the two door green car for yourself, Fletcher Jones Honda - 1100 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60610.

Source:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-23/facebook-s-car-town-gains-honda-ads-in-games-shift.html