Facebook has created a central point for developer advice consolidating its various marketing advice sources into one program, the Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) program.

The program will assist brands to connect with developers and provide advice to help implement campaigns, develop apps, optimise social plugins and develop strategies for Facebook Pages.

A driving force behind Facebook’s assistance in this area is to ensure Facebook campaigns and presences are implemented effectively and according to the social network’s rules. To this end, Facebook allows developers to apply for a ‘Preferred Marketing Developer’ (PMD) badge, to certify the developer’s compliance with its standards.

The number of PMDs listed by Facebook has increased to 232 across 35 different countries, following the recent addition of 141 companies from 20 countries that were not represented in the previous programs. Leaders in the social media development space Vitrue, Adobe, and KRDS are examples of large developers certified under the program.

A lookup tool is available for brands to find developers by geography and expertise and read case studies and feedback. It shows developers by specific areas of expertise, such as pages, ads, apps, and insights.

According to Facebook, companies certified under the programs over the past few years have experienced strong growth. Vitrue grew from 66 employees in 2010 to 180 in 2011 and opened five new offices, expanding internationally. Adobe has also shown significant growth, acquiring Efficient Frontier and Context Optional and recently announcing its Adobe Social unit to help customers manage their Facebook investments across pages, ads, apps and Insights with a single solution.