Carl's Jr. Very Effective Use of Social Media, Internet Marketing, Video, More

Carl’s Jr. has over 1100 locations with 772 in California. They have no locations in my current home state of Florida. However, because of my business consulting experience in the restaurant industry along with a controversial video commercial released by Carl’s several years ago, I became aware of this restaurant business. I learned it was  founded with the purchase of one hot dog cart for less than $500  in 1941.

While reviewing a Facebook  application recommended by a friend I noticed an ad on the site for Carl’s.  Of course I remembered the original video that was absolutely outrageous and wondered if they had posted it on Facebook.  (They did not.)  What I did notice was they have almost 68,000 fans, they are promoting a new sandwich, offering an incentive coupon and their fan page wall is extremely active.

I went a little deeper and clicked to their website.  I stayed there maybe 5-8 minutes watching all their video commercials. They are very entertaining. I registered for their newsletter. The visuals, sounds and messages of the videos and the images of the graphics are terrific. If there was a location nearby I would be a customer.  I also feel that the next time I visit the West Coast I will look them up. Their presentation is that good.

Carl’s Jr has links to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flicker on their website.  I am not sure if they have expanded onto other social media sites. If  asked I would  recommend they be on every major social media venue. Clearly the visuals and sound are huge assets for their messages about their food.

Food isn’t the only attraction as evidenced by one YouTube video with Audriana Partridge in a hot gold bikini eating one of Carl’s Jr.’s famous sandwiches. This video has already been viewed over 545 thousand times with most others by Carl’s Jr.  being viewed in the range of 20 thousand.  Think about the value of one YouTube video being viewed over one half million times.

I did a brief review of Facebook to see if key competitors are using social media. Facebook members have activated McDonald’s and Wendy’s fan pages. Neither company seems to have an active Facebook presence.

I am a major advocate for using social media to build business profits. But here is the key as demonstrated by Carl’s Jr.: you have got to have a hook.  Carl’s is kicking butt in their ads for size, quality and price vs. McDonald’s.  Then they add amazing visuals, incentives, and are definitely on top of their game when it comes to strengthening social relationships.  So they are hitting on all cylinders including the use of a well toned body wearing little excited about a huge order of food. What an amazing contrast and Carl’s Jr. pulls it off marvelously just as they did a few years back with a famous celebrity promoting their food wearing near nothing on the hood of a car.  It was amazing.

On video and in pictures, Carl’s Jr. looks like  great tasting food. I assume that is the case with more than 1,100 locations. Of course that is key for sustained growth in same store sales as well as sustained growth in the number of locations. Somehow I suspect the food experience is great and I will confirm that one of these days. If you have eaten at Carl’s Jr. please share your experiences including what you ordered.

Great  example Carl’s Jr. of executing very well on fundamentals.

Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coaching
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

727-587-7871
Email

Carl’s Jr. Very Effective Use of Social Media, Internet Marketing, Video, More

Carl’s Jr. has over 1100 locations with 772 in California. They have no locations in my current home state of Florida. However, because of my business consulting experience in the restaurant industry along with a controversial video commercial released by Carl’s several years ago, I became aware of this restaurant business. I learned it was  founded with the purchase of one hot dog cart for less than $500  in 1941.

While reviewing a Facebook  application recommended by a friend I noticed an ad on the site for Carl’s.  Of course I remembered the original video that was absolutely outrageous and wondered if they had posted it on Facebook.  (They did not.)  What I did notice was they have almost 68,000 fans, they are promoting a new sandwich, offering an incentive coupon and their fan page wall is extremely active.

I went a little deeper and clicked to their website.  I stayed there maybe 5-8 minutes watching all their video commercials. They are very entertaining. I registered for their newsletter. The visuals, sounds and messages of the videos and the images of the graphics are terrific. If there was a location nearby I would be a customer.  I also feel that the next time I visit the West Coast I will look them up. Their presentation is that good.

