Beware: Do NOT advertise on Facebook and other social media sites

Medium might not lend itself to ads and users are revolting against having ads on their pages

Rate of ad clicks is very low

Engagement ads are good tools to increase brands awareness, improve customer relations, and increase brand awareness but not so good in generating sales

Privacy concerns

Even more difficult to make money through ads as they transition to Mobile Social Networking

Our products don’t lend themselves to social networks

PRODUCTS THAT LEND THEMSELVES TO SOCIAL NETWORKS

Music and Movies Sports Apparel Restaurants and Hotels Airline travel and tourism Clothes Politics & Causes

You might still be tempted to place your ads on Facebook because it is:

Largest community by far Gateway to the internet Increasing time spent online by its members Friends selling friends Become friends/fans of a business or industry

And there are many BUSINESS MODELS available on social networks to make money Advertising

Own search engine Self Service ad platform

Connect platform ..users opt in-- cross sell based on friends’ interests Engagement Ads: Create community of business friends

Papa John’s win a pie contest Ben & Jerry free cone of ice cream Fan pages ala David Buckham & Addidas

Real Estate .. Paying to establish business sites (Fan Pages) Contracts with search Engines

Facebook with Microsoft & MySpace with Google) Subscription for higher level service

LinkedIn Retailer

Selling development tools or goods to members (gift shop) Broker

MySpace Web Stores Virtual money –Facebook Credits Games Taxation (Government)

BUT the TRENDS do not favor Facebook Tiered pricing & service

LinkedIn Fan Pages

Smaller Communities Share an interest

Fishing – GetReeled.com Sports – MVPSpot.com Organizing the Argentinean protests

Communities based on Geography Bhamdoun Lebanon

Communities based on age Senior Citizens – aarp.org/onlinecommunity Kids – kidswirl.com

Social Gaming Zynga MindJolt

Mobile social networks GroupMe, Fast Society FourSquare

So what should we be doing on this site that many of our customers are using?

Engage customers Communicate events Distribute Coupons Seek feedback (polls and games) Provide information on new product launches & events Involve customers in new product designs Better service

Engage employers Manage is a distributed environment Provide expert advice (post problems) Opportunities to Network Reduce travel expenses

Advertise Branding

Service NOT Sell on Social Media Networks