(This article first appeared on the blog, Silicon Angle)

The migration frenzy to Facebook by every company in America and beyond is something we absolutely understand and appreciate here at OCS. Who doesn’t want their message in front of that many eyeballs? Just the idea of possibly capturing even a smidgen of a fraction of the Facebook audience is enough to make a room full of top executives salivate for a week straight.

I’m sure the conversations go something like this: “Just think, if someone posts something about our brand and it goes on their wall and the walls of their friends and then they see our logo and get curious and click on a link and the fact that they clicked on a link to our brand shows up on the walls of all of that person’s friends, we could be all over the place!” (Hear the exhaustive panting? See the sweat on the brow?) Okay, they may not go exactly that way but I know I’m close because I’ve been involved in such conversations. It’s insane not to give it a try. I get that. Facebook Connect, the application that allows companies to integrate Facebook and tap into it’s power, is a wonderful thing and the benefits of doing so have been and continue to be well documented across the social web.

But, let’s just take a deep breath for a second and remember that there are other online communities out there with huge memberships that might be worth your time as well. If you have products or services that would be of interest to moms for instance, it might be a good idea to consider shifting some of your marketing efforts to sites like CafeMom or Momtourage. These are bustling communities with a ton of members, very impressive traffic and high levels of engagement. If moms are your target, there is no question whether or not you’ll find the demographic you seek. The pool may not be as big as Facebook’s, but the water could be just as nice, and the rewards even nicer.

If you want to reach car enthusiasts, consider specific niche communities that cater to that audience you are trying to reach. CarDomain might be a good place to start.

As the Editor of a local online community with close to 14,000 members I see discussions about a lot of brands on a daily basis. They range from national brands to local brands. Some are complimentary, some are quite critical, but all are relevant and should be important to those brands.

The conversations take place in blogs, on individual profiles and even on the comments sections of news stories. Why are these opportunities being missed? The answer to that question is more than likely a lack of time and resources.

As the concept of brand monitoring continues to grow and companies begin to ‘join the conversations’ the focus is largely on conversations taking place on mainstream social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and major blogs. That does covers a lot of ground and for some of the really big brands, it could be enough. But what about the smaller communities where people who are passionate about your brand and openly discussing their experiences? Is that less valuable because there may only be 500 people reading the post?

I can recall a blog posted by a member who was seriously contemplating Lasik eye surgery and asked the community for advice. It came in droves. Two local businesses were mentioned by name and several individual doctors were recommended as well. There was mention of bad experiences and some chimed in saying that they too had been considering the surgery and wanted to find someone with a good reputation and satisfied patients who could refer them.

Can you imagine what would have happened had anyone from those offices gotten involved in this conversation, perhaps offering a special, a consultation, expertise or even tips on how to select a doctor?

It could have been a marketing mecca had the right people “joined the conversation.” I even contacted two of the parties mentioned when I recognized the opportunity. They failed to get involved. A missed opportunity all around. The only thing it would have cost is time. But I suppose that time is better spent on platforms like Facebook. These were potential customers in their own backyard and they failed to see the value in that.

In no way am I saying anyone should take the focus off of Facebook, but don’t be afraid to look for other opportunities as well. They’re out there. It’s up to you to find them.