Carl’s Jr has links to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flicker on their website.  I am not sure if they have expanded onto other social media sites. If  asked I would  recommend they be on every major social media venue. Clearly the visuals and sound are huge assets for their messages about their food.

Food isn’t the only attraction as evidenced by one YouTube video with Audriana Partridge in a hot gold bikini eating one of Carl’s Jr.’s famous sandwiches. This video has already been viewed over 545 thousand times with most others by Carl’s Jr.  being viewed in the range of 20 thousand.  Think about the value of one YouTube video being viewed over one half million times.

I did a brief review of Facebook to see if key competitors are using social media. Facebook members have activated McDonald’s and Wendy’s fan pages. Neither company seems to have an active Facebook presence.

I am a major advocate for using social media to build business profits. But here is the key as demonstrated by Carl’s Jr.: you have got to have a hook.  Carl’s is kicking butt in their ads for size, quality and price vs. McDonald’s.  Then they add amazing visuals, incentives, and are definitely on top of their game when it comes to strengthening social relationships.  So they are hitting on all cylinders including the use of a well toned body wearing little excited about a huge order of food. What an amazing contrast and Carl’s Jr. pulls it off marvelously just as they did a few years back with a famous celebrity promoting their food wearing near nothing on the hood of a car.  It was amazing.

On video and in pictures, Carl’s Jr. looks like  great tasting food. I assume that is the case with more than 1,100 locations. Of course that is key for sustained growth in same store sales as well as sustained growth in the number of locations. Somehow I suspect the food experience is great and I will confirm that one of these days. If you have eaten at Carl’s Jr. please share your experiences including what you ordered.

Great  example Carl’s Jr. of executing very well on fundamentals.

Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coaching
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

727-587-7871
Email

Build Profits on Facebook

Build Profits is  back on Facebook.  This group was originally started in mid-2008.  Early morning on July 8, 2009 the original group was compromised. Within Facebook’s system, the practical solution was to shut down the  group and restart.

While being absent from Facebook, the strategy for the new Business Profits Facebook Group was modified.  The scope of what will be presented to members of this group will be totally awesome. Build Profits will cover all proven proven principles, processes and tools  for building profits and building business asset value.

Some of the information on tools and techniques for Building Profits  are fairly new when placed on the “business knowledge” timeline. For example, members will receive proven social media network and social media marketing guidance. Yes I will  include how to use  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs and more to Build Profits. You will also always be reminded of the one certain measurement of how well you are building business profits and business value.

I am passionate  about the fundamentals of business and the tools we have.  I am also very passionate about how Universal Laws apply to all areas of our lives and yes that means business.  Members are in for a wonderful ride. Membership is free and all you have to do is go to this Facebook Link and join us.

I hope you join us. I would love to experience the contribution of your energy, experience and  wisdom.

This is the link Build Profits on Facebook

Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coaching
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

727-587-7871
Email

Social Media Blueprint

A panel discussion of Social Media experts formed at a recent JV Alert conference addressed a question on the business of Social Media. A key point  made is that Social Media is a tool.

That excellent reminder serves as the starting point for this summary on How To Use Social Media to Start and Grow a Business. Social Media is a general term for community based Internet sites with the biggest ones being Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and very fast growing ones like Twitter and LinkedIn.

Generally, my first response with a question like “how should I use Social Media?” is “what is it that you want”.  My business Manifest Mastermind guides everyone in our free course as well as paying members to begin with a clear definition of what it is that you want and  then they are asked why. 

Applying this to Social Media and using my own experience as an example, my initial goal was to understand the primary options for Social Media sites. My conclusion was that I could spend my time for entertainment or for developing business.  Very soon I further clarified Social Media for me which was that I wanted to know if Social Media was a valid tool for building a profitable business.

Social proof that Social Media is an effective tool for building a business is Manifest Mastermind. The time line from business idea to business launch was four months. This actually could have been shorter if we would have been able to allocate more financial resources to it.  We spent a lot of professional time and very little cash in developing this business.

