• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, August 2, 2007

JPMorgan Chase is back as exclusive credit card sponsor on Facebook after its freshman year on the social networking site. Chase kicked off a marketing initiative on Facebook in 2006 for its "+1" credit card, aimed at college students. The effort revolved around a Chase group page on Facebook where users could earn rewards points by getting a card, referring a friend and other actions.

The +1 promotion also featured educational tips and tools related to credit and spending. "We're very happy with the partnership on all fronts," says Kathy Witsil, senior vice president for Chase Card Services. So what has Chase learned about marketing to the Facebook crowd?

"We're constantly launching new functionalities because you have to keep things fresh since the user base is so active," says Witsil. Last year Chase ran several credit education programs for both college- and high school-age students in which it partnered with celebrities and nonprofit organizations, such as dosomething.org. It plans to launch a new set of features for its sophomore campaign on Facebook.

While declining to provide specific metrics, Witsil says the +1 effort on Facebook has helped Chase raise brand awareness and add new customers among college kids. "Chase has done a really nice job in researching this market to figure out what this community is interested in, in terms of a credit product," says Mike Murphy, Facebook's vice president of media sales.

To that end, Chase recruits student "ambassadors" on about 600 campuses to generate buzz for the +1 program and help gain insight into the Web 2.0 generation.