When possible I would advise others to outsource more but we proved that a business could be successfuly launced with very little money.

Social Media Blueprint:

This is a top level summary of the  Social Media Blueprint I recommend. This is  based on my actual experience with Manifest Mastermind:

1. Have a clear definition of what you want and why.  Are you using Social Media for business or pleasure?  If you intend to use Social Media sites for developing  business there will and should be pleasure because Social Media is about developing relationships with people interested in who you are and what you are doing. 

2. Identify what Social Media sites are best for your business. Actually this is fairly easy with the top three sites for business being Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  There are an ever increasing list of social media sites. Start with the ones that have the market. LinkedIn is growing fast and can be another one that is important for you going forward. 

3. Form relationships with those most likely interested in that what you are doing.  I am sure you have heard the advice to define your target market. This is no different. How do you find your market on Social Media sites? There are several ways. A primary one is doing research on: who is talking about your business topic (Twitter); who is joining groups related to your business (Facebook); and, who is adding video content related to your business (YouTube).  I advise a filtering approach. Invite people into your world and then invite them into a network focused on your niche business. 

4. Ultimately you must capture those with an interest into your own list. We use traditional Internet Marketing guidance on bringing people to our list and then offering value to demonstate why they benefit from spending money with us. 

Next Steps:

Manifest Mastermind’s business purpose is to help others create their own success stories. Success stories happen in the areas where people are clearly focused on a prioritized list of their own dreams. Dreams fall into three main categories: financial, health and relationships.  They are never mutually exclusive. Our guidance is based on The Law of Attraction and the Mastermind Principle.  Guidance is developed with experts advising us on particular topics.

We are expanding our reach in Social Media and we are soon launching our small group mastermind program. Every business model on line and off is based on one foundation principle: traffic and conversion.  We are extending our traffic building model beyond Social Media. However, Social Media remains an integral part of our business development strategy.

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

Steve Pohlit
The Profit Expert 

Steve is the Co-Founder of Manifest Mastermind and  President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. FREE Reports: 

How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term

7 Steps To Manifesting Your Dreams

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: Follow me on Twitter

 

 

Dubli Auction Network – Pay Attention To These SEO Results

Background:

Several months ago a gentleman living in Naples, Fl. called me and asked me to look at Dubli Auction Network, a business about to enter the US. I was not real interested in this pitch. However, there was something that suggested I take a closer look.

In retrospect I  know what caught my attention. The credibility of the caller and his partner Denise was the reason. More on that later. Here is what happened and the results to date:

1. I looked at the business that started in Europe and quickly realized it applealed to the auction market, which is huge, and to the casino market, also huge.
2. I felt the reverse auction offered by Dubli Auctions presented a unique marketing proposition.
3. Based on the evaluation of the first two points I concluded Dubli Auction Network was worth some of my time.

The Lessson In This  Story Is The Surprising Development of the Search Engine Position for Dubli Auction Network on Google.

My first test was to do a very simple web site to make sure I understood the opportunity for the consumer and the business opportunity associated with Dubli. None of the typical SEO techniques were used. Minimal thought to  keywords and descriptions.  The site is still very much like the original design and can be seen at www.dublian.com I was successful in having the primary keyword Dubli in the domain.  My idea for the domain was Dubli Auction Network or DubliAN   and so it was.

At this point nothing unusual. I was simply using my Dubli Auction Network site as a reference point in my discussions with my friends Alfred and Denise in Naples.  Then while developing www.youtubemastery.net I thought it would be a great idea to  add a  video to my Dubli Auction Network site and I did that.

Denise called two days later and asked me if I was aware of my site being on the first page of Google. I had not. When I  looked and called her and said I was in the number one position … a first with other than my own name on Google search.  The video had captured the attention of the keyword Dubli Auction

As I write this, my site has two out of the top 4 positions for Dubli Auction.  I view this experience as a powerful demonstration of the value of video for SEO. I have more examples but this one should get your engines started. Go to Google.com and enter Dubli Aucton in your search . Look at the postioning of http://dublian.com

This Is Not About Video!
This Is Not About The Consumer Market for Dubli Auction Network!
This is Not About The Business Opportunity With  Dubli Auction Network

This Is About How To Use The Lastest Tools For Helping Your Business. These tools include SEO, YouTube Mastery, Blogging For Profits.. and more all linked to an integrated marketing strategy. Can You Do This Yourself?  Absolutely?  If you want to accelerate your results with my help call 727-587-7871.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance

Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: MySpace: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

5 Steps To Stop Insane Management From Driving Business Into The Ground

As a reminder the popular definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting the different  results”. Most companies continue to do business the same way and blame the economy and high gas prices on their declining business results when they should be looking in the mirror. There seems to be a strong undercurrent of “I am waiting for somebody to do something vs. I am responsible.”

The operative word here is most. There are sectors of the economy that have been hit by current conditions. I will leave that analysis to economist and academics. They have a lot more expertise in such matters and enjoy the intellectual debates of cause and effect. I have a laser beam focus on what individual companies can and should be doing to achieve their potential.

I am excluding from this article any company who is in serious cash flow difficulty. When a business gets to that point, crisis management… turnaround expertise is needed. MY firm International Resources does that work and we are very good at it. I always advise if you are in that situation, call me or a firm like mine right now as time is of the essence. My direct line is 727-587-7871.

What are “The 5 Steps To Stop Insane Management From Driving Business Into The Ground?”

1. Have a very clear profit plan at each line item of business performance. Measure actual performance against plan and have clear accountability for achieving the plan line item by line item. To implement this you must have timely, accurate and relevant information. No excuses…must have.

2. When people who are accountable for line item performance consistently fail to meet the stated goals, replace them. Period!

3. The number one function in a business that will be the subject of most of the excuses is sales. These excuses come from people who do not understand how to market to a consumer who places ever increasing importance on relationships. Why do you think the community building sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook are in the top ten most highly visited sites globally? According to Alexa, YouTube is 3 , MySpace is 6 and Facebook is 8 ) Every business must have a relationship driven marketing strategy and then implement it. See Relationship Marketing below.

4. Always be evaluating the market including on line competitors. I wonder if Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL in retrospect would have done anything different when Google first came to market?  No company is immune from being seriously weekend by competition. I look at the drugstore landscape. I live in Florida where competition is very active particularly for pharmacy prescriptions. A new format of drugstores was introduced not that long ago by Walgreens, CVS, and others with positioning of buildings with 24 hour drive through pharmacies on high cost real estate. Two things have happened with those changes. Prices skyrocketed to pay for real estate and relationships with the pharmacy customer has almost become extinct. Within this landscape I am aware of several privately held drugstores doing very well because of their attention to customer relationships.

5. Don’t push a boulder up hill. Some companies were never meant to be. People start companies or buy existing companies because they think it is a good idea. The only opinion that matter is the market. If your business was not all that strong in the past and you are basically doing everything right, the best action to stopping the profit leaks may mean closing the doors. If you are not sure Contact Me.

Reality Business: The following examples are taken from just one day’s experiences – today.

1. I was talking with a former client who is now a good friend, who told me they have exposure on a large receivable as it looks like the customer is going out of business. After asking two questions I understood that procedures installed during the consulting project were ignored. Insane management. This happens all the time where people make exceptions to sound business practices and then wonder what went wrong. Follow well founded established policies and procedures without exception. Does that mean nothing will ever go wrong? No, but the surprises will be fewer and far between.

2. During a meeting with a very successful fund manager I asked him if there was any one or two things that he attributes to his success. We were specifically talking about clients who transfer portfolios of $250,000 and higher to him from other firms. He said: “just two things: first I have a “high touch” approach which cements the relationship. The markets have been unforgiving lately. I increase my meetings with clients when competitors are shying away from making calls to people whose portfolios have been hit. Second I have marketing funnel to my target audience that has consistently worked very well.” I am not writing the details as this is proprietary but I will tell you this – you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.

3. I was invited to lunch at a very nice restaurant in Tampa. It has a fairly steep price tag for most of the selections. There were many tables available. Like nearly every other restaurant I have ever dined, regardless of price point, when I left they have no idea who I am and have no way of inviting me back. Insane management.

All in one day!!

Relationship Marketing:

I love talking about how easy it is for retail business to install a relationship marketing program. This is actually easy for every company, but most readers can relate to experiences with restaurants, grocery stores, dry cleaners, specialty shops and other retail stores. Just ask yourself when was the last time you received a thank you note, an incentive to come in for a special on a particularly slow day or a brief questionnaire asking you how they can serve you better? It happens. I listened to a story the other night about a business getting a fax every time it rains near the lunch hour from a nearby restaurant saying “It is raining. Our business will be slow today. Come in for a free Taco.”” Of course, nearly everyone will be buying more than one taco. But isn’t that cool and how hard is that to do?

Visit http://www.localretailmarketing.com for an idea on how you can begin strengthening your customer relationships. The information is free. My firm is not if you want us to do it for you. We get it done now which can be very valuable for you.

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, happiness and peace.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

How To Use Social Media Video (YouTube) To Grow Your Business

Does 200 million page views a month catch your attention? How about knowing 41% of the members between the ages of 34 and 55 and all groups are divided nearly evenly between male and female? If that isn’t enough to get your attention consider these:

1. Members look for content by areas of interest.
2. All content is video and each video can be described using text that is rich with targeted keywords for your product or service.

Just a Couple More Things

1. The information above is about YouTube.. the 6th highest volume site on the Internet. The demographic data is for the US only and yet YouTube is International. The real number are larger but not quantified.
2. There are more than 150 social media sites on line and growing. Each one is attempting to carve out a niche of the huge general market. Of the 150, approximately one third are video sites. Once a person masters YouTube alll the skills are generally transferable to other niche market video sites.

The Action Plan Tracker

I have a business consulting firm. I teach companies how to build revenues and profits using proven principles and processes. Part of the business consulting work plan is to help the client implement an improved and more effective marketing strategy. Social media is now a required component of my updated business marketing strategy model. The numbers of people joining social media sites and becoming very active are very significant and should not be ignored.

There are a huge number of businesses that do not have websites, use blogs, test on line promotion campaigns, execute effective email campaign which are all very proven and effective marketing tools. Social media sites generally completely ignored by most companies. The exceptions are wisely building brand and loyalty.

Very recently I developed the groups YouTube Mastery on Facebook and MySpace as well as the the site www.youtubemastery.net These resources are just being developed and the website is very underdeveloped. However, I have a very clear plan and once I reach that point I take action and sacrifice some perfection. People need to know about these opportunities now and begin using all the Internet tools plus traditional marketing tools in their business now. I currently advise business owners that they need to be devoting nearly 80% of their time on marketing. Part of that 80% includes working with staff and others accountable for marketing. Marketing and developing people are the two most important areas where a business owner needs to spend their time. All other responsibilities should be delegated. What if your are an entrepreneur of one. The point is still the same.

Right Now Action Steps:

1. Join the group YouTube Mastery on Facebook
2. Visit and register at www.youtubemastery.net

These two actions will result in you getting up to speed on using social media and social media video to market your business.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, happiness and peace.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size.

Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Part 1: Response To The Blog Squad's Question Is Social Networking A Waste of Time

I enjoy blogs and one of my favorite sites is operated by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff professionally known as The Blog Squad.

Their latest post addresses the value of social networking sites. If you are not exactly sure what social networking sites are look at Facebook, Twitter, My Space, You Tube for starters. I read that Facebook gets more traffic per month than Google and has an estimated value of $15 billion. Facebook started in 2004 so in less than four years having an estimated value of $15 billion is a great success story.

Valuation is not the important topic today except that it is an indicator of worldwide demographic trends of people connecting with people. If you spend any time at all on Facebook, MySpace or the other popular sites you will quickly understand that people are opening their previously private lives to the world. Of course there are text profiles, website links and more. What is really interesting are the pictures being posted and personal videos. Just yesterday John Reese, a very successful business professional and expert in the field of Internet marketing whose work I value tremendously, published pictures of his home inside and out. John has been very private about his personal life but is now cracking the door open on social networking sites.

Books and courses are being written about the value of social networking sites. However Patsi from The Blog Squad suggests this may all be a waste of time. She writes in part

“Last year at BlogHer Business, we heard about
Twitter. Just for fun, we both set up an account.
But it never caught on, or at least it didn’t for
me. Then I go over to Biz Tips Blog and find out
Denise has been sucked in. Even Leesa Barns of
Podcasting fame is in love with Twitter. Again,
I’m not convinced.

Curmudgeon and introvert, I’m now accepting new
friends into Facebook even though I’m not
convinced yet it will bring big business rewards.

So Denise and I are in two camps on these new
social sites for now: She’s convinced it’s worth
it, I’m still skeptical and am waiting to see how
it all shakes out.”

Patsi raises the question that has been in a lot of people’s mind. Is time on social networks time well spent? My answer is a resounding yes it is time well spent. The reason for my answer is likely to surprise you. In Part 2 of my response, I open the doors as to why social networking is very valuable. If you want this delivered right to your email you will subscribe to my blog

Until then consider this “The significant problems that we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. ” Albert Einstein

Steve Pohlit, Business Development Consultant and Coach
http://www.stevereports.com

Part 1: Response To The Blog Squad’s Question Is Social Networking A Waste of Time

I enjoy blogs and one of my favorite sites is operated by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff professionally known as The Blog Squad.

Their latest post addresses the value of social networking sites. If you are not exactly sure what social networking sites are look at Facebook, Twitter, My Space, You Tube for starters. I read that Facebook gets more traffic per month than Google and has an estimated value of $15 billion. Facebook started in 2004 so in less than four years having an estimated value of $15 billion is a great success story.

Valuation is not the important topic today except that it is an indicator of worldwide demographic trends of people connecting with people. If you spend any time at all on Facebook, MySpace or the other popular sites you will quickly understand that people are opening their previously private lives to the world. Of course there are text profiles, website links and more. What is really interesting are the pictures being posted and personal videos. Just yesterday John Reese, a very successful business professional and expert in the field of Internet marketing whose work I value tremendously, published pictures of his home inside and out. John has been very private about his personal life but is now cracking the door open on social networking sites.

Books and courses are being written about the value of social networking sites. However Patsi from The Blog Squad suggests this may all be a waste of time. She writes in part

“Last year at BlogHer Business, we heard about
Twitter. Just for fun, we both set up an account.
But it never caught on, or at least it didn’t for
me. Then I go over to Biz Tips Blog and find out
Denise has been sucked in. Even Leesa Barns of
Podcasting fame is in love with Twitter. Again,
I’m not convinced.

Curmudgeon and introvert, I’m now accepting new
friends into Facebook even though I’m not
convinced yet it will bring big business rewards.

So Denise and I are in two camps on these new
social sites for now: She’s convinced it’s worth
it, I’m still skeptical and am waiting to see how
it all shakes out.”

Patsi raises the question that has been in a lot of people’s mind. Is time on social networks time well spent? My answer is a resounding yes it is time well spent. The reason for my answer is likely to surprise you. In Part 2 of my response, I open the doors as to why social networking is very valuable. If you want this delivered right to your email you will subscribe to my blog

Until then consider this “The significant problems that we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. ” Albert Einstein

Steve Pohlit, Business Development Consultant and Coach
http://www.stevereports